Real Madrid again has trouble scoring and at half time it is 0-0 in the home game against Valencia. Usually goals are scored in the 2nd half, but last time they were unable to score at home and the match against Real Sociedad ended in a 0-0 draw. We cannot rule out that this will not happen again. Real Madrid has struggled to score this season. In recent seasons, they managed to find the net very easily and Benzema scored from all angles and positions. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to have found his form after his injury.

Djokovic has the Australian Open with a great display of power. But Alcaraz was not there, the number 1 in the world. He would have had a really hard time with that. And against Nadal in good form too. But Alcaraz had to miss this tournament due to an injury and Nadal was actually unable to continue in the 2nd round. If both had been fit, it would have been a lot more difficult for Djokovic. Perhaps most memorable was Murray's performance, who at times returned to his old level of 10 years ago when he was among the best tennis players in the world at the time. Yet with Murray I always felt that he was in the shadow of players like Djokovic, Federer and Nadal.

The home team always has the advantage. But whether there is often a world champion is also questionable. At least not in the last few editions. Brazil should of course have had a dream World Cup in 2014 because all matches were played in Brazil. But from a tournament in Mexico, Canada and the United States you cannot expect miracles from the organizing countries. They could of course go one round further with the support of the public. What about the division of the groups? Normally, the organizing country then ends up in Pot 1, like Qatar at the last World Cup. Does that mean that all 3 countries will end up in Pot 1? That would actually be unfair

In any case, Chelsea has again brought in a fortune in new players. Would they now be successful again in the PL? Striking is the policy of Newcastle United, which can buy whoever they want but still has a certain policy with regard to new purchases to compete in the EL at the top. Manchester United are now tied with Newcastle in points, but it was also a kind of utopia for Newcastle to stay in 3rd place. We are still waiting for a slump from Arsenal, but it may not come again at all. United have put up an impressive run since the appointment of the new coach, but the games have not been convincing. It's nice how they managed to turn that 0-1 deficit against City into a 2-1 victory. That also shows how strong this team is mentally.

In any case, it will be very exciting for places 2 to 5. All teams are within a few points of each other. In recent years, the tension around the championship has been much greater. Then AC Milan became champions on the last match day. That will not happen this season. I am curious what will happen to Juventus, whether there will be a different management there and whether players still have the confidence to continue playing football at this club. I can imagine that the confidence of certain players has been seriously damaged by the fraudulent practices that came to light last week.

Barcelona and the team plus coach seem to be at peace with a small win. Why not? I always think that 1-0 results are extremely dangerous, but if your defense is behind well and you don't give away big chances, it could be a pretty good game plan. We won't see the Barcelona of the past in the attack, but is that necessary? In recent years it was actually mediocre how Barcelona played and the results were not great either. This year they have shown some nice football at times. Real Madrid is no longer the favourite. Where Barcelona does manage to win the matches, Real Madrid has been losing points for a few weeks in a row now. As a result, the gap with Barcelona has already become 5 points.

What a mess with the Chelsea administration for delivering the papers too late. Of course you can also be difficult about everything. But it's still messy. I don't understand PSG's anger. They are not at all dependent on Ziyech, especially for the player himself it seems very annoying to me because he is almost always on the bench at Chelsea. At PSG too, but they have a little more potential to compete for the big prizes than at Chelsea. And salary would also be a lot higher in France. It's a pity for Ziyech. Unfortunately, the transfer from Amrabat to Barcelona was also canceled at the last minute for him.

Paul played a great tournament and got further than he thought. We just have to see how he will do in the near future. The same happened to Tim van Rijthoven last year, who won the tournament in Rosmalen and also made a big impression at Wimbledon, but after that it was nothing at all. Often you see players have a hot flush of several weeks in a year, and then they fall back into their old pattern and normal form. I hope that's not the case with Paul. America has a lot of tennis players, but real world top players no longer seem to be able to deliver them like we used to have Sampras and Agassi.

AC Milan and Chelsea are both top of Europe. Chelsea won the Champions League a few years ago, but nothing like that will happen again in the next 10 years. I rate Tottenham a bit higher than AC Milan at the moment, but the differences are quite small I think. Chelsea should still be able to continue in the CL. In 2 weeks we will start with the resumption of the CL, and then we will also have the PSG-Bayern Munich match on the schedule. At the moment you tend to say that PSG are the better team, because Bayern Munich has already failed to win 3 times in a row in the competition. But I wouldn't be surprised if Bayern now gives a world performance in Paris and wins there easily.

Bayern has indeed dropped a lot of points. With 3 wins that would have been 6 points more. Especially the competition at the top has continued to win. Dortmund's last victory in stoppage time was a very important one. It will not be the case that Bayern will hand over the title this season, will it? I really couldn't imagine that happening. 3 draws is no longer an incident. However, Bayern is so good that they can now win 7 times in a row, for example. I don't see the competition doing that. But also nice to have a season in which it is all close together. Bayern has already become champion with a street length lead, no one is waiting for that.

