Football hot topics: Pino's magic, Bielsa's dismissal and other stories

 

The defining moment! Kepa Arizabalaga replaced Edouard Mendy just a minute before the Carabao Cup final went into penalties, he didn't justify the faith. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

The weekend was spectacular across European Leagues and the world of football in general, from the epic Carabao Cup final in England to the six and sevens in Serie A and the resurgence of Barcelona in La Liga, we bring you top stories from the weekend.

The boy that is becoming a man at Villareal

Yeremi Pino scored four times in Villareal’s 5-1 drubbing of Espanyol on Saturday as the race for top four in La Liga was blown wide open, in fact as it stands, only five points separate Real Betis in third and Real Sociedad in seventh.

Lionel Messi was the last player in La Liga to score four times in a single game and you could see the displeasure on Pino’s face as he was denied an opportunity to score his fifth when he was removed with a quarter of an hour left on the clock, of course to a rousing ovation, the boy is now a man!

Milan clubs miss golden opportunities

The title race in the Serie A is proving to be the hardest this season with AC Milan, Inter Milan and Napoli all in the mix realistically but Juventus would look at just seven points difference at the top and dream a possible title charge.

Both Milan clubs drew over the weekend and for the second week in a row too while Napoli squeezed out a win against Lazio to move to the top of the summit. Juventus held on for a 3-2 win over Empoli, it’s getting hotter than fire over there.

Leeds United part ways with Marcelo Bielsa

We all thought it was impossible for Marcelo Bielsa to be sacked at Leeds United, the reason wasn’t because of what he’s doing at the moment but because of what he did in the past and in all honesty, his time was up and firing him was the best.

The signs were ominous, the club has been sliding down the ladder and are already in the relegation mix, shipping goals freely and not knowing when or how to defend was always going to be his undoing, no hard feelings… It was the right decision.

Would Chelsea have lost with Mendy?

With just five minutes left of the extra thirty, the changing room door opened and Kepa Arizabalaga walked out, like a saviour with the match poised to be decided on penalties, not for the first time but Thomas Tuchel was convinced the young Spaniard was the man to win it for him.

Edouard Mendy made lots of sensational saves in the game to keep Chelsea in it and one would wonder why he wasn’t risked for the penalties, Mendy was on top form and he’d be convinced that he’d have saved at least one of the eleven that went past Kepa, could Mendy have been worse?