After the recent round of domestic cup matches across Europe, league soccer returns with exciting performances and surprise results happening in the Premier League, Serie A, LaLiga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1.
On Saturday, we saw Chelsea edge Fulham 1-0 after Cole Palmer put away a penalty while Manchester City delivered a 3-2 comeback victory against Newcastle United. Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen beat Augsburg to retain their hold at the top of the German league.
Meanwhile in the Women’s FA Cup, Aston Villa‘s woes continued after suffering a 3-0 defeat to Everton. And finally, in Italy, Napoli won their first game since Dec. 16 and are a far cry from their title-winning heroics last season.
Here is your look back at yet another roller-coaster weekend in European football.
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SATURDAY REVIEW
The lead: Leverkusen win ugly and stay top
The old adage is you need to win ugly in order to win championships. And league leaders Bayer Leverkusen snatched a last-gasp win at FC Augsburg on their return after the Bundesliga restart, retaining their four-point lead over perennial champions Bayern Munich.
Leverkusen had received a potentially crushing blow a few days before the resumption with the news that star striker Victor…