Skip to main content

SCOREBOARD

Canadians in Europe: Bayern loses Davies, top spot

Alphonso Davies Bayern Munich Alphonso Davies walks off pitch with Bayern training staff - Getty Images
Published

Alphonso Davies might have played his last match of the season as Bayern's title challenge faltered, while Jonathan David scored again and Sam Adekugbe helped Galatasaray to a big win. Here's a look at Canadians in Europe over the past week.


Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich — Saturday could not have gone much worse for Bayern Munich with Thomas Tuchel's reign at the club continuing its rocky start. Not only did the team lose its match to Mainz, Calgary-raised left-back Alphonso Davies could miss the rest of the season with a thigh injury. The match was the first since Bayern had been eliminated from the Champions League at the hands of Manchester City, 4-1 on aggregate over their two-legged quarterfinals tie. The game at the Mewa Arena got off to an auspicious start for the visitors thanks to the injury to Davies. Davies was subbed off for Noussair Mazraoui in just the ninth minute. Darting forward into the Mainz area and past fullback Silvan Widmar, Davies pulled up and grabbed at his leg, immediately signaling to the bench that he needed to come off. On Sunday, the team said Davies was diagnosed with a thigh "muscle bundle injury" and would miss the next four to six weeks. TSN's Matthew Scianitti reported later in the day that the six-week timeframe looked to be "most likely," which would rule Davies out for the remainder of the Bundesliga season and leave his participation in Canada's Concacaf Nations League semi-final against Panama on June 14 in Las Vegas up in the air. Despite the injury to their star left-back, it was Bayern who struck first. Joao Cancelo, on loan from City and a likely candidate to step in at left-back in the absence of Davies, sent in a deep cross to the far post where it was headed in by the much-maligned Sadio Mané to make it 1-0 in the 29th. The visitors maintained control of the match until midway through the second half when everything went to hell in a 15-minute span. In the 65th minute, a Mainz free kick ricocheted around the box for several seconds with Bayern unable to clear until Ludovic Ajorque headed over Yann Sommer from close range to tie things at 1-1, despite the Bayern protests for offside. The hosts would go ahead in the 73rd, thanks again in part to sloppy play from Bayern. Karim Onisiwo was able to run into the Bayern area after Josip Stanisic slipped and set up the oncoming Leandro Barriero to beat Sommer with a low drive to make it 2-1. Mainz would wrap up the three points in the 79th when Aaron Martin skipped a low shot from just outside the area that got past a diving Sommer, making it 3-1. The Bayern loss, coupled with Borussia Dortmund's 4-0 thrashing of Eintracht, means that Bayern now trails BVB by one point with seven matches remaining in the season.

--

Jonathan David, Lille — It's easy to look at Lille's 1-1 draw at Auxerre on Saturday and see two dropped points from a winning position for LOSC, which is true, but the team ended up actually gaining ground on their rivals for the final European place in Ligue 1. While Auxerre remains fully ensconced in a relegation battle, they came into the match as winners of three straight. The Ottawa-raised Jonathan David almost opened the scoring in the 10th. Sprinting into the area, David collected a pass from Edon Zhergova and attempted to wait out his marker and fool goalkeeper Donovan Leon before unleashing a shot from a tight angle that clipped the post. In the 30th some sloppy defending by the hosts allowed for Zhergova's low shot on goal that was stopped by Leon, who couldn't hang onto the ball and spilled directly to David, but his low shot was deflected out of harm's way by a fantastic last-ditch effort from Jubal. As stalwart as the hosts' defending was in the early going, Les Dogues would break the duck through David in the 32nd. From a corner, Remy Cabella sent a ball into the area where it was met by M'Baye Niang's hand. After a VAR check, Lille was awarded a penalty and David came up to the spot. With a slight hesitation, Davies sent Leon the wrong way and scored his 21st goal of the season. David trails Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappé by one goal in the Ligue 1 Golden Boot race. The goal was David's 55th in a Lille shirt and now trails Pierre Pleimelding by seven for the all-time LOSC record. The lead would not last, however, and Niang went from goat to hero. In the 62nd, Youssouf M'Changama has taken to ground in the area by a rash challenge by Cabella and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. Up stepped Niang, looking to make amends for his earlier mistake. The former Milan and Watford man's penalty was a clean one, sending Lucas Chevalier the other way and salvaging a point for the hosts. The silver lining for Lille was that their three closest rivals for fifth spot all lost on the weekend: Rennes fell 1-0 to Montpellier, Lyon were defeated 2-1 by Marseille and Reims were 2-0 losers to Strasbourg. Lille remains in fifth on 56 points, three clear of Rennes with six matches remaining.

--

Sam Adeukugbe, Galatasaray — In what has undoubtedly been the most emotionally taxing season of his pro career, Sam Adekugbe is heading towards his first league title with Galatasaray. The 28-year-old left-back joined the Istanbul side at the end of February after his club, Hatayspor, ceased operations for the season following the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey on February 6 and killed more than 50,000 people, including over 21,000 people in Hatay. Among those killed were Hatayspor technical director Taner Savut and winger and Ghana international Christian Atsu. Adekugbe has settled in with Okan Buruk's star-studded side that also features Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera and midfielder Lucas Torreira, Italy winger Nicolo Zaniolo, Portugal midfielder Sergio Oliveira, Belgium forward Dries Mertens and Argentina forward Mauro Icardi. On Tuesday, Adekugbe picked up his first assist in a Gala shirt on Tuesday during the team's 4-1 rout of Alanyaspor and he did it in style. With his team already leading 3-1 on goals from Abdulkerim Bardakci, Icardi and Mertens, Adekugbe was sprung down the left side in the 62nd. In full sprint, he sent a picture-perfect cross for the oncoming Milot Rashica to poke home. It was just Adekugbe's ninth assist of his 10-year pro career. Adekugbe then turned in a 89-minute shift in Gala's 3-3 draw with Fatih Karagumruk on Sunday, finishing his afternoon with four crosses, two tackles won and an interception. With just six matches remaining, Galatasaray sits atop the Super Lig table on 70 points, six clear of Fenerbahce, who have a game in hand and are in action later on Monday. Galatasaray still plays Fenerbahce twice before the end of the season.