Gabriele MarcottiMar 23, 2026, 10:07 AM ET
We had one final weekend of European league action before the international break (in which the final spots will be clinched for this summer's World Cup) and, well, it was a doozy, delivering plenty for us to talk about. Let's begin with the English Carabao Cup final, where Manchester City outsmarted and outdueled the favorites, Arsenal, to settle the first trophy both sides are battling for. Either way, the game was a reality check for both as they prepare for the home stretch in their Premier League title battle.
Spain's LaLiga was highlighted by Sunday's Madrid derby, which saw five lovely goals and Alvaro Arbeloa's Real Madrid come out on top 3-2 over Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid. Barcelona remain top of LaLiga with a four-point lead thanks to their 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano, but the title race is finely poised.
Elsewhere, we have talking points galore around Chelsea (has Liam Rosenior been set up to fail?), Bayern Munich (who rolled to another big win despite a heavily rotated team ... scary), Inter Milan (who dropped points to open Serie A's title race a little), Liverpool (who looked dreadful vs. Brighton), Tottenham (who lost their relegation six-pointer) and much, much more.
It's Monday morning, so what better time for some musings? Let's get into it.
- City beat Arsenal in Carabao Cup, so is Premier League title race not over?
- Ogden: Tottenham hurtling toward relegation after limp loss to Forest
- Lindop: Where is the real Liverpool? Inconsistency defines their season
Carabao Cup final is a reality check for both Man City and Arsenal
Once the elation for the trophy -- pump those brakes because it's the League Cup, and Pep Guardiola already had four of them in his trophy cabinet -- the main value of Sunday afternoon is as a health check for the Premier League run-in and, in Arsenal's case, the Champions' League knockouts.
Man City are nine points back, with a game in hand and -- crucially -- a head-to-head tie at the Etihad on April 19. For them to have a shot at the Premier League, they will almost certainly need to win both.
Arsenal were hugely disappointing at Wembley, far more than the 2-0 scoreline suggests. After the early Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka chances (credit James Trafford there), their expected goals after the 12th minute was a paltry 0.26 against a back four missing its two best defenders (Rúben Dias, Josko Gvardiol). The trope that this season's version of the team is less of a footballing side (as in possession, movement, patterns of play, chance creation, where they're fourth in the league) than a water-tight defending, transitions and set piece side might be a cliché, but it's accurate.
And so, when you miss your early opportunity to score, when you get just three corner kicks in the whole game (half as many as your average), and when your keeper makes a mistake leading to the opener just past the hour mark, it's going to be very difficult to turn things around. Particularly when your most gifted player (yes, it's still Bukayo Saka in my book) has a quiet game and you struggle mightily to impose your football on the game.
1:52
Burley brands Arsenal an 'absolute disgrace' for Carabao Cup performance
Craig Burley slams Arsenal for their approach to the Carabao Cup final after a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City.
The absences of Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze (and Mikel Merino, frankly) in attacking midfield weigh heavily here -- particularly since the stand-in, Havertz, has hardly played in that role for the past two and a half seasons. Jurriën Timber being out doesn't help either, nor does picking Piero Hincapié over Riccardo Calafiori at left back. But it's more the ethos and mindset of Arsenal this season that is less creative and technical than before. It's vindicated by the fact they're top of the Premier League and still on track for a domestic/European treble, but it comes at the expense of being able to react in situations like these, against opponents like this.
As for City, you can only praise the reaction after the disappointing draw at West Ham and the Champions League defeats to Real Madrid. They were a bit fortunate with both goals, but they were in control throughout and Guardiola's decision to put his faith in Rayan Cherki (a no-brainer in my view, but lest we forget, he had started just three of seven league and Champions League matches going into the final) was vindicated. Abdukodir Khusanov had Viktor Gyökeres (17 touches in 90-plus minutes, just two of them in the City box, no shots) in his pocket all game long, both fullbacks were impactful and Trafford showed no nerves between the posts. It's a weird thing to say, but it didn't matter that Erling Haaland was shut down, barring that one shot.
From here on out, much will depend on how the two managers spin the reaction to the game.
0:59
Should Arteta have started Raya over Kepa vs. Man City?
ESPN FC's Janusz Michallik reacts to Manchester City beating Arsenal 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final.
Having fiddled with formations and approaches all season long, I think this setup -- despite perhaps conceding a little bit in the pressing game -- simply works for Guardiola, obviously with the return of Ruben Dias when he's fit again. With no Champions League football to worry about, it's pretty much plug-and-play ahead of the head-to-head with Arsenal, and the fact they have two marquee opponents in the immediate buildup (Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals, Chelsea away in the league) is a bonus in terms of maintaining focus.
