AFTER 56 years, Newcastle United have won a trophy at last. The Geordies won 2-1 against Liverpool in the EFL Cup final at Wembley and fully deserved their long-awaited triumph. Dan Burn, their 32-year-old defender, rose to put Newcastle ahead in the first half and Alexander Isak added a second after 52 minutes. Liverpool’s response came from Federico Chiesa in added time. Burn had a good week, he was called up to the England squad and he was the man of the match as the club broke its trophy famine. Doubtless, the celebrations will go on and on in Newcastle-upon-Tyne this week. Meanwhile, in the Premier League, Arsenal beat Chelsea 1-0 in a very dull encounter and Nottingham Forest put in a stunning performance to win 4-2 at Ipswich Town, with two goals from Antony Elanga. Manchester City led twice against Brighton but had to be content with a 2-2 draw. Manchester United won 3-0 at Leicester City with Rasmus Højlund ending a 21-game run without a goal.
**La Liga: Barca now favourites**
THE title race in Spain is shaping up for an interesting climax. Barcelona strengthened their position with a 4-2 win at Atlético Madrid after the home side went 2-0 ahead. Julián Alvarez opened the scoring right on half time and Alexander Sørloth extended their lead with 20 minutes to go. Almost immediately, Robert Lewandoiwski pulled one back and six minutes later, Ferran Torres levelled the scores. It seemed to be heading for a draw, but Barca scored twice in added time, first from Lamine Yamal and then Torres rounding things off for his second. Barca and Real Madrid are level on points, but Barca have a game in hand. Real won 2-1 at Villareal, coming from behind with two goals from Kylian Mbappé. Fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao won 1-0 at Sevilla, with a late goal from Yeray Álvarez.
**Eredivisie: PSV cut the gap**
AJAX are still six points clear at the top of the table, but PSV Eindhoven closed the gap by two points after their 3-0 win at Waalwijk. Ajax were held at home 2-2 by AZ Alkmaar, who led twice in a bad-tempered game. Both sides had a man sent off. There was some good news for Ajax regarding their financial position with officials claiming the club is no longer in financial trouble. Feyenoord, who are way behind the leaders, won 6-2 at Twente with Igor Paixão netting a hat-trick. Third-placed Utrecht lost some ground with a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of NEC Nijmegen.
**Turkey: Galatasaray still unbeaten**
VICTOR Osimhen scored a hat-trick as Galatasaray beat Antalyaspor 4-0 to go nine points clear at the top of the Turkish Super Lig. Osimhen has scored 20 goals in 22 games for the league leaders since arriving from Napoli. Galatasaray’s other goal came from another former Serie A man, Álvaro Morata. In the second versus third clash, Fenerbahce drew 0-0 at home to Samsunspor. Their coach, José Mourinho continues to be at odds with the football authorities in Turkey. The 62 year-old has a contract that runs to June 2026.
**Most red cards in top leagues**
**League**
**Club**
**Red cards**
England
Arsenal
5
France
Lens
7
Germany
Borussia Dortmund
6
Italy
Hellas Verona
8
Netherlands
Waalwijk
6
Portugal
Boavista
7
Scotland
Kilmarnock
7
Spain
Mallorca
6
**Bundesliga: Leverkusen up the pressure**
ONE OF the characteristics of Bayer Leverkusen’s title win last season was their ability to come back from a goal down, along with the plethora of late winners they scored in crucial games. At Stuttgart, they did it again. They were 2-0 and 3-1 down but responded dramatically to win 4-3 with an added time goal from Patrik Schick. The Czech striker has 17 goals in 23 Bundesliga appearances, only Harry Kane has scored more. Leverkusen are six points behind Bayern, who were held 1-1 at Union Berlin. Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso has not given up in the title race: “There’s eight games left in the Bundesliga. Plenty of things can happen. We need to go game from game, win from win. It’s not in our hands, we need to wait, but today \[against Stuttgart\] was important. The desire, the will to fight in every game is there.” Eintracht Frankfurt won 3-1 at Bochum, while RB Leipzig won 2-0 against Borussia Dortmund.
**Serie A: Bologna go nap**
INTER Milan won the clash of the _Nerazzurri_ clubs in Bergamo to go three points clear at the top of Serie A. Inter’s goals came in the second half from Carlos Augusto and Lautaro Martínez. Both sides had a man sent off. In Venice the local club held Napoli to a goalless draw. Antonio Conte’s side has 15 shots on goal but we frustrated by a stellar performance from Venezia goalkeeper Ionut Radu. Conte has seen his team pick up just eight points in seven, his worst run since 2010 when he was with Atalanta. Juventus were beaten 3-0 at Fiorentina and AC Milan scraped a 2-1 win against Como at San Siro.
**Attendances**
**League**
**Home team**
**Away team**
**Attendance**
Italy
AC Milan
Como
74,500
Spain
Atlético Madrid
Barcelona
67,602
Italy
Roma
Cagliari
62,911
England
Arsenal
Chelsea
60,311
Germany
VFB Stuttgart
Bayer Leverkusen
59,000
Scotland
Celtic
Rangers
58,913
**Scotland: Celtic lose, but title looks certain**
A PASSIONATE Glasgow derby at Celtic Park ended with Rangers winning 3-2 to upset Celtic’s march towards another Premiership title. Rangers were 2-0 up inside 37 minutes, but Celtic came back to level in the second half with goals from Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate. With two minutes remaining, Rangers netted the winner through Moroccan Hamza Igamane. Celtic remain 13 points clear at the top with eight games to go. This was the first Celtic-Rangers game to be attended by away fans since 2023. Around 2,500 Rangers fans were present in the 59,000 crowd.
**Ligue 1: PSG win Le Classique**
THE FRENCH title is looking like a done deal, with Paris Saint-Germain now 21 points clear of Olympique Marseille. The two teams clashed in Paris and PSG were in top form as they won 3-1. Ousmane Dembélé continued to be sharp in front of goal and was among the scorers, along with Nuno Mendes. The other PSG goal was an own goal. In the clash of the bottom two in Ligue 1, the game was abandoned due to crowd trouble with Saint-Étienne leading 2-0 at Montpellier.
Game of the People was founded in 2012 and is ranked among the 100 best football websites by various sources. The site consistently wins awards for its work, across a broad range of subjects. [View all posts by Neil Fredrik Jensen](https://gameofthepeople.com/author/georgefjord/)