Liverpool remain on track for first league title in 24 years

Liverpool remain on track for first league title in 24 years
By Euronews
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Liverpool’s march towards a first topflight title in 24 years continues after beating title rivals Manchester City.

Phillipe Coutinho sent the Anfield crowd into wild celebrations slotting in the winner for a 3-2 victory.

Raheem Sterling and Martin Skrtel put teh Reds 2-0 up inside 26 minutes before David Silva led a City revival in the second half.

An own goal by Glen Johnson levelled matters before Brazilian midfielder Coutinho took full advantage of a Vincent Kompany 12 minutes from time error to secure Liverpool’s 10th successive victory.

A victory cherished that little bit more by the Reds and their fans as they marked the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster in which 96 of their supporters died at an FA Cup semi-final.

For the second time in a week Demba Ba came to the rescue for Chelsea.

After scoring the winner against Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League mid-week, the Senegal striker hit the mark to hand the Blues victory over Swansea and keep their title ambitions alive.

Jose Mourinho’s men are two points adrift of Liverpool, while City are 7 points back, but with two games in hand, the first of which is on Wednesday against Sunderland.

Barca’s woes continue

It’s been four days to forget for Barcelona who, after their elimination in Europe, also tripped up in the League. The ‘Blaugrana’ lost against Granada for the first time since 1972.

Gerardo Martino’s squad had no response to Yacine Brahimi’s goal and suffered their 5th league defeat this season.

It was the Catalan giants’ second consecutive game without scoring – something that hasn’t happened since 2008.

Atletico Madrid, who eliminated Barça in Champions League, continued their push for a first title in 18 years with victory at Getafe thanks to goals from Diego Godin and Diego Costa.

Costa’s winner came at a price when crashed into the post suffering a deep gash on his left knee. Luckily for Costa – coach Diego Simeone and his teammate – the injury was not as serious as first thought.

With these three points, Atletico are four clear of Barca but three clear of Real Madrid who beat Almeria to jump into second.

The chasing two square off in Wednesday’s King’s Cup final.

Dortmund lead chasing pack

Borussia Dortmund closed in on another European adventure and did so in emphatic style.

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Dortmund highlighted their ambitions for a second place Bundesliga finish by beating recently-crowned champions Bayern Munich.

Although Pep Guardiola’s men had already locked down the title Borussia Dortmund signalled to the rest of the chasing pack that second place would be a hard scrap to the line.

Dortmund took the lead after 20 minutes when Armenian Henrikh Mkhitaryan found the back of the net with a fine left-footed effort.

Bayern continued to struggle after the break and just four minutes into the second half Marco Reus tapped home Dortmund’s second.

It wasn’t long before it was three for the visitors.

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On 56 minutes Jonas Hofmann rifled home to silence the Allianz Arena and put the win beyond doubt.

The defeat was Bayern’s second in a row in the league since a record 53-game unbeaten run ended with the club’s 24th Bundesliga title.

Elsewhere Schalke beat Eintracht to stay three points behind Dortmund in third. Bayer Leverkusen, victors over Hertha Berlin, reclaimed 4th place.

Ajax on celebration standby

Feyenoord forced Ajax to put their title celebrations on ice for at least another fortnight when they defeated PSV Eindhoven to keep alive their very slim hopes of snatching the crown.

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Ajax could have claimed the title over the last two weekends but each time have been thwarted by their Rotterdam rivals Feyenord.

The title does however remain theirs to lose in the short run in – their latest victims were ADO Den Haag who visited the Amsterdam Arena on Saturday.

Former Liverpool midfielder Christian Poulsen put the hosts ahead in the 35th minute.

But Henk Fräser’s Den Haag side equalised within a minute thanks to a Stefano Denswil own goal.

Ajax dominated possession in the second half and it eventually paid dividends.

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Davy Klaassen put Ajax back in the lead on the 69th minute and ten minutes later Thulani Serero hit home for a 3-1 lead.

Tom Beugelsdijk saved a little more face for the visitors in the final minute but it was too little too late for Den Haag as Ajax edge closer to their fourth straight league title.

With just two games to go, Ajax hold a six-point lead over Feyenoord. Barring a severe mental and physical collapse they should be crowned champions.

That’s it for this week’s edition of “The Corner”. See you next Monday, for another round up of European football.

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