THE SOCCER REPORT
Champions League returns with PSG, Spurs and Real Madrid wins
Feb 19, 2019, 6:16 am
Adidas unveiled the match ball for the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final. Courtesy: adidas
The theme of this week's actions was international competition with the return of the UEFA Champions League, the Europa League and the third round of the Copa Libertadores of South America. Concacaf teams are about to join in on the action with the start of the 2019 Concacaf Champions League, in which the Houston Dynamo will play in Guatemala City on Tuesday night.
UEFA Champions League
Roma and Tottenham were the winning home sides this week while Real Madrid and PSG picked up important away wins against Ajax and Manchester United respectfully. This week, Lyon vs. Barcelona, Liverpool vs. Bayern Munich, Atletico vs. Juventus and Schalke 04 vs. Manchester City will round out the rest of the round of 16 first leg matches.
Round of 16 - first leg results:
- Roma 2-1 Porto
- Manchester United 0-2 PSG
- Tottenham 3-0 Dortmund
- Ajax 1-2 Real Madrid
UEFA Europa League
Round of 32 - first leg results:
- Fenerbace 1-0 Zenit St. Petersburg
- Olympiacos 2-2 Dynamo Kyiv
- Lazio 0-1 Sevilla
- Rapid Vienna 0-1 Inter Milan
- Slava Praha 0-0 Genk
- Galatasaray 1-2 Benfica
- Rennes 3-3 Real Betis
- BATE 1-0 Arsenal
- FC Krasnodar 0-0 Bayer Leverkusen
- Plzen 2-1 Dinamo Zagreb
- Brugge 2-1 Red Bull Salzburg
- Celtic 0-2 Valencia
- Malmo 1-2 Chelsea
- FC Zurich 1-3 Napoli
- Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
- Sporting CP 0-1 Villareal
- Ajax 1-2 Real Madrid
English Premier League
Action in England's top division was stalled this weekend as the FA Cup took center stage. The quarter-final matches are paired as follows: Millwall vs. Brighton, Swansea City vs. Manchester City, Watford vs. Crystal Palace and Wolves vs. Manchester United. The Prem resumes Friday with a London match-up as West Ham hosts Fulham.
Top six: 1. Manchester City (65), 2. Liverpool (65), 3. Tottenham (60), 4. Manchester United (51), 5. Arsenal (50), 6. Chelsea (50)
Scoring leader: 17 - Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) / Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
Assists leader: 10 - Eden Hazard (Chelsea FC)
Spain's La Liga
In Spain's top-flight, FC Barcelona continues to make room between themselves and the field in the title race. Leo Messi and co. collected three points while Real Madrid slipped 2-1 to Girona, allowing Atletico Madrid to jump back up to second with a 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano. The rest of the top six remained the same.
Top six: 1. FC Barcelona (54), 2. Atlético Madrid (47), 3. Real Madrid (45), 4. Sevilla (37), 5. Getafe (36), 6. Alaves (36)
Scoring leader: 22 - Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona)
Assists leader: 10 - Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona)
German Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund rebounded from a midweek loss in the Champions League with a draw at Nurnberg, keeping the separation with rivals Bayern Munich to three points. The Black and Yellow lost American Christian Pulisic to injury in the UCL match against Spurs and could be in doubt for a few more games.
Top six: 1. Dortmund (51), 2. Bayern Munich (48), 3. Monchengladbach (43), 4. RB Leipzig (41), 5. Bayer Leverkusen (36), 6. Wolfsburg (35)
Scoring leader: 14 - Luka Jović (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Assists leader: 10 - Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
Italian Serie A
Juventus 3-0 Frosinone | Ronaldo and Dybala Help Juventus Beat Frosinone | Serie Awww.youtube.com
Cristiano Ronaldo can't stop scoring, adding one more to his season tally in Juve's 3-0 win over Frosinone. Milan picked up a 3-1 win over Atalanta to solidify their place in the top four. Inter Milan and Roma also picked up three points this week.
Top six: 1. Juventus (66), 2. Napoli (53), 3. Inter Milan (46), 4. Milan (42), 5. Roma (41), 6. Atalanta (38)
Scoring leader: 19 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Assists leader: 8 - Suso (A.C. Milan)
French Ligue 1
Marseille made the biggest jump in the standings this week by swapping places with Montpellier and cracking the top four. As for the champs, PSG continues to roll behind the league's top scorer in Mbappé.
