Today, Saturday the 3rd of December 2016 marks a significant day in football history as football rivals Real Madrid played Barcelona in Camp Nou, Manchester City played against Chelsea in the Etihad Stadium and Fenerbahçe played against Besiktas in Şükrü Saracoğlu at 18:15 pm, 15:30 pm and 19:00 pm respectively in league fixtures that ended 1-1 for the Spanish sides, 3-1 in favor of Chelsea for the English sides and 0-0 for Turkish sides.
El Classico, the biggest game of the day between the two rivals, Real Madrid and Barcelona ended 1-1. Barcelona’s Luiz Suarez scored in the 53rd minute of the match and Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid’s captain saved the day for them in the 90th minute making Real Madrid six points clear at the top of La liga.
English professional footballer, Gary Cahill scored the opening goal for Manchester City by scoring an own goal in the 45th minute of the first half. The Blues equalized in the second half with a beautiful finish by Diego Costa in the 60th minute. Willian made it 2-1 in the 70th minute and in the 90th minute, Eden Hazard ended the game by adding one more goal to the score line for Chelsea immediately after Sergio Arguero and Fernandinho were sent off the game.
Fernerbache and Besiktas also had a Süper Lig clash and it ended with no goal in the game at Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium .
In an interview with Gündem’s Sport Correspondent, Eastern Mediterranean University Football lovers shared their thoughts about the matches aforesaid. Frank Ugorji, an undergraduate student of Mechanical Engineering had this to say about the Manchester City vs. Chelsea match. “It was an interesting game, the first half was dominated by Manchester city, they played better and looking at it critically, they created a lot of chances in the first half. The Chelsea head coach made some changes tactically which made the game balanced for Chelsea and gave them the opportunity to create chances which made them score the last two goals. Another important part of the match was Diego Costa’s goal. I think he had a great game, his goal was exceptional and it shown he is one of Chelsea’s best players right now, so I think he was a very important part of the game. Manchester city wasted their chances created, they couldn’t score the goals and the referee made some mistakes in the game. The game was a very interesting game.”
Wilson Levi Clifford, an undergraduate student of Public Relations and Advertising who is a Barcelona FC supporter shared his thoughts on El Clásico. “The match was completely balanced for the first half of the game but the coach did a little mistake by changing a midfielder who could mark the ball and replacing him with a midfielder who can’t. Barcelona was in full control of the game. We drew the game because of the little mistake made by our coach. The MSN didn’t try their best enough, but all the same Lionel Messi did his best to balance the game. As a big fan of FC Barcelona, we did our best and I give credit to all the players.”
Adedamola Abd- Wahab, an undergraduate student of Economics also spoke about the clash of the Spanish champions. “I was really disappointed in Barcelona’s game because their game has really dropped compared to last season. Our midfield was not working because no one was able to hold the ball until Andre Iniesta entered the game, then they started having possession of the game. It was a very dull game for me. We had a lot of chances but nobody to convert it into a goal. Lionel Messi was playing too defensive in the Midfield which made the game not stable for him because we should have a more attacking force and our midfield should be strong but it was not, it was only our defence that was good.”
Great win for Chelsea, the biggest winner of the day. They are currently maintaining their status as the leader of the league with 34 points. Real Madrid football club is also leading the La liga with 34 points while İstanbul BB leads the Super lig with 31 points.
Ibrahim Olowosuna