You assume Arteta will have Odegaard fit again after the break (though we've heard this before) but he's unlikely, given the season he's had thus far, to be an instant fix. One of the trickiest decisions coaches can be asked to make at this stage of what is (lest we forget) a hugely successful campaign is what, if any, changes to make after a defeat. Do you chalk it up to a bad day? Or do you tweak what has been a winning formula?
There are lessons to be learned, but very little time to implement them. That's what Arteta will be thinking about over the international break.
Time to praise Alvaro Arbeloa: Brave choices are rewarded
2:22
Marcotti: Arbeloa is getting the best out of Vinícius Júnior
Gab Marcotti and Stewart Robson react to Real Madrid's 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid in LaLiga.
I've been hard on him, mainly because the results weren't great, the football wasn't great, he seemed out of his depth and the safety-first-and-wait-for-Vini-or-Kylian-Mbappe-to-do-something approach was maddening. But he gets a tip of the cap for what we saw from Real Madrid in Sunday's 3-2 derby win.
Make no mistake about it: Real could have dropped points. The Dávid Hancko on Brahim Díaz penalty, converted by Vinícius Júnior, looked harsh and if Julián Álvarez's stunning finish had arced a smidgen more to the right, this game could have gone the other way. But when you factor in the goal-line clearances from Giuliano Simeone, Federico Valverde hitting the crossbar and the fact that Vinícius stepped up big time, it's evident Real Madrid fully deserved the win.
Arbeloa resisted the temptation to chuck Kylian Mbappé straight back in after his 22 minutes against Manchester City; he put his faith in Dani Carvajal and Fran García and, at 11 vs. 11 in the second half, limited Atleti to just one shot on target (Nahuel Molina's wonder-strike). Most of all, he's getting the very best out of a devastating Vinícius, something Xabi Alonso was unable to do.
2:00
Will Real Madrid's comeback spark a LaLiga title push?
Luis Garcia reacts to Real Madrid's comeback win over rivals Atletico Madrid in LaLiga.
Real Madrid are still chasing, of course, but to come from behind and be the better side in a game like this, after the City clashes in the UEFA Champions League and without relying on Thibaut Courtois' routine miracles (because he's injured ... Andriy Lunin was in goal) is significant.
As for Atleti, they played with freedom more than with vigor, and that's understandable. Diego Simeone will never admit it, but it's OK if their minds are focused on the two seasonal trophies they can still win: the Champions League and the Copa del Rey. They're not getting into the LaLiga title race and their top-four spot is secure. In some ways, that freedom can make them even more dangerous and creative: Witness the Giuliano backheel to set up Ademola Lookman's goal, or the improbable howitzer Molina unloaded to briefly make it 2-2.
Liam Rosenior has been left cleaning up someone else's mess...
1:21
Hislop: Liam Rosenior's Chelsea future is in danger
Shaka Hislop and Steve Nicol debate Liam Rosenior's future after Chelsea's 3-0 loss to Everton in the Premier League.
... and I'm genuinely not sure whether he's part (a small part) of the problem or part of the solution, because the folks who put this Chelsea team together (co-directors of football, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart) haven't explained what they're trying to do or why they felt Rosenior was an upgrade over Enzo Maresca when they appointed him in January.
Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Everton makes it four on the spin in all competitions. They're sixth in the Premier League table, one point off the Champions League places because Liverpool lost, but there are four teams separated by three points vying for one slot, and that's not a comfortable place to be. Rosenior has won 10 of 19 games since his appointment, which looks impressive until you realize that three were against lower-league opposition, one was against Pafos, and two were against sides in the relegation zone. Another was against a Crystal Palace side that hadn't won in eight league games. What does that leave? Aston Villa away, Brentford at home and an injury-riddled Napoli away.
Spells of pretty football, like they showed against Paris Saint-Germain, don't make up for the reality that this is a poorly constructed side. Or that neither Filip Jorgensen nor Robert Sánchez look able to do what he wants them to do in goal. Or that the constant churn of center backs is unhelpful. Or that having built a squad based on genuine wingers -- presumably that was the recruitment plan, otherwise they wouldn't have added Estêvão, Jamie Gittens and Alejandro Garnacho in one go -- they've done a handbrake turn under Rosenior shifting Cole Palmer wide and sticking another central midfielder in there.
He doesn't help himself with some of his decisions, but make no mistake about it: Rosenior is being asked to clean up someone else's mess.
Quick hits
2:42
Kane reflects on Bayern Munich's 'really good' win over Union Berlin
Harry Kane reacts to Bayern Munich's 4-0 win over Union Berlin in the Bundesliga.
10. Bayern Munich go direct and absolutely level 1. FC Union Berlin: The thing about Bayern this season isn't just that they're deep, pedigreed and boast this year's likely Golden Shoe winner in Harry Kane. It's that they can beat you in many different ways. Saturday's opponents, Union Berlin, aren't much to watch, but they're solidly midtable and can pack the box with the best of them.
