We’re back to normal service on the Loan Army front this week, with five more goals to bring you alongside all of the latest news and goings-on across Europe and South America.
Headliners
Charlie Colkett got us started in midweek with his first goal for Swindon Town. It came in a losing cause at home to promotion favourites Sheffield United, but it was a stupendous strike in its own right, arrowing into the top corner from 30 yards out to give the Robins hope at the start of the second half.
Fankaty Dabo returned from a minor injury to play 90 minutes at left-back in that one, and the duo both started again on Saturday in a defeat at Swindon. Colkett played the full ninety, Dabo was substituted at half time, and Islam Feruz missed out on both occasions.
Bertrand Traore was next up on another busy night of Europa League action. His first-half header helped Ajax on their way past FC Copenhagen and into the last eight of a UEFA competition for the first time since 2003.
He was less successful against Excelsior (for whom Danilo Pantic was an unused substitute) on Sunday, despite lining up as a centre-forward rather than a winger, lasting 66 disappointing minutes before being substituted seconds after this awkward dive.
Barely three minutes after Traore had struck at the Amsterdam ArenA, Andreas Christensen netted for the second time in a week 130 miles away in Mönchengladbach. His goal looked to have steered Borussia into the Quarter Finals themselves, but a poor second half display against Bundesliga rivals Schalke saw them lose out 3-2 on aggregate and say farewell to European football for another season.
He then took on the might of Bayern Munich on Sunday, nullifying them well for all but one moment, when Thomas Muller took all three points for the league leaders.
Friday night brought a return to domestic football, and a first home game in six weeks for Tammy Abraham, as Bristol City welcomed Izzy Brown and Huddersfield Town, who were still without the injured Kasey Palmer. City turned in one of the upsets of the season, routing the promotion hopefuls 4-0 at Ashton Gate, with Abraham grabbing a 19th league goal (22nd in all competitions) just before half time.
Juan Cuadrado made it a nice round five – and 106 for the season overall – on Sunday afternoon with a thumping header for Juventus away to Fiorentina, a goal good enough to hand the runaway Serie A leaders all three points.
England
Loic Remy is still out injured for Crystal Palace.
Tomas Kalas played the entirety of Fulham’s two home matches this week, but a draw against Blackburn and a defeat against Wolves dented their playoff hopes slightly. Lucas Piazon, meanwhile, is making steady progress in returning from a broken jaw.
Fikayo Tomori got his first league start for Brighton away to Leeds in another big promotion clash in the Championship, and played the full ninety minutes too, but his evening was marred by conceding a penalty en route to a 2-0 defeat. Still, he received plenty of credit for his performance, including promising words from manager Chris Hughton.
Christian Atsu got eight minutes from the bench as Newcastle drew 0-0 at Birmingham.
In League One, Jay Dasilva added two more substitute appearances to his belt as Charlton picked up just one point from a possible six and continued their slide down the table, but the young left-back is steadily getting more of a look-in under Karl Robinson. Jake Clarke-Salter, meanwhile, was pressed into 45 minutes of action for Bristol Rovers at Bury on Tuesday due to an injury, before remaining an unused substitute at home to Chesterfield on Saturday.
League Two saw Jamal Blackman claim his 14th clean sheet of the season as Wycombe won 2-0 away to Hartlepool four days after a 1-1 draw at home to Plymouth. Alex Kiwomya, however, only saw seven minutes of substitute action across two wins for Crewe Alexandra.
Nathan Baxter helped Solihull Moors to a 4-1 win away to North Ferriby United in the National League.
Spain
Jeremie Boga and Victorien Angban both started for Granada away to Sporting Gijon and each lasted 76 minutes of another defeat for the soon-to-be-relegated Andalusians.
Italy
Mario Pašalić played the final quarter of an hour of Milan’s 1-0 win over Genoa in Serie A on Saturday.
Germany
Michael Hector completed a fifth consecutive 90 minutes for Eintracht Frankfurt in a goalless draw at home to Hamburg. He’s steadily seen more playing time throughout the course of the season and has now established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet.
Netherlands
PSV hosted Vitesse on Saturday night and edged them 1-0 in a generally below-par and forgettable match. Marco van Ginkel played his first ninety minutes since returning from injury for the hosts against his former club, for whom Lewis Baker and Matt Miazga also featured throughout, whilst Nathan got 67 minutes and Mukhtar Ali was an unused substitute.
Belgium
The League Cup Final meant the playoff round of Belgian league action doesn’t start until next weekend, so Matej Delač and Cristian Cuevas had the weekend off.
Turkey
Kenneth Omeruo helped Alanyaspor to a 3-1 win away to Bursaspor.
Switzerland
There are still no minutes for Miro Muheim at FC Zurich.
Brazil
Wallace wasn’t in the Gremio squad for their Serie A draw away to Brasil de Pelotas in midweek.
Colombia
Joao Rodriguez started and played 65 minutes as Cortuluá drew 0-0 at home against Valledupar.