Deportivo La Coruna 2-1 Barcelona: Joselu scores as Barca are beaten

Luis Enrique made a few changes to the team that thrashed the French champions - and his side was a pale shadow of the one on show in Wednesday's win

Chalk and cheese. Barcelona's starting XI against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night sealed perhaps the greatest comeback in the history of football. But four days later, the Blaugrana back-ups were beaten by lowly Deportivo La Coruna.

Barcelona continued with their 3-4-3 formation at Riazor, but this time Jordi Alba was used as left centre-back as Samuel Umtiti was rested. Such has been the impact of the French defender that the Catalans have won all of their league games when he has played.

In his absence, Barca conceded a scrappy first goal which Umtiti would surely have prevented, while the Deportivo winner saw Alex Bergantinos jump above Alba to head home from a corner. Again, Umtiti's extra height would probably have seen that goal averted, as well.

Further forward, Andre Gomes started in midfield and Barca are rarely the same side with the Portuguese summer signing in their team. Again they struggled to build, with Lionel Messi more of a peripheral figure here and Arda Turan not nearly as impressive as Neymar - so spectacular against PSG but out injured here.

Rafinha was also out, so Denis Suarez started on the right and although he produced the cross which led to the equaliser through Luis Suarez shortly after the restart, he was understandably unable to control the midfield like Andres Iniesta or even Ivan R

Both of those two came on just short of the hour mark in an attempt by Luis Enrique to win the match, but Barca barely improved and instead ended up losing as Bergantinos headed the winner 16 minutes from time.

After the goal, Luis Enrique threw on Paco Alcacer in search of a late leveller, but the former Valencia striker has just three goals to his name since moving to the Catalan club and remains disappointing for a player who cost €30 million when he signed in the summer.

This was a hangover from Wednesday's wonderful win over PSG - no doubt about that. After the events at Camp Nou in midweek, it must have been extremely tough for Barca's players to lift themselves mentally and also physically for a tough trip to Deportivo - revitalised since the arrival of Pepe Mel as coach and impressive in this match.

With Barca back in contention in the Champions League and still in the hunt for La Liga (despite dropping three points here), with the final of the Copa del Rey to come at the end of the season, Luis Enrique knows he will need to rotate his pack in order to keep his players fresh for an assault on all three competitions.

However, it must be frustrating for the Blaugrana boss that while his first XI are capable of sweeping aside one of Europe's elite teams in such style, as they did on Wednesday night, the back-up options are just nowhere near the same standard. And it could end up costing Barcelona this season when it matters most.

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Transfer news

REAL MADRID WANT HAZARD

Real Madrid are set to test Chelsea's resolve in the summer with a huge offer for Eden Hazard, according to Mundo Deportivo.

Zinedine Zidane will offer striker Alvaro Morata plus cash for the diminutive Belgian, who has scored 11 goals and assisted a further four in his 26 Premier League appearances this season.

Morata has previously been linked with a switch to Stamford Bridge as leading scorer Diego Costa's future at the club remains clouded.

CHELSEA BATTLE FOR LINGARD

Chelsea are set to join Arsenal in a battle to sign Manchester United winger Jesse Lingard, according to The Sun.

The England international has just one year left on his current deal, with the Gunners having monitored his situation for some time.

But they are now set to face competition from their London rivals, with Antonio Conte keen to table a bid for Lingard this summer.

MAN CITY SCOUTING HENRICHS

Manchester City are scouting Bayer Leverkusen defender Benjamin Henrichs, according to the Daily Star.

Pep Guardiola is keen to bolster his defence ahead of next season, and has made the Germany international one of his priority signings.

City scouts will again watch the 20-year-old when Leverkusen take on Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday.

CHELSEA LEAD N'ZONZI RACE

Chelsea and Manchester City are leading the race to sign Sevilla midfielder Steven N'Zonzi this summer, according to the Sunday People.

The former Stoke City man has a release clause of £25 million in his contract, and Juventus have also shown an interest in N'Zonzi after he rejected a new deal.