Faced with the prospect of a ton of possession at home and plenty of human density separating them from the opposing goal, Bayern boss Vincent Kompany opted for directness rather than patient, intricate passing. The upshot is they won 4-0, hit the woodwork twice and racked up 5.53 expected goals, while limiting Union to one shot on target. All this with five starters out (plus Nicolas Jackson suspended), which is pretty scary.
9. Dro Fernández makes it 100 goals for PSG against Nice: It took them a while to break through because Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's shooting boots weren't quite right, and the penalty that broke the ice towards the end of the first half was a bit generous, but PSG handily outclassed Nice away to go back on top of Ligue 1. The 4-0 win -- against an opponent whose last home win was in October and is fighting to avoid relegation -- looks gaudier than it was (Nice went down to 10 men early in the second half), but PSG did what they had to do post-Champions League with aplomb.
Along the way, they scored their 100th goal in all competitions, courtesy of substitute Fernandez. The 18-year-old, picked up for a song in January (€8 million due to a release clause and the fact he wouldn't extend his Barcelona contract) was a La Masia crown jewel, drawing comparisons with Andres Iniesta. Time will tell whether he lives up to the hype or goes down the path of previous La Masia prodigies such as Riqui Puig or Carles Alena, but his departure from Barca still raises questions. However hard a bargain his people were driving, it feels counterintuitive to throw money at Marcus Rashford or Roony Bardghji when this guy was coming through.
8. Are AC Milan learning their lesson?: The narrative around Milan all season long has been that Max Allegri is a genius for getting so much production and toughness out of Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot. That, and the usual stuff about being tough and uncompromising because they get outplayed but "find a way to win." Regular readers will know I think that's a bunch of nonsense. Yeah, Modric and Rabiot have been exceptional; when you play once a week, it's a lot easier to excel at their age. As for getting outplayed, that's never a good thing.
There are signs, however, that even Allegri recognizes this, and that's a good thing. Against Torino on Saturday, they played a wretched first half (0.2 xG at home tell their own story), taking the lead through a long-range Strahinja Pavlovic effort and then conceding on a defensive blunder. Standard operating procedure for Allegri would have been to just continue, keep it tight and hope for something positive to happen. This time, however, he was proactive: He sent on a high-energy winger (21-year-old Zachary Athekame), switched to a back four, got his players to commit to attack and was rewarded with two team goals en route to a 3-2 win. Better late than never, you might say.
7. Redemption for Ramy Bensebaini in Borussia Dortmund's comeback: The Algeria defender had made just one start since that game against Atalanta in Europe, when he endured one of the worst nights a professional footballer can endure (and was partly and largely responsible for four conceded goals). On Saturday, he came on at halftime for young Luca Reggiani (who has having the sort of game Bensebaini had in Bergamo), steadied the ship defensively and bagged two penalties as Dortmund scored three times in the last 17 minutes to beat Hamburg SV 3-2.
It was the sort of up-and-down performance to which Dortmund has us accustomed (still, that 4.08 xG in the second half looks gaudy), but the win keeps them well on track for second place. With little left to play for, there's only so much you can ask of this team. Still, head coach Nico Kovac felt the need to send on the departing Julian Brandt at the end of time added on. It felt pointless; you hope it wasn't puerile message-sending, and that he at least gets an appearance bonus.
6. It's the center forward blues as Juventus drop points: Strange but true. Juventus' squad for the visit of Sassuolo included four center forwards. Summer singings Loïs Openda and Jonathan David as well as holdovers Dusan Vlahovic (out since November) and Arkadiusz Milik (out since June 2024 ... yes, you read that right). All four were on the bench, as Luciano Spalletti opted to start a winger like Jérémie Boga up front instead.
That's sort of a snapshot of where Juve are right now: two free agents-to-be returning after long layoffs (Vlahovic and Milik), and two big signings who don't have the coach's trust (Openda and David, who didn't come on at all). They needed three points at home against a small club that has achieved its version of success this year (midtable) and couldn't get over the line, because, after scoring early, they stopped being dangerous and paid a price for an individual error on the Sassuolo equalizer. Manuel Locatelli's missed penalty did the rest, but the save was poetic justice given what an absurdity of a call it was in the first place. The race for top four is alive, but Spalletti has plenty to figure out over this international break.
1:05
Nicol: Man United should have been awarded 2nd penalty vs. Bournemouth
Steve Nicol and Shaka Hislop disagree over the decision not to award Man United a second penalty against Bournemouth.
5. Manchester United make a formal complaint ... but why? I understand why Michael Carrick was so angry (though he used the term "baffled") after Manchester United's 2-2 draw at AFC Bournemouth on Friday. Like him, I thought Adrien Truffert's pull on Amad Diallo merited a penalty. (Though, unlike him, I'm not sure that was similar to the penalty Harry Maguire conceded later.) The fact that after the no-call, Bournemouth went up the pitch and scored obviously made things worse and had a material impact on the outcome.
