Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens praise Newcastle's midfield as the difference in their win over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final. Before we head into a two-week international break filled with impactful games -- FIFA World Cup qualifying, Concacaf Nations League finals and much more -- let's recap another tremendous weekend in Europe's top soccer leagues, shall we? How about Newcastle United , whose year wait for a trophy ended on Sunday with a victory over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final?
Or Barcelona , who shrugged off what should have been a lethal deficit at Atletico Madrid to score four times in the final 15 minutes, winning comfortably and taking charge of LaLiga's title race? Arsenal and Chelsea usually brings fire and brimstone-level drama, but instead we got a curiously dull Gunners victory that failed to meet the moment.
Elsewhere, Inter Milan took a huge step forward in the Serie A title race with an impressive win over Atalanta that was compounded by Napoli 's failure to beat Venezia , and we have plenty to talk about when it comes to Bayern Munich , Bayer Leverkusen , Paris Saint-Germain , Manchester United and much more.
Here are some musings and reactions to the most memorable moments of the weekend. Even if you follow the Premier League , it's hard to overstate the outsized significance of this Newcastle club. It's not just the romantic notion of the giant stadium dominating the city, or the passionate, long-suffering base, or the fact that it's part of the country that feels peripheral to the seats of power.
The Toon Army narrative may have become trite over the years -- it also may have lost some sparkle after the Saudi takeover -- but it's no less real. Just as the nine Wembley defeats and year wait for a major trophy the last one was the Inter-City Fairs Cup, the precursor to the Europa League is the sort of psychological baggage that infected not just the fan base, but the players, too.