SPURS MAKE BARKLEY PRIORITY

Tottenham have made Everton midfielder Ross Barkley their No.1 summer transfer target, according to the Sunday People.

The Toffees are likely to want in excess of £30 million for the England international, though Ronald Koeman is keen to tie him down to a new contract following a run of improved performances.

BAYERN MUNICH WANT JAMES

Carlo Ancelotti is hoping for a reunion with James Rodriguez as the Italian attempts to lure the Colombian to Bayern Munich, according to Marca.

James was brought to Real Madrid by Ancelotti and the Bavarian club are willing to back their coach in pursuit of the attacker, who has endured a frustrating time at the Santiago Bernabeu.

JUVE MOVE FOR ROMA'S SPALLETTI

Roma coach Luciano Spalletti has reached an agreement in principle to join Juventus should Massimiliano Allegri leave, according to Corriere della Sera.

Allegri's contract expires in 2018 but he has been linked with a move to Arsenal, prompting the club to look for options should he leave. Juve have previously tried to lure Spalletti to Turin but the move failed to materialise, but it appears he is the main candidate for it this time around too.

OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN TO LIVERPOOL?

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has grown fed up with life at Arsenal and could make a shock move to Liverpool at the end of the season, The Mirror reports.

The 23-year-old's contract expires at the end of the 2017-18 campaign and has attracted interest from Manchester United and Manchester City, though the Gunners are yet to offer him a new deal. And Liverpool are said to be looking to join the clubs chasing his signature.

PSG WANT POCHETTINO

Ligue 1 giants PSG are looking to replace coach Unai Emery with Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, according to the Evening Standard.

Emery's position in Paris is in jeopardy following his side's Champions League exit to Barcelona, and they are considering a move for Pochettino, who played for the French club from 2001 to 2003.

MAN UTD PLOT ALEXIS MOVE

Manchester United are plotting a sensational summer move for Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez, according to the Daily Express.

The Red Devils are monitoring the Chile international's situation at the Emirates Stadium following a reported training ground bust-up.

And should United miss out on their primary target Antoine Griezmann, then they will batlle the likes of Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain for Alexis.

ATLETICO SCOUT SIMEONE JR

Atletico Madrid reportedly will send scouts to monitor Giovanni Simeone - the son of their coach Diego - with a view to making a move, writes Tuttomercatoweb.

The striker has caught the attention of Los Rojiblancos with his fine displays for the Serie A side, in what is his first campaign in Europe.

Scouts will also be in Italy to watch Sampdoria man Dennis Praet and AC Milan defender Mattia De Sciglio in action.

BARCA-MADRID TUG OF WAR FOR STARLET

Porto starlet Diogo Dalot is the centre of a tug of war between Barcelona and Real Madrid, reports AS.

The full-back has actually has been compared to Cristiano Ronaldo, with fans in Portugal wondering if he would change his position to one further up the flank.

Madrid have already made contact with his entourage as Porto are demanding €20 million for their starlet, having rebuffed Barcelona's initial €10m offer.

SAGNA OPEN TO WEST HAM

Manchester City full-back Bacary Sagna is open to a summer move to West Ham, the Sun reports.

The veteran France international does not know if he will be offered a new deal at the Etihad Stadium and is willing to move back to London, where he featured for Arsenal when he first moved to England.

MAN CITY KEEN ON DANI ALVES

Manchester City are keen on signing Juventus defender Dani Alves this summer, according to Corriere dello Sport.

Pep Guardiola worked with the Brazil international during his time at Barcelona and is open to reuniting with the full-back.

Juve themselves are weighing up a move for AC Milan's Mattia De Sciglio, which could open the door for Alves to leave the Serie A champions.

PL GIANTS TRACK DAVIES

Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool are among several European clubs tracking Alphonso Davies, according to Metro.

The 16-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps winger has been turning heads since making his pro debut last season.