Top six: 1. PSG (62), 2. Lille (50), 3. Lyon (46), 4. Marseille (40), 5. Saint-Étienne (40), 6. Montpellier (38)
Scoring leader: 19 - Kylian Mbappé (PSG)
Assists leader: 8 - Nicolas Pepe (Lille) / Angel Di Maria (PSG) / Kenny Lala (Strasbourg)
Dutch Eredivisie
Top three: 1. PSV Eindhoven (57), 2. Ajax (53), 3. Feyenoord (42)
Belgian First Division A
Top three: 1. Genk (57), 2. Club Brugge (49), 3. Standard Liège (46)
Portuguese Primeira Liga
Top three: 1. Porto (54), 2. Benfica (53), 3. Braga (49)
Scottish Premier League
Top three: 1. Celtic (60), 2. Rangers (52), 3. Aberdeen (47)
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Concacaf Champions League
The 2019 edition of the Concacaf Champions League begins Tuesday night with the 1st leg matches of the quarterfinal stage. Costa Rica's Saprissa and Mexico's Tigres UANL will kick this year's edition simultaneously with Panama's Independiente hosting Toronto FC. The Houston Dynamo will face off in Guatemala against Guastatoya in the 9 p.m. match. Matches will be broadcast in English on Yahoo! Sports.
A welcome addition to tomorrow's shirts! 👀 #SCCL2019 #ForeverOrange https://t.co/1h8lCn4Xx0— Houston Dynamo (@Houston Dynamo) 1550534098.0
Major League Soccer
While five MLS teams take part in the Champions League, the rest continue their preparations ahead of the league's opening weekend in two weeks. FC Cincinatti will be the new expansion team that joins the league in 2019.
Liga MX
Top eight: 1. Monterrey (17), 2. Tigres UANL (16), 3. Leon (14), 4. Chivas Guadalajara (14), 5. Necaxa (11), 6. Santos (11), 7. Pachuca (11), 8. Club Tijuana (10)
Scoring leader: 7 - Rogelio Funes Mori (Monterrey)
Assists leader: 5 - Angel Mena (Cruz Azul)
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Copa Libertadores
Third round - first leg matchups:
- Melgar vs. Caracas FC
- Talleres Cordoba vs. Palestino
- Defensor Sporting vs. Atletico Mineiro
- Libertad vs. Atletico Nacional
Superliga Argentina
Top four: 1. Racing Club (45), 2. Defensa y Justicia (45), 3. Boca Juniors (35), 4. Atletico Tucuman (32)
Scoring leader: 15 - Lisandro Lopez (Racing)
Assists leader: 7 - Walter Montillo (Tigre)
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Upcoming Matches (All Times CT):
Tuesday, Feb. 19
2:00 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Liverpool vs. Bayern Munich (TNT/Galavision)
2:00 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Lyon vs. Barcelona (Unimas/Univision Deportes)
9:00 p.m. - [Concacaf Champions League] CD Guastatoya vs. Houston Dynamo (Yahoo! Sports/Univision Deportes)
Wednesday, Feb. 20
2:00 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Atletico Madrid vs. Juventus (TNT/UniMas/Univision Deportes)
2:00 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Schalke 04 vs. Man City (B/R Live/Galavision)
Thursday, Feb. 21
12:00 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] Arsenal vs. BATE (B/R Live/Galavision)
12:00 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] Valencia vs. Celtic (B/R Live/Univision Deportes)
12:00 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] Villarreal vs. Sporting CP (B/R Live/UniMas)
2:00 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] Chelsea vs. Malmo (B/R Live/UniMas)
2:00 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] Inter Milan vs. Rapid Vienna (B/R Live/Galavision)
Friday, Feb. 22
1:30 p.m. - [Bundesliga] Werder Bremen vs. VfB Stuttgart (FS2)
1:45 p.m. - [Premier League] West Ham vs. Fulham (NBC Sports)
Saturday, Feb. 23
8:30 a.m. - [Bundesliga] Bayern Munich vs. Hertha BSC Berlin (FS2)
8:30 a.m. - [Bundesliga] Mönchengladbach vs. VfL Wolfsburg (Univision Deportes)
9:00 a.m. - [Premier League] Burnley vs. Tottenham (NBC Sports)
9:15 a.m. - [La Liga] Sevilla vs. FC Barcelona (beIN Sports)
11:30 a.m. - [Premier League] Leicester vs. Crystal Palace (NBC)
Sunday, Feb. 24
8:00 a.m. - [Premier League] Manchester United vs. Liverpool (NBC Sports)
9:15 a.m. - [La Liga] Atletico Madrid vs. Villarreal (beIN Sports)
10:30 a.m. - [Carabao Cup FInal] Chelsea vs. Manchester City (ESPN+)
11:00 a.m. - [Bundesliga] Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen (FS2)
1:45 p.m. - [La Liga] Levante vs. Real Madrid (beIN Sports)
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.