Messi has indicated that he still wants to play a number of matches in the shirt of Argentina. I don't think you can plan such things very far in advance. One footballer stops when he is 33, the other only when he is 39. I don't know how fit Messi will be in 3.5 years, but it doesn't seem to me that he will still be physically able to participate actively in the World Cup. He could perhaps have another role in the team, but he is not waiting for that. Ronaldo is already out of the Portuguese national selection, and since he has gone to Saudi Arabia to play football there, he will no longer be included in the selection. Not for the European Championship next year and certainly not for the World Cup in 2026. Still 3.5 years before that starts. That sounds so far away.

It is unbelievable but true: The Uzbek handed over the title in the last round, against perhaps the weakest player of this group. Van Foreest won with the black pieces and Giri won with white, so Giri came first and the Uzbek 2nd. Of course he played another great tournament, but one of them was a win with black against Magnus Carlsen halfway through the tournament. And won a lot of rating points, but he won't have much fun now. He has been on top from the start and today suffered his only defeat of the tournament. Perhaps the minimal experience and tension was the deciding factor for him today. In any case, we will hear and see a lot more from him, that's for sure.

It was a great tournament for Djokovic. No one has been able to thwart him, but players like Nadal and Alcaraz have not really participated. Not Alcaraz at all and Nadal also had to give up in a match in one of the first rounds. Furthermore, no one has come close to Djokovic, but he was also very keen to win this tournament after he was not allowed to participate last year. He has not made himself popular with many fans because of his attitude to the corona virus that he absolutely did not want to get a vaccination. But you can't continue to judge someone on that basis, of course. If we look purely at his technical qualities, he deserved to win. Tsitsipas had 1 set point in the final in the 2nd set, but was unable to use it.

AC Milan had lost at home to Sassuolo. How are results like 2-5 possible in these matches? The championship had already become very difficult, but now it seems that it can be closed definitively. Juventus lost 0-2 to Monza at home, but European football is also a big job due to the penalty they have received. It will certainly have played in the minds of the players that they have now suffered this defeat in a home game. Supporters are still behind the team. Later in the evening we have the game Napoli - AS Roma in which AS Roma actually has to win to be able to maintain some connection with the leader.

Perhaps a bit short-sighted, but Schreuder has left Ajax and suddenly Ajax is able to score many goals and the away match at Excelsior is easily won. John Heitinga was a trainer of the 2nd team, and now seems to be taking over the task. But one swallow makes another summer. The top Twente Feyenoord has ended in a draw, so that all teams remain relatively close to each other in this way, so it remains exciting. Especially Sparta has a dream season with a 6th place. Last year still playing football in the fight against relegation.

Another painful defeat for Liverpool. The crisis continues. The championship had already gone up in smoke because of the current position and the FA Cup are now also out. That way not many prestigious prizes are left. They are still active in the CL, perhaps the most important tournament for teams. But I don't see how Klopp will get things back on track quickly. Measures do not seem to be taken by the Liverpool board either. This is not just a shape dip, this looks more like a certain structural problem. I think Klopp would be wise to start working at another club soon.

Feyenoord is currently better than Ajax and PSV. But Feyenoord will still have a considerably heavy program in the coming weeks. Presumably there will be some kind of decision for the championship. Ajax still lives on that they drew at Feyenoord, but they should have lost to Twente the week before. And PSV won 2-0 against Go Ahead, which means nothing at all, after all, that is not a serious showdown. Mutual confrontations will follow in the coming weeks, then certain teams will be eliminated for the championship. Feyenoord has played excellent football since the arrival of Slot and has also achieved international successes by reaching the final of the Conference league. It would be nice for this club if they could be active in the CL again. That's what they're entitled to right now.

I think it's the end of the story for Ronaldo to play in the national team. From the manager of Portugal, but also from Ronaldo himself? At the last World Cup it was clear that there was no starting place for Ronaldo anymore. And Ronaldo won't feel like it anymore either. Moreover, he is now also continuing his career in Saudi Arabia, where the level is a lot lower than in the competitions in Europe where he and his current teammates played. And his age is gradually starting to play a role as well. You can't stay on top forever, even if you want to. Germany has a lot to put right after both eliminations and exits from the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in which they were knocked out in the group stages both times. They are playing all games at home, the biggest advantage you can imagine.

Giri got away well against van Foreest who was on the win. Now it's a statement that can go either way. Giri should be better with these kinds of positions, but winning won't be easy. Carlsen no longer has a preference and can now decide whether he will play all or nothing. He could promote black to queen and then see how far he gets with f4. But then a dangerous position arises, which can also work if Black wins if Carlsen goes too far. Given Carlsen's mentality, he may still take some risk to bet full on the win with all the risks that entails.

Inter is in a difficult period. It is true that you won the match against Napoli a few weeks ago, but how much value does that victory still have if you then drop points several times against lesser opponents? I expect a strong result at Atalanta tonight as they will play a home match against Sampdoria, where it is also going very badly. Then Atalanta can work well on her goal balance. AC Milan is 2nd but there are no fewer than 3 teams that all have 37 points at the moment. The battle for 2nd place is still fully open, but would the players from Napoli give away their 12-point lead? We are slowly moving towards the final phase of the competition, Napoli has proved to be extremely stable. Even after the defeat against Inter, they were just there again.