Davies made eight league appearances in 2016, and scored in Vancouver's CONCACAF Champions League win over the New York Red Bulls last week.

ARSENAL TRIO WANT OUT

Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are all keen to leave Arsenal this summer, according to the Daily Telegraph.

All three have just over 12 months remaining on their respective contracts, with Ozil having rejected the Gunners's most recent offer of a new deal.

Alexis, meanwhile, is set to depart following a training ground bust-up in recent weeks while Oxlade-Chamberlain is keen for a new challenge away from the Emirates Stadium.

BARCELONA CAST EYE OVER CHELSEA TRIO

With changes coming at Barcelona in the summer, the club are preparing for the summer window and took a trip to London this week to watch both Arsenal and Chelsea, Marca reports.

They watched Chelsea on Monday, paying particular attention to Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso, though Nemanja Matic also caught their attention.

Hector Bellerin, meanwhile, was the Arsenal player that they monitored most closely.

JUVE CLOSE IN ON WILLIAMS

Juventus are closely monitoring the progress of Athletic Bilbao attacker Inaki Williams, according to Deia.

The forward has a €50 million release clause and is also being tracked by Liverpool, although he has said he is not in a hurry to make his next move.

ARSENAL OFFER OZIL HUGE PAY RISE

Arsenal have offered wantaway star Mesut Ozil an eye-watering £280,000 per week to stay at the club beyond the summer, according to reports from The Mirror.

The German, alongside Alexis Sanchez, is said to be seeking a new club ahead of next season but Gunners chiefs are hoping the groundbreaking offer will be enough to convince him to stay.

Ozil is currently Arsenal's highest earner on around £140,000 per week, with the willingness to break through the £250,000-per-week barrier unheard of at the Emirates.

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Six Nations 2017: England 61-21 Scotland

England retained their Six Nations title and equalled New Zealand's world record for consecutive Test wins with a seven-try demolition of sorry Scotland.

A hat-trick of tries for Jonathan Joseph, and one apiece for replacements Anthony Watson and Billy Vunipola and two for Danny Care put the visitors to the sword at Twickenham as Owen Farrell kicked 26 points.

It was England's highest score in this oldest of international fixtures and equalled their biggest winning margin against Scotland as the Calcutta Cup was retained with style and swagger.

It means England face Ireland in Dublin next weekend with both consecutive Grand Slams and a world record of 19 Test wins in their sights.

It was a chastening afternoon for Scotland despite them scoring three converted tries, their hopes of a first Triple Crown since 1990 wrecked by a dismal first-half performance.

They lost both Stuart Hogg and his replacement Mark Bennett early and were forced to play the majority of the contest with scrum-half Ali Price on the wing, their winless run at Twickenham now stretching past 34 years.There has been much debate about England's form this Six Nations despite their long unbeaten run.

But in front of a celebrating capacity crowd they cut loose, running in three tries as they scored 30 points in a one-sided first half.

Four more tries and thirty-one more points followed in the second period as they established an unassailable lead atop the Six Nations table.

Never before have England scored more than 44 points against the Scots, and only once before won by the 40-point margin.

Two tries from Huw Jones were scant consolation for Scotland coach Vern Cotter, his team only offering any sort of threat when the match was gone.

Prince Harry presented the Calcutta Cup to winning England captain Dylan Hartley

England's brilliant opening

After struggling to start well so often under Eddie Jones, England had come storming out of the blocks to bring Twickenham exploding to life.

With Fraser Brown in the sin-bin for lifting Elliot Daly above the horizontal in the tackle, England attacked at pace and with the Scottish defence stretched, Joseph ghosted between his opposite centres for the first try.

After 10 minutes England had 92% possession, Farrell landing two penalties to add to the conversion, and it only got worse for the visitors.

With star full-back Hogg off with a head injury, his replacement Bennett was carried off with a hamstring injury, forcing Price to switch to the wing.

And with Joseph dancing past four static defenders on 24 minutes from George Ford's lovely delayed pass, they were 20 points down with just 25 minutes gone.

