There must have been something in the air. This weekend the soccer world saw a hat trick of hat tricks.
Shinji Kagawa isn’t a household name in the world of soccer’s greatest. However, this weekend, the attacking midfielder out of Japan made his case. In the 87th minute against Norwich City, Kagawa netted his third goal of the game to complete the hat trick for the home side Manchester United. The Red Devils won 4-0.
Elsewhere in the English Premier League, Liverpool came into a hat trick of their own by their well-known striker Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan goal scorer led his team to victory against Wigan Athletic and bolstered his résumé for Player of the Year recognition. The home field advantage played well for the elite of the premiership, as Chelsea beat West Bromwich 1-0, Everton won 3-1 against Reading, and Tottenham downed Arsenal 2-1, with another goal from white hot midfielder Gareth Bale. The struggles continue for Aston Villa as they lose 0-1 to powerhouse Manchester City.
While the season marches on in England, the MLS just broke in to their 2013 campaign. The premier side of the MLS, the L.A. Galaxy, had a convincing victory at home 4-0 with a hat trick from Mike Magee, a midfielder who had only 8 goals in the 2012 season. In Portland, the Timbers and New York Red Bulls had a goal filled occasion that left each team with a point each, with a final score of three for each side. The last match of the weekend left home fans of the San Jose Earthquakes disappointed as they dropped their home opener 0-2 against Real Salt Lake.
La Liga had its most famous card this weekend: El Clasico. Barcelona fell behind early with a goal by Karim Benzema from Real Madrid, but caught up quickly in the 18′ with a goal by who else but Lionel Messi. However, Sergio Ramos and Real would have the last laugh with his 82nd minute header goal that secured the 3 points, closing the gap to only 13 points between them and Barcelona.
The rest of Europe had lots of action as well this weekend. Celtic are on their way to the semi-final in the Scottish Cup after a 2-1 winning effort against St. Mirren. Celtic are 16 points up on the rest of the pack in the Scottish Premier League. In Italy, AC Milan jumped Lazio, both on the field and on the table, by beating Lazio 3-0 and gaining their way to third place in Serie A. Inter Milan stays in the race with an awesome come-from-behind win against Catania on the road. After the first 20 minutes, Inter was down 0-2, but crawled back in the match and two minutes into extra time, netted the game’s final goal and got the result they were looking for, 3-2. Juventus and Napoli played to a 1-1 draw this weekend to stay in their respective positions at one and two on the Serie A table.
TSG Hoffenheim was at home against Bayern Munich, but that didn’t stop Bayern Munich from continuing to dominate Bundesliga with a 1-0 win. PSG didn’t do themselves any favors with keeping
Lyon off their backs on the Ligue 1 table. Paris Saint-Germain lost to Stade de Reims, a lowly French team, 1-0. This shortens the gap to just two, with Lyon earning one point in their weekend bout with Brest.
That’s it for now, but look for a Champions League update later this week.