Daily Weekend. Manchester is blue, refereeing scandals in Spain and Italy

The past weekend was rich in events not only in the world of football, but also in the world of sports in general. Dailysports will introduce you to all the bright news of the weekend that you might have missed.

Manchester is not being red for three matches

On March 3, the Manchester derby took place at the Etihad Stadium, where City hosted United. In the first round match, Pep Guardiola's wards confidently won at Old Trafford with a score of 3:0 and intended to get three points again in the game with their neighbors.

However, City started the match on their own territory poorly, conceding from Marcus Rashford in the eighth minute and losing the score for almost 50 minutes. It was only in the 56th minute that Phil Foden equalized the numbers on the scoreboard, and 24 minutes later the forward scored a double, putting his team ahead.

The advantage of the "townspeople" was consolidated by Erling Haaland, who with his goal in the 90+1 minute set the final score - 3:1 in favor of City. In the Premier League matches, Manchester United have not won the derby since January 14, 2023, when the Red Devils won 2-1 at Old Trafford.

In the last ten games of the teams in the championship, it is not yet possible to trace the clear dominance of one of the teams, although Pep Guardiola's team has broken out into the leaders in terms of won matches: four wins for MU, one draw, five wins for MC.

World record at the World Indoor Athletics Championships

Glasgow also hosted the first major athletics tournament of 2024 last weekend - the World Indoor Championships.

In addition to the convincing victory of the US team in the medal standings, we also note the updated world record in the 400 meters. For the second time in a year, the Dutchwoman Femke Bol has made history.

On February 19, at the national championship, she ran the distance in 49.24 seconds, and a little less than two weeks later, Femke broke her own record, running 400 meters in Glasgow in 49.17 seconds.

Also in Scotland, a new world record was set in the 60 meters hurdles. Devynne Charlton from the Bahamas tried her best, who covered the distance in 7.65 seconds.

One of the main events in athletics in 2024, namely the Diamond League, starts on April 20 with a stage in the Chinese city of Xiamen. In total, there will be 14 stages in the upcoming athletics season, and the competition will end with the super final in Brussels on September 13-14, 2024.

Howe's Jubilee Victory

On March 2, another significant match took place in the Premier League: Newcastle defeated Wolverhampton at home with a score of 3:0. In addition to the fact that the Magpies won for the first time in two matches, their head coach, Eddie Howe, celebrated his anniversary.

This triumph was the 100th for the coach in the Premier League matches. To achieve this, he needed 282 matches at the head of Newcastle and Bournemouth.

To this round figure, the 46-year-old specialist can add 66 draws and 116 defeats at the highest level of English football.

A story with a bitter taste at the Biathlon World Cup stage

The biathlon season is coming to an end, during which the seventh stage of the World Cup is already taking place, which is hosted by the Norwegian Holmenkollen.

In the mixed relay, 12 teams did not reach the finish line, which were withdrawn from the race as lapped. Among them is the fifth team in the mixed relay standings Switzerland, as well as the Ukrainian national team, which was lapped for the first time in the history of mixed relays at the Biathlon World Cup.

As a result, six teams reached the finish line, and the French team won the race. The leaders of the mixed relay standings, the Norwegians, were eventually content with only bronze.

Refereeing scandal in the Spanish championship, which took away a potential victory from Real Madrid

On March 2, a loud match took place in the Spanish La Liga, in which Valencia hosted Real Madrid. The "Bats" already by the 30th minute thanks to the efforts of Hugo Duro and Roman Yaremchuk sensationally led with a score of 2:0, but the "creamy" managed to win back two goals thanks to the double of Vinicius Junior.

The most interesting thing happened at the end of the match. Already in added time, the referee signaled the end of the match during one of Real's attacks, after which Jude Bellingham sent the ball into the net. This goal was not counted by Jesus Gil Manzano, which caused discontent among the players of the guest team.

Discontent resulted in disciplinary sanctions for Real Madrid players, including Bellingham himself, who was given a red card by the referee. The Madrid club will challenge the Englishman's suspension, but it is likely that the "creamy" will have to play at least two matches without their forward.

Benfica suffered one of the most crushing defeats in its history

On March 3, a match with one of the most high-profile names took place in the Portuguese championship - Porto hosted Benfica. In addition to the big names, it was also a match between the leaders of the championship, as the second team hosted the third. But that's where the intrigue ended.

The "Dragons" had already scored two goals against the opponent by the break, but this did not stop them and in the end Porto won with a score of 5:0. Benfica had not lost so badly since September 27, 2017, when the "eagles" conceded five goals in a Champions League match against Basel.

In the championship, Benfica lost with a score of 0:5 only for the second time in its history. The first time such a defeat happened on November 7, 2010... also at the "Estádio da Dragão".

Three dismissals in 39 minutes in a Serie A match

In the central match of the 27th round of Serie A, Lazio hosted Milan. This meeting was important for both teams, as they continue to fight for European cups. Three points thanks to Okafor's goal went to San Siro, but this is not what the game will be remembered for.

In the 57th minute, Pellegrini received a second yellow card for hitting Pulisic, but the most interesting thing started in added time.

In the 90+4th minute, Marusic immediately saw a red light in front of him, and it is not entirely clear what the referee did not like, and two minutes later, after Pulisic fouled Henozi, the second pushed the first.

As a result, the Milan player received a yellow card, and the Lazio player was sent off the field. It soon became known that Marco Di Bello, who worked on this match for the second time, will be suspended from work in Serie A matches. This time, for a month.