Apr 25, 2022
Canadians in Europe: Buchanan's first goal gives Club Brugge key win
Tajon Buchanan's first goal for Club Brugge couldn't have been bigger, Jessie Fleming helped maintain Chelsea's title push and Alphonso Davies added yet another trophy to the cabinet. Here's a look at what Canadians did in Europe this weekend.
TSN.ca Staff
Tajon Buchanan's first goal for Club Brugge couldn't have been bigger, Jessie Fleming helped maintain Chelsea's title push and Alphonso Davies added yet another trophy to the cabinet.
Here's a look at what Canadians did in Europe this weekend.
Tajon Buchanan, Club Brugge - The Belgian First Division A has one of the more complicated systems in European football when it comes to determining its champion. Like in Scotland, there is a separation of teams at a particular juncture. In the case of Belgium, the top four teams are grouped together after the 34-game mark and will play each other home and away for the final six matches of the season. This season, the top four teams are leaders Union SG, Club Brugge, Anderlecht and Antwerp. Oh, and each team's point total is halved entering into the playoffs (an odd number will be rounded up to the nearest point) as a means to somewhat even the playing field among the four teams. Got that? Okay, well this past weekend was the first match for each team in the championship round. Club Brugge started things at home to Antwerp on Sunday and came away with a key three points thanks in large part to Brampton, Ont.'s Tajon Buchanan. In the 37th minute, Buchanan latched onto a through ball into the Antwerp area. Cutting inside, Buchanan shook off Dorian Dessoleil and then worked inside a second defender before lofting in a right-footed shot that snuck in under the bar for the only goal of the match. The victory means that Club Brugge sits only three points back of Union with five matches to play.
--
Jessie Fleming, Chelsea and Shelina Zadorsky, Tottenham Hotspur - They didn't make it easy for themselves, but Jessie Fleming and Chelsea stayed atop the Women's Super League table with a hard-fought victory over Shelina Zadorsky and Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, maintaining their two-point lead over Arsenal with three matches remaining in the season. With the Gunners breathing down their necks, things couldn't have started much worse for Chelsea. In the 15th minute, Spurs defender Molly Bartrip rang her inswinging corner off the inside of the far post. The rebound came right into the knees of Chelsea defender Sophie Ingle and into her own net, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead. Chelsea would hit back soon after, though, through a fine individual effort from Guro Reiten. The Norway midfielder came into the area down the left after undressing Ashleigh Neville and then beat goalkeeper Tinja-Riikka Korpela with an audacious chip to make it 1-1. But the Blues would continue to be their own worst enemies. In the 33rd, Rachel Williams was sprung by a through ball into a 1v1 versus Ann-Katrin Berger. The Chelsea 'keeper dashed off her line, out of the area and clattered into Williams, taking away a sure goal-scoring opportunity. Unsurprisingly, Berger was shown a straight red and Chelsea would play the remainder of the match on 10 players. In the second half, Chelsea would show their championship mettle. With a run started down the left by Reiten, Sam Kerr headed home from a fine cross by Jonna Andersson in the 71st to make it 2-1. Coming on for Reiten in the 82nd, Fleming wrapped up the three points in style. In the fifth minute of stoppage, the London, Ont. native picked up a deflected ball past midfield and hammered home with her right foot from distance for a golazo that would end the match at 3-1. Fleming's fellow London native Zadorsky played the full 90 minutes in a losing effort, picking up a yellow card and making a pair of interceptions.
--
Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich - All Alphonso Davies has done in his four seasons at Bayern Munich is win trophies. This campaign would be no different with Julian Nagelsmann's team claiming their 10th straight Bundesliga title on Saturday with a victory over nearest rivals Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker. A win at the Allianz Arena would be a difficult proposition for BVB, having not won there in eight years. After withstanding a Dortmund onslaught in the opening minutes of the match, Bayern would strike first. From a corner, Robert Lewandowski headed down to Serge Gnabry at the edge of the area who struck a fine right-footed volley past a frozen Marwin Hitz to open the scoring in the 15th. The hosts would add another before halftime. Joshua Kimmich forced Dan-Axel Zagadou into a turnover, allowing Thomas Muller to spring Lewandowski down the left and the Poland international buried his 33rd league goal of the season in the 34th minute. Dortmund were handed an opportunity to get back into the match in the 52nd when Kimmich took Marco Reus down in the area and the referee point at the spot. Emre Can converted to make it 2-1 in the 52nd. Dortmund would push for an equalizer that wasn't coming. In the 83rd, Jamal Musaila put the game to bed with a close-range strike to make it 10 league titles on the trot for the hosts. Davies played the entire 90 minutes, completing 69 passings (.841), blocking two shots and making seven interceptions. The Bundesliga title makes it seven major trophies for Davies at Bayern.