"Madness" is the most accurate word to describe how the past week of football is going, which is followed by a deep hibernation for club football as the two-week international break begins.
The week was hearty by all accounts, with matches in the AFC Champions Leagues, UEFA Champions Leagues, and the top five leagues, with regular appearances for Arab leagues including Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
In case you missed something, in this report from FanZword you will find the harvest of the whole week
The fall of Ittihad and the dismissal of Santo after a quarrel with Benzema
The week began on Monday with the AFC Champions League matches, which saw the first big surprise with Al-Ittihad in Iraq losing to Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 2-0, and two days later came the decision of the Saudi club's management to dismiss coach Nuno Santo for poor results.
Saudi newspapers reported that Santo reprimanded Karim Benzema and told him that he was not helping his team well, which made the French striker ask the management to dismiss the coach immediately, which he did.
9 players and an high line defense from Tottenham
Tottenham were the leaders of the Premier League standings, until they met Chelsea in the London derby, in a match that was like "Hollywood movies".
Tottenham took the lead but Chelsea equalized, after which Cristian Romero and Destini Odogi were sent off from Spurs, leaving the Whites to complete the game with just 9 men.
However, coach Ange Postecoglou decision was to defend with an advanced line, and he attributed it to him as his philosophy that he would not give up.
Hard-earned Chelsea scored the second goal, and the referee canceled the equalizer for Tottenham, and even wasted the spurs a barrage of opportunities despite the numerical shortage, and in the last minute Nicolas Jackson scored two goals to win Chelsea 4-1 and end Tottenham's lead in the league.
The Barcelona knot in Germany and the madness of Milan
Barcelona needed a win over Shakhtar by any result and with it a guarantee of qualification to the round of 16 of the Champions League, but they were defeated by a goal in the match held in Germany, thus consolidating the knot of German territory, which they failed to win in the last 7 games.
On the other hand, Milan turned a goal deficit into a two-goal victory over Paris Saint-Germain, to ignite the group of death, after Dortmund beat Newcastle 2-0, thus the German club leads, and behind the French and then Milan and then Newcastle.
Zamalek and Pyramids fun
Zamalek met Pyramids in the semi-finals of the 2023 Egypt Cup in a match that was very dramatic.
Pyramids advanced with a goal in the first half and Zamalek equalized in the last minute of the match, so the two teams resorted to extra time.
In extra time, Pyramids took the lead twice and Zamalek managed to comeback, before the White Knight settled the match thanks to Mohamed Awad in the penalty shootout.
Bellingham's injury and Real Madrid's Champions League qualification
Jude Bellingham did not feature for Real Madrid in the Champions League match against Sporting Braga due to a dislocated shoulder, but the club thrashed the Portuguese counterpart 3-0 and secured their place in the final eighth.
Real, Inter and Bayern Munich joined Manchester City and RB Leipzig in the list of qualifiers for the round of 16 two rounds before the end of the group stage.
Liverpool fall
Liverpool suffered their first defeat of the season in the Europa League, following a 3-2 loss to Toulouse in France.
Jurgen Klopp's press conference was held near the Toulouse players' celebrations of the victory, much angering the coach and saying that his team was just as bad as the venue of the conference.
Messi and Zidane meet
For the first time ever, Lionel Messi appeared with Zinedine Zidane, and the pair exchanged talks and praises on each other.
Zidane's most prominent sentence in describing Messi was that he "sees what happens three seconds before it happens, but I was only one second ahead of everyone.
Arda Güler's setback
Another bad news for Real Madrid was that Arda Güler was injured again after he was due to return to play against Valencia on Saturday.
In Friday's training, the Turk felt pain in his foot and it turned out that he had a muscle injury that will keep him out of action for a month.
Kane and Guirassy's race ignites
Harry Kane scored twice against Heidenheim during Bayern Munich's 4-2 victory, taking his 17th Bundesliga goal and breaking several records.
But the England international found Serho Guirassy's return from injury with Stuttgart to ignite the race of scorers, after scoring in his side's 2-1 win over Dortmund, reaching the 15th goal.
Madness at Premier League summit
Once again a crazy match championed by Chelsea, but this time against Manchester City, after the Blues managed to draw 4-4 at the last minute.
Salah scores and Haaland responds
Mohamed Salah scored twice in Liverpool's 3-0 win over Brentford, bringing his total Premier League goals to 149, making him eleventh in the competition's all-time top scorers.
Salah raised his scoring tally this season in the Premier League to 10 goals, one goal behind Haaland before the Chelsea match.
But the Norwegian international quickly reacted to Salah, scoring twice against Chelsea, reaching 13 goals and moving away from the Egyptian king by two goals.
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