Euro weekend round-up: Man City stumble, Neymar miss, Auba hattrick

This weekend certainly didn’t disappoint, as we saw Man City stumble against Spurs, Aubameyang netting a hat-trick for Barcelona and much more.

Man City stumble 

The Premier League was starting to look like a foregone conclusion, with Manchester City steaming towards their fourth title in five years, but Spurs managed to put a spanner in the works this weekend. Pep Guardiola’s side did manage to better Spurs in terms of their xG, with 2.62 compared to Spurs’ 1.93, but it wasn’t to be their day. 

Harry Kane was fantastic throughout the afternoon and could have had a hat-trick, had Dejan Kulusevski managed to stay onside in the build-up to the goal. As well as scoring a brace, Harry Kane’s diagonal balls were a constant threat to Manchester City, as he provided two key passes and four accurate long balls.  

If Liverpool manage to win their game in hand against Leeds in midweek, City’s lead at the top of the Premier League will be cut down to just three points and the Premier League title race will be blown wide open. 
 

Neymar’s penalty blunder 

For the first time since November in Ligue 1, we got to see PSG line up with a front three of Neymar, Mbappe and Messi and it’s fair to say things didn’t go to plan. Despite PSG accumulating an xG of 3.81 against Nantes, they fell to a disappointing 3-1 away defeat.  

PSG’s creative numbers were all very promising, their front three created five big chances between them and the French league leaders managed to have 15 shots inside the box. Messi and Neymar combined brilliantly for their goal, but Neymar’s penalty miss has everyone talking.  

Following Messi’s midweek penalty blunder against Real Madrid, Neymar was given the responsibility this week, but Alban Lafont read his run-up and was able to make a comfortable save. In fairness to Neymar, he has only missed three penalties since joining PSG and he has a good conversion rate of 80.7% from the spot.  

Sancho starting to flourish 

Following his move from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, plenty was expected of Jadon Sancho in a Manchester United shirt and it would be fair to say that he’s taken some time to adapt so far. Up until the weekend, Sancho had just two goal involvements in the Premier League and some frustrations had started to grow.  

The player that we saw at the weekend, though, reminded everyone just what Sancho is actually capable of. Operating on the left-hand side, Sancho produced two assists in his best performance yet for United. He also completed three successful dribbles, produced three key passes and had 56 touches.  

If Sancho is able to produce performances like this on a regular basis, he’ll be a popular player at Old Trafford. In midweek, Manchester United face Atletico Madrid in the Champions League and Sancho will be a key component in United breaking down Diego Simeone’s side. 

Aubameyang hattrick hero 

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was having a tough time towards the end of his Arsenal career as the rift between him and Mikel Arteta was only growing larger. Some would have turned their noses up at Aubameyang’s January move to Barcelona, but if this weekend was anything to go off, he looks like a good fit for Xavi’s side. 

Barcelona have struggled for consistency all season, but it now looks like they could be back on track as they are now nine unbeaten in La Liga. And Aubameyang managed to score three goals from an xG of 1.72 as Barcelona beat Valencia 4-1.  

Memphis Depay, Ansu Fati and Ousmane Dembele have all struggled for fitness this season and so Aubameyang seems like he can be the relied upon striker until at least the end of the season.