Football News from April 5-6

It was another fascinating weekend of football with the title race in England becoming much closer, while Real Madrid have all but been crowned champions despite drawing against Mallorca. Meanwhile, there was also FA Cup action. It’s hard to believe that there are only a handful of games left, but there are certainly plenty of twists and turns still to come. Let’s start in Spain and then travel north to England.

On Saturday, I watched a dominant Mallorca just fail to finish off a punch drunk Real Madrid. The Castillian side were distinctly second-best as Mallorca played at a high tempo, creating chances on the Madrid goal at will. Even before Sergio Ramos’ somewhat harsh dismissal, it was only a matter of when, not if, Mallorca would equalise. The silver lining for Madrid is that Sevilla downed Villareal and Barcelona could only draw with Getafe, meaning that the top of the table remains as it was. With only a few games to go, Real have a seven-point lead with neither of their closest rivals looking capable of challenging them. The conjecturing has already started about what will happen in the summer, with many pundits of the opinion that Barcelona will face a radical rehaul, dispensing with Frank Rijkaard and Ronaldinho among others. It seems a bit overboard, but no one can argue that something is rotten at Barca.

Back in Britain, Part II of the clash between Liverpool and Arsenal was the most anticipated game of the week. Predictably, it finished 1-1 and Arsenal are well and truly out of the title race. Meanwhile, Manchester United criminally dropped two points against Middlesbrough, while Chelsea again won ugly, this time against Manchester City. The gap is three points and Man Utd have a superior goal difference, but they have yet to face Arsenal and Chelsea in the two games that will decide the season. Suddenly, their lead is precarious and it remains to be seen whether their confidence is shaken. The midweek Champions League match against Roma should give some indication.

Refreshingly, the FA Cup semifinals featured Portsmouth, who beat WBA and Cardiff, who beat Barnsley. I was rooting for Barnsley, having seen them beat Liverpool and Chelsea, but it wasn’t to be despite a cracking game. It may have been the lush Wembley pitch, but both sides gave a great account of themselves, proving that fans should be paying attention to more than just the Premier League. It’s hard to bet against Portsmouth in the final, but both sides have earned their way in and anything can happen in a one-off cup game. Naturally, I’ll be rooting for Cardiff.

To cap it off, I managed to watch Everton dispatch Derby with some difficulty. Derby looked good until midway through the second half, when the wheels came off and Everton were fairly comfortable. They survived a shocking miss from Yakubu and an off day from Arteta to grind out a 1-0 win, the excellent Leon Osman getting the goal. The diminutive midfielder is sorely underrated and should be in the frame for England. He plays at a higher tempo than Carrick, Jenas and Barry, and would really offer something different for the Three Lions. Give him a chance, I say.