I'm not sure what a "formal complaint" to the referees' association will achieve. They're not going to re-referee the game, and at best, they'll suggest that if the penalty had been given, it would not have been overturned. It simply wasn't -- in their view -- a "clear and obvious" error. They already know United are unhappy with the decision. If, privately, Howard Webb and his evaluators feel referee Stuart Attwell and VAR Craig Pawson screwed up, they'll talk to them. Beyond that, there's not much they can do. So why ratchet up the pressure like this?
4. Battle-weary Inter draw in Florence, shrinking their Serie A lead to six points: Inter's 1-1 draw on Sunday makes it three straight games without a win in the league, smashing whatever notion we may have had that the humiliation against Bodo/Glimt would have led to an Inter side locked in on the Serie A title. Against Fiorentina, they scored straight away with Pio Esposito (him again) and tried to manage the game, unsuccessfully, as it turned out.
Christian Chivu is getting a lot of criticism this morning, but I'm not ready to go Chicken Little. Getting outhustled by a side that played on Thursday night isn't a great look, but it's worth remembering Fiorentina are fighting to avoid relegation and are more talented than the league table suggests. Starting players who are returning from injury like Denzel Dumfries and Hakan Calhanoglu will result in less short-term fitness and intensity, but will, Chivu hopes, pay dividends after the international break. Inter remain on track for the double. It might be good to remind themselves of this.
1:21
What's behind Liverpool's drop-off from last season?
Gab Marcotti and Stewart Robson speak after Liverpool's 2-1 loss to Brighton in the Premier League.
3. Galatasaray was a blip, because Liverpool haven't turned the corner: That 4-0 hammering in the Champions League evidently had more to do with Galatasaray's frailty than Arne Slot's progress. And judging by what we saw in Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion, Liverpool are closer to what they were the week before against Tottenham Hotspur, or away to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Which is: not good.
Mohamed Salah was unavailable (but how much of a factor is that really, when he seems to be a favorite scapegoat for the side's failures this season?) and more importantly, they lost Hugo Ekitike to injury after eight minutes. But that doesn't explain the ineptitude, particularly in a second half that saw them take just four shots for a combined xG of 0.21. Slot brought up the lunch-time kickoff after a Wednesday night game, but that was at home. Fatigue is an issue, and that's down to the way this squad was built. Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk were poor, sure, and they had three different right backs in the first half alone. But that's not all on Slot. As we've pointed out before, they're down three defenders after failing to address it in January, and now they're paying the price. Ten defeats in 31 games is something we hadn't seen since the Brendan Rodgers era. That they're still in the hunt for the Champions League has more to do with the shortcomings of others than any real progress this season.
2:51
Were Barcelona lucky to beat Rayo Vallecano?
The 'ESPN FC' crew react to Barcelona beating Rayo Vallecano 1-0 in LaLiga.
2. Barcelona look ready for the international break: As in, maybe some time away will help them regain their senses and realize what it takes to win LaLiga. Because Sunday's 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano was a compendium of everything that's wrong with the team and should be a wakeup call to coach Hansi Flick. (No, I'm not holding my breath ... are you?)
Rayo played well, but if not for a few huge Joan García stops (vs. Carlos Martín, Unai López and Álvaro García) they would have lost this game. Some of it was down to the usual "high line" hijinks, some of it was down to Rayo looking far sharper (which is odd, because they played Thursday), some of it was down to the fact that a back four that includes Gerard Martín, João Cancelo and Ronald Araújo (though he did score the only goal) will struggle to be watertight.
Complacency? Fatigue? Who knows? But at this stage of the season, Flick shouldn't be taking things for granted.
0:54
Robson: Tottenham should sack Tudor after loss to Nottingham Forest
Gab Marcotti and Stewart Robson discuss Tottenham's 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
1. Tottenham back to bad, old ways in relegation battle head-to-head: It was set up so nicely for them. For the previous three halves of football -- the second 45 against Liverpool and the home tie against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League -- Spurs had actually looked good and (just as important) looked as if they believed they were good. Their fans greeted them as if it was a cup final for the visit of Nottingham Forest.
But once they stepped on the pitch, the usual demons quickly resurfaced. They played with fear and switched off just before the break and at the hour mark, as Forest went 2-0 up (Taiwo Awoniyi would add another later in a 3-0 result). Fans started to leave, confidence dropped, chances were missed. I don't know if Igor Tudor, who missed the postgame media activities due to a family bereavement, will be back after the international break, but I want to believe that the one and a half games against Liverpool and Atleti at home were more meaningful than Sunday.
