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Manchester United achieved an agonizing victory over Arsenal in the third round of the FA Cup. In a game where the “Gunners” suffocated the “Red Devils”, the United team, who were away, managed to take the lead at 52′, with a goal by Bruno Fernandes. But the game got even more complicated for United when Diogo Dalot was sent off at 61′, and two minutes later, Gabriel Magalhaes tied the game. With the score at 1-1, the match had to go to extra time, where both teams had opportunities to settle the match, but were unable to score the winning goal, so penalties were inevitable. There, in the penalty shootout, the goalkeeper Altay Bayindir of Manchester became the hero, because after having already saved a penalty in regular time, Bayindir saved the second shot by Kai Havetz, the other goalkeepers of both teams scored effectively, so the penalty saved by the goalkeeper directly influenced the victory of his team. You may be interested in: A round full of goals in the FA Cup Cover image: X (@ManUtd)

With a great performance by Barcelona’s star players, Los Culés beat Real Madrid 5-2 in the final of the Spanish Super Cup to win their 15th title in this competition. We have the new champion of the Spanish Super Cup, Barcelona beat Real Madrid 5-2 to win the first trophy of the year and the first Clasico of this 2025. In a match where the Blaugranas’ stars stood out to win their fifteenth Supercopa title. Madrid got off to a winning start The match at the King Abdullah Sports City had a start that led to speculation of a very different result than the final one, as just 5 minutes into the game, Kylian Mbappé took the ball in midfield and went on a run, faced the central defense and with a bicycle kick got rid of his marker to enter the box and take a shot that beat Wojciech Szczesny’s save and scored the 1-0 for Madrid, who were playing at home in Saudi Arabia. Barcelona responded with goals Los Blancos’ lead did not last long, as at 22′, Barcelona set up a very good triangulation that started with Jules Koundé, who with a long pass set up Robert Lewandowski, who assisted Lamine Yamal with a filtered pass, Yamal finished the play like the greats, cutting back to the center and giving a pass to the net, as his shot was precise, without much power, to the lower left corner of Thiabaut Courtois’ goal. In the 36th minute, Barça let go of the reins and went on the attack, and in a disputed ball in the air, Gavi jumped to connect with his head, but Camavinga did not see the Spanish player and ended up kicking him in the thigh, inside the area, so the play had to be reviewed in the VAR and subsequently a penalty was scored for Lewandowski to convert the 1-2 and start the scoring. Three minutes later, at 39′, Ronald Araújo headed a clearance in midfield and Koundé took the ball in three-quarters of the field and from there, sent a very good cross into the area, where Raphinha arrived to connect with a strong header, low to the right of the goal, to score the 1-3. Before the end of the first half, at 45+9, Real Madrid lost a ball in attack and Lamine Yamal started a counterattack that passed through the feet of Raphinha thanks to a filtered pass from Yamal, the Brazilian managed to assist Alejandro Balde who arrived at his back to finally enter the area and shot against the exit of Courtois, who could do little before the good definition of the winger, who put the 1-4. At the start of the second half, at 48′, Marc Casadó projected the ball forward, where Raphinha arrived from the left flank at speed, the striker closed towards the center and entering the area, with a cut back to the outside of his marker and took the shot that put things 1-5 on the board. A red card was not enough for Madrid At 56′, it seemed that a glimmer of hope shone for the Galacticos, as in a run at speed that Mbappé was making, Szczesny came out of his area to try to cost the play, but the Frenchman advanced the ball and the goalkeeper only contacted with Kylian’s foot and after reviewing it in the VAR, the Barcelona goalkeeper was sent off. Just after the free kick, Rodrygo took a powerful shot to the goalkeeper’s post, now being Iñaki Peña; the force of the shot made the contact that Peña made with his goalkeeper useless, as the shot ended up inside the net, making the score 2-5. Despite the absence of a player, Real Madrid could no longer score another goal to try a miracle, although they had a great chance to score the third goal, but Iñaki prevented this with a great save from a shot by Mbappé.

Bayern Munich suffered more than they should have in their visit to Borussia Park, where they faced Mönchengladbach, because although they had all the statistics of the match in their favor, finishing with 23 shots, 10 of them on target, over the five shots of their rivals (none on goal), they could only manage to secure their victory with a penalty goal scored by Harry Kane in a good way at 68′. Thus, this fair victory, but ultimately a win, gave them 3 valuable points that put them back within four points of Bayer Leverkusen, who are second with 35 points, while Bayern remain as absolute leaders with 39 points. Cover image: X (@FCBayern)

The third round of the FA Cup had some notable goals: Leicester beat QPR 6-2, Liverpool 4-0 at Accrington, Chelsea 5-0 at Morecambe, and Manchester City swept aside Salford 8-0 to advance comfortably. Saturday’s FA Cup third round matchday on January 11 saw Premier League teams thrash their English lower league counterparts. Leicester beat QPR Starting with Leicester City, the “Foxes” beat Queens Park Rangers, a team from England’s second division, 6-2, with James Justin scoring a brace and Stephy Mivididi, Facundo Buonanotte, Jamie Vardy and Wout Faes scoring one goal each. Liverpool and Chelsea had no problems On the other hand, Liverpool defeated Accrington from England’s fourth division 4-0, with goals from Diogo Jota, a great goal from Trent Alexander-Arnold, a goal from Jayden Danns and Federico Chiesa’s first goal as a “Red”. Also, the Stamford Bridge team crushed their English fourth division counterparts, Morecambe, by a score of 5-0, where Tosin Adarabioyo and Joe Felix shone in the game, both for scoring a brace, the remaining goal was scored by Christopher Nkunku. Manchester City scored eight goals Moving on to the most scandalous goal, Manchester City unleashed their fury on Salford, a team also from England’s fourth division, as the match ended with a scandalous 8-0 victory for the “Citizens”. The goals were scored by Jérémy Doku with a brace, Divin Mubama, Nico O’Reilly, Jack Grealish and a hat-trick by James McAtee. Thus, the Premiership teams fulfilled their task and advanced to the next round of the FA Cup.

The wait is over, today we will have the first “Clasico” of Spain that will decide nothing more and nothing less than the champion of the Supercopa de España, the first trophy of the year that Real Madrid and Barcelona can win. The match will be played at the King Abdullah Sport City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at 1 p.m. CET. It should be noted that both Carlo Ancelotti and Hansi Flick will have their best players for this match, highlighting on the part of Barcelona that Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor will be available for the German coach’s choice, this after resolving the problem that the club had with their registrations. Also, superstitions come into play, as since 2011, no Spanish Super Cup champion has repeated its epic, so Real Madrid, reigning champions, will have to go against that unwritten rule and try to achieve what justly Barcelona was able to do 14 years ago, when they were crowned champions for the third consecutive time in the Super Cup. Cover image: X (@FCBarcelona)