Prop Gordon Reid burrowed over from close in after Scotland kicked a penalty to the corner, but another blistering England attack off quick line-out ball let Farrell free Joseph, Watson appearing on his outside shoulder to dash in unopposed.

Scotland strike back, but too little too late

Joseph ran on to Ben Youngs' short pass to complete his treble and make it 35-7 just after half-time, and while Huw Jones squeezed through Joseph and Jack Nowell for a second Scottish try, Eddie Jones then threw on his bench as England went hunting for more.

Vunipola, on as a replacement after returning from injury, battered over from a driving maul and the stage seemed set for white-shirted carnage.

But Scotland refused to roll over and as the game became increasingly unstructured, visiting centre Jones side-stepped his way into the left-hand corner.

However, replacement England scrum-half Care nipped over with nine minutes remaining, and relentless English pressure and possession with time up saw him cap the romp with a celebratory dive over the line.

Man of the match: Jonathan Joseph

After being rested against Italy, the outside centre was back to his best, giving his hopes of Lions selection a timely boost with his best performance for England in a year.

Cyprus won 24 matches in a row between 2008 and 2014 but they are not a tier one nation (the premier sides in the game). England's best run before Eddie Jones took over was a streak of 14 consecutive wins between 2002 and 2003 - which ended just before their World Cup-winning campaign.

What is the players' view?

Scotland captain John Barclay: "We just didn't show up. We got off to a bad start and continued, our discipline was very poor and we gave away soft tries.

"You don't win however many games in a row without being a good side so good luck to England. We are trying to move away from the tag of plucky losers but that wasn't even that. We were useless."

England hat-trick scorer Jonathan Joseph:

"Coming back into the team, scoring a hat-trick and winning the Six Nations means it has been a great day.

"We focused on starting each session very well and you could see we did that today. The set piece was unbelievable and what we did on the back of that was very good."

England's record-equalling run (October 2015-present)
WIN 1: 60-3 v Uruguay (h)	WIN 10: 44-40 v Australia (a)
WIN 2: 15-9 v Scotland (a)	WIN 11: 37-21 v South Africa (h)
WIN 3: 40-9 v Italy (a)	WIN 12: 58-15 v Fiji (h)
WIN 4: 21-10 v Ireland (h)	WIN 13: 27-14 v Argentina (h)
WIN 5: 25-21 v Wales (h)	WIN 14: 37-21 v Australia (h)
WIN 6: 31-21 v France (a)	WIN 15: 19-16 v France (h)
WIN 7: 27-13 v Wales (h)	WIN 16: 21-16 v Wales (a)
WIN 8: 39-28 v Australia (a)	WIN 17: 36-15 v Italy (h)
WIN 9: 23-7 v Australia (a)	WIN 18: 61-21 v Scotland (h)

What did the pundits make of it?

Former England scrum-half Matt Dawson:

"If England are going to play like that next week, I don't know how Ireland are going to win that game.

"Eddie Jones has created so much pressure on this side over the past few weeks and this has been their response, a 40-point whipping of Scotland."

Ex-Scotland captain Gavin Hastings:

"My goodness me, England were imperious. They will be very pleased with that, but it was an armchair ride they had for most of the afternoon.

"Scotland and their supporters will be bitterly disappointed, they just did not turn up. England were thoroughly deserving of the manner of their victory."

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Barcelona receive more penalties than anyone else – and here is the proof

The stats show that over the past five seasons the Catalans have benefited more from penalties won and conceded than any of their rivals

Who is favoured more by referees – Barcelona or Real Madrid? It is a question that has been debated furiously by fans of Spain’s two biggest clubs for decades and is once again in the spotlight following the events of Tuesday night in the Champions League.

Barca completed the greatest comeback in Champions League history at Camp Nou, overturning a 4-0 first-leg deficit to destroy Paris Saint-Germain 6-1 on the night. But two of their goals came from hotly-contested penalties while PