Daily Weekend. Klopp's 30th match against Guardiola, novation with VAR in Portugal

Last weekend was rich in sporting events. Dailysports brings you everything you might have missed over the weekend.

Anniversary in Klopp and Guardiola's relationship

On 10 March, Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola once again faced each other in a head-to-head duel, which fell on the 28th round of the Premier League at Anfield. It is noteworthy that the coaches met for the thirtieth time, although it may be their last face-to-face match, given the German's departure from the Scousers at the end of the season.

The first game this season at the Etihard ended in a 1-1 draw, and Liverpool and Manchester City played at home to the Merseysiders with a similar result. Remarkably, this is the second time that Klopp and Guardiola's teams have drawn in both league games during the season.

The last time this happened was in the Premier League 2021-2022 campaign and then the two meetings were also identical - 2-2, but Liverpool were stronger than City in the semi-final of the Premier League Cup, winning 3-2.

In total, the German has the edge in the Klopp vs Guardiola clash, with 12 wins against 11 for the Spaniard. Seven more matches ended in a draw. Who knows if we will see the 31st match between the coaches, given that the teams may meet in the FA Cup…

The penultimate round of the Biathlon World Cup ended with the Bø brothers dominating the race

The eighth stage of the Biathlon World Cup ended last weekend in Sol Lake City, USA. The weekend programme was opened by the women's Persiut, where the Norwegian team continues to fail to impress.

The highest finish of the Norwegians was achieved by Caroline Knotten, who missed two targets on four fences, but lost eight seconds to Julia Simon, who finished fourth.

The situation was somewhat different in the men's Persiut. There were three representatives of the Norwegian team in the top 5, and two of them - brothers Johannes and Tarjei Bø shared the first and second places.

The final chord of the biathlon season will be the World Cup stage in Kenmore, Canada, which will be held from 14 to 17 March. Its programme will include sprints, pursuit races and mass starts.

PSG with Mbappé in reserve did not win the third match of the championship in a row

Earlier, PSG head coach Luis Enrique said that the Parisians will have to get used to playing without their main star Kylian Mbappé, who is expected to move to Real Madrid in the summer.

Adaptation, however, is going oh so hard. Earlier, Enrique took off Mbappé in the course of matches, and in the game of the 25th round of Ligue 1 against Reims and left the striker in the reserves. In the match with the ninth team of the French championship, Mbappé received 18 minutes of game time, but he could not influence the situation - PSG and Reims played a 2-2 draw.

Luis Enrique's team has not won in the championship since 17 February, when Nantes was defeated with a score of 2:0, and then the goal was just that marked Mbappé. After that, the Parisians have three draws, but despite the victories of their rivals, PSG still maintain a ten-point gap from second place, continuing to be the leader of the French Ligue 1.

Novation with VAR from the Portuguese championship

On 9 March in the match of the 25th round of the Portuguese championship met Rio Ave and Braga. The game ended in a nil draw, but things could have been different.

In the 64th minute Simon Banza opened the scoring, but after the intervention of the BAR the goal was cancelled. This is where the historic moment that we will remember this game by.

The head referee of the match, Fabio Verissimo, announced his verdict for the first time in the history of the Portuguese championship after watching the video replay not only in the stadium, but also to the spectators in front of their TV screens.

A new league ruling has come into effect which obliges referees to publicly argue their judgement after the VAR intervenes, but the referees' own negotiations with the video assistant van will remain behind the scenes.

Arsenal set a historic achievement after becoming champions of England

Saturday's hard-fought 2-1 victory over Brentford gave Arsenal their eighth consecutive win and continued their lead in the English Championship, given the aforementioned draw between Liverpool and Manchester City.

"The Canaries" have yet to lose points this year, having last lost to Fulham on 31 December 2023, allowing Mikel Arteta's team to repeat the historic achievement by becoming the fourth team to win all eight of their opening league matches of the year.

Notably, the three previous teams that also matched that figure, namely Manchester United (2009), Liverpool (2020) and Manchester City (2021) were crowned champions of England at the end of the season.

Saudi Arabia continues its expansion into sports

Many people have numerous stars in the Saudi Arabian football championship on their ear, but this Middle Eastern country is spreading its influence in more than just the No. 1 sport.

Last weekend, a boxing fight between Anthony Joshua and former UFC champion Francis Ngannou took place in Riyadh. Unlike the fight with Tyson Fury, where the debutant managed to send the Brit to knockdown, Joshua was very quick to deal with his opponent and finished the fight already in the second round.

In May 2024 (it is stated so, but we hope that the fight will happen at all) the capital of Saudi Arabia will host another fight with a very loud sign - a fight for the title of absolute world champion in heavyweight between Oleksandr Usyk and Fury.

Let's not forget the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia, which also took place last weekend. In it there was no sensation and the first place in the race was taken by the pilot of the Red Bull team Max Verstappen.