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El Clásico for the ages, Serie A tightens, carousel spins for coaches: Morning Espresso, 5.12
Welcome in for another edition of the Morning Espresso from the SDH Network, brought to you by Oglethorpe University, Atlanta's premier undergraduate learning experience and soccer powerhouse.
Atlanta United came back to level their match at Soldier Field on Saturday, forcing an own goal, but then conceded a late winner to lose in Chicago. Go back and listen to the conversations I had with Ronny Deila and Ronald Hernandez after the match, the frustration is felt by everyone at the moment and they've got to find a way to turn that around quickly as they're next on the pitch in Austin on Wednesday (with gameday high temps set for 106) and back home to face Philadelphia on Saturday.
Minnesota dealt Miami their 4th loss in their last 5 games, and barely had the ball in doing so. Danny Musovski in rarefied air for Seattle with goals in five straight games for the Sounders, scoring in their 3-1 win at Houston. NY Red Bulls defeated LA Galaxy 7-0 Saturday night, the worst ever loss for the Galaxy in their 30-year history.
Vancouver, after their comeback 2-2 draw against LAFC last night, leads the Supporters' Shield race in MLS while Atlanta is in the bottom five in the league standings.
A Classic El Clásico as Barcelona defeated Real Madrid for the fourth time this season, the first time that's been done since 1983. Madrid scored twice in the first 15 minutes through Kylian Mbappe, whose hat trick was wasted, but Barcelona had taken a 3-2 lead 20 minutes after his second goal and then added a 4th before halftime. The second half saw Mbappe complete his hat trick, a number of controversial referee decisions, and Barcelona celebrate essentially winning the league title as they only need one more point in their remaining matches.
The managerial carousel is spinning in Madrid, as we expected. Fabrizio Romano reporting this morning that the deal is done for Xabi Alonso to join Real Madrid, and it will happen in time for the FIFA Club World Cup this summer. It will be a three-year contract.
The semifinals are set in Mexico's Clausura as Club America will face Cruz Azul and Tigres will face Toluca. Alex Zendejas scored both goals in Las Aguilas win to set up another Mexico City derby, he has to be part of the USMNT this summer as he's had another strong season for Club America.
Crazy scenes at the end of the Nottingham Forest 2-2 draw with Leicester as confusion over a late substitution and injury led to sort-of owner Evangelos Marinakis going out on the field and yelling at manager Nuno Espirito Santo. Bad look, but jumping to say that Nuno should resign over it was also over the top.
Inter has cut Napoli's lead in Serie A down to one point after winning in a thunderstorm at Torino while Napoli was held to a draw by Genoa in Naples.
Plenty more in the Espresso video and audio forms including my thoughts on the whistles at Trent Alexander-Arnold in Liverpool, the dangers of fan-led pitch invasions in celebration, and the risks of pregame and postgame social media trash talk from clubs.
More Espresso tomorrow on the SDH Network, presented by our friends at Oglethorpe University.
Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago