European Football Review: FA Cup Fireworks and Title Drama

FA Cup Features All Posts March 3, 2025

Football fans across Europe were treated to a packed weekend of action, with England’s FA Cup fifth round delivering drama aplenty alongside twists and turns in the continent’s top leagues

The La Liga title race shifted gears, Bayern flexed their Bundesliga muscle, and Serie A’s contenders kept the pressure on. Let’s break it down with a recap of the weekend’s biggest moments.

England

The FA Cup fifth round was a rollercoaster, with semi-automated offside technology stepping into the spotlight for the first time in English football.

The tech promised quicker, cleaner offside calls. and mostly delivered. Aston Villa’s 2-0 win over Cardiff kicked things off on Friday, with Marco Asensio’s opener, assisted by fellow loanee Marcus Rashford, getting the SAOT seal of approval.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Bournemouth’s 1-1 draw with Wolves exposed SAOT’s limits. An eight-minute delay – the longest ever VAR check in English football – to disallow a Bournemouth goal left fans fuming and highlighted teething problems.

Still, the Cherries triumphed, even if Matheus Cunha’s stunning equaliser and late red card for head-butting Milos Kerkez stole headlines for Wolves.

The weekend’s ugliest moment though came at Selhurst Park, where Crystal Palace beat Millwall 3-1. Millwall keeper Liam Roberts’ shocking kick to Jean-Philippe Mateta’s face earned a deserved red card after VAR intervention.

Elsewhere, Man City overcame Plymouth Argyle 3-1, with teenager Nico O’Reilly’s brace from set-pieces bailing out Pep Guardiola’s side. Though the Spaniard blamed the Mitre FA Cup ball for their 20 off-target shots.

Man United’s woes continued, losing 4-3 on penalties to Fulham after a 1-1 draw, meaning their only hope of playing in Europe next season relies on winning the Europa League.

Of the sides still in the competition, only Man City have lifted the FA Cup in the last 47 years, setting the stage for a potential underdog triumph come May

Spain

Real Madrid’s woes deepened this weekend, casting a shadow over their La Liga title fight. 

A 2-1 loss at Real Betis, where Johnny Cardoso’s equaliser and Isco’s penalty overturned Brahim Díaz’s early strike, marked Madrid’s fourth stumble in five league games. 

From a commanding lead in January, Carlo Ancelotti’s side now trail leaders Barcelona by three points and sit third behind Atlético Madrid, who edged Athletic Club.

Ancelotti called it a “costly” defeat, admitting his team’s lack of cohesion could spell trouble in their midweek Champions League showdown with Atleti. A wake-up call is needed, and fast.

Barcelona, meanwhile, showed their strength with a 4-0 demolition of 10-man Real Sociedad, Robert Lewandowski’s latest goal pushing his season tally to 34 in 37 games, the most in Europe’s big five leagues and three ahead of Kylian Mbappé in the Pichichi race. 

The weekend’s standout clash? Osasuna 3-3 Valencia, where Umar Sadiq’s jaw-dropping back-heel in the 87th minute salvaged a point for relegation battling Valencia.

Italy

Serie A’s top dogs Inter and Napoli locked horns on Saturday, and it was substitute Philip Billing who kept the title race on a knife edge.

The Bournemouth loanee struck in the 87th minute with his first goal for Napoli, canceling out Fede Dimarco’s first-half opener for Inter at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium. With just a point between the two heading into the weekend, Billing’s late heroics, eight minutes after coming off the bench, denied Inter a chance to stretch their lead to four.

Behind them, Ademola Lookman’s Atalanta fluffed their lines in the title race, drawing 0-0 with 19th-placed Venezia. A win would’ve pulled them level with Napoli and a point shy of Inter, leaving Gian Piero Gasperini’s side rueing a golden opportunity.

Elsewhere, AC Milan’s Serie A struggles deepened on Sunday, with Pedro’s 98th-minute penalty for Lazio sealing their third consecutive league loss.

Germany

Bayern Munich tightened their grip on the Bundesliga crown with a comeback 3-1 win at Stuttgart. Vincent Kompany’s men trailed after ex-Bayern youngster Angelo Stiller’s top-corner screamer, sparked by Leroy Sané’s slip. Sané redeemed himself, setting up Michael Olise’s equalizer before halftime, before a Leon Goretzka strike and Kingsley Coman’s stoppage-time dagger sealed it.

The win put Bayern 11 points clear of Bayer Leverkusen, who quickly cut the deficit back to eight, with Super Eagles star Nathan Tella opening the scoring in a 4-1 rout of Eintracht Frankfurt.

Meanwhile, RB Leipzig’s season took another nosedive with a 2-1 home loss to Mainz. Bild reports a crisis meeting followed, but Jürgen Klopp, the club’s new Head of Global Soccer and Rose’s old Mainz mentor, stepped in to plead for patience, securing the 48-year-old’s job… for now. 

FRance

PSG sent a warning shot ahead of their Champions League clash with Liverpool, tearing Lille apart 4-1.

Bradley Barcola struck early before Marquinhos and Ousmane Dembélé extended the Parisians lead, with Désiré Doué’s stunning strike making it four by halftime. Jonathan David nabbed a late consolation for Lille, but PSG’s unbeaten run stretches to 24 games

Monaco’s Mika Biereth is lighting up Ligue 1. The €13m (NGN 22bn) January signing from Sturm Graz bagged a first-half hat-trick in a rout of Reims, remarkably his third treble since joining the club just a couple of months ago.

Meanwhile, Marseille bounced back from last week’s 3-0 defeat to Auxerre with victory over Nantes at the Vélodrome.

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