We are here, another week in the books. This week saw a very black Monday for Toronto sports teams. Both the Leafs and Raptors got demolished after what had been pretty reasonable weeks for both. The Leafs had just come off getting 5 out of 6 points in the Canadian west coast swing. The Raptors took big wins over the Pelicans and Heat.
For me, the bigger concern between these two teams is the Raptors. As of late, the team is not as strong as they were early on, and we are beginning to see signs of a team that may have peaked early. The saving grace may be Kawhi's load management. If Kawhi starts playing unreal basketball and becomes the clutch player the Raptors need down the stretch, and if they're healthy with Lowry and Van Vleet, they could come back from this downward stretch and really take off. This should be interesting to keep an eye on, see where it goes from here.
The Maple Leafs are a whole other story. With Kapanen out with a concussion, the forward depth is not where it was a week ago. That is to add to the missing pieces on defence that are still not recovered. Andersen has been the team's MVP, but ideally you want to give him some time off so he's fresh for the playoffs. My question is what's more important: Andersen getting some rest or Leafs getting home ice advantage versus the Bruins. In my opinion, you need to make sure the team is ready for the playoffs. There is no guarantee you're getting to get home ice with as well as the Bruins were playing. Actually, it might be good to get Sparks some games and see if the team in front of him reacts to not having their star goalie behind them. If the team can get on a bit of a run to end the season, regardless of who is playing and regardless of where they finish, that might be the medicine they need for the playoffs.
The point to everything the Leafs and Raptors are doing needs to be one thing: Playoffs. They've proven everything they need to prove during the regular season, now it's time for the next step.
Onto soccer we go! Real Madrid have had an interesting week to say the least. We heard rumours Jose Mourinho would be back with the merengues. But it ended up being another familiar face returning: Zinedine Zidane. What a shocker! Zidane is someone I certainly didn't expect to be the coach of this team, considering he left not even a year ago. Zidane's plans to buy certain players has me concerned. Rumour is Pogba is on the list of potential players. For me, I wouldn't do that if I were Zidane. Certainly Mbappe is number 1 on my list, and I would try to surround him with players who have a youth and enthusiasm about them that come without baggage. Pogba's past issues with Mourinho and certainly his attitude are very present. Pogba is a great player and his talent is second to none, but he's also a player with a big ego. Egos are great when it comes to soccer, but at this point Real Madrid needs humility. The big guns who have won everything the last few years need to hit the road. Thank you and good luck elsewhere for Ramos, Marcelo, Bale, Modric and co. This team needs to rebuild and the fans of this team need to be more patient, and nobody needs to be more patient than the president. As far as I'm concerned, if Ronaldo could leave everybody else can to.
Speaking of Ronaldo, his Champions League performance versus Atletico is the very reason why Juventus went to get him. Ronaldo is a big game player, who finds a way to be the difference maker every time. This guy is unbelievable. The performance was astonishing, and his headers are top in the world. Nobody can break a game open like Ronaldo; I'm sure Real Madrid would love to have had the three goals he scored versus Atletico. You can't even fault Atletico Madrid for their efforts, they just came across one of the best of all time having one of those nights. Ronaldo just put himself back in the conversation for player of the year.
Moving to the Premier League, Arsenal took an important win over Manchester United. Seems like things have cooled off a bit at United from their sublime run, but they're in European contention now. It's a 4 horse race for 2 positions. Tottenham have dropped to this battle, and Chelsea for me are the team struggling to stay in this fight. Chelsea are another team that need a restructuring. In my opinion, they need a head coach that brings his own men in and that they stick with and don't abandon after the first string of bad results. They need a Klopp. The issue facing all these teams at the moment is the strength of Man City. The citizens just demolished Schalke in Champions League (which by the way, it's a miracle Schalke even made it to this point with the season they're having). Between the top 2 battle and the 3-6 battle, watch out for an exciting end to the Premier League season!
Moving on to another exciting battle: the Portuguese league! Benfica, after clawing back difficult road wins against Guimaraes, Sporting and Porto, draw at home to Belenenses SAD. A shocking result! Benfica seem to be a bit of victims of their own success, lots of dumb errors from a team full of strong youth. This result could just be a blimp on the road. The key is to ensure this is just a blimp and not a sign of potential shortcomings down the road. We shall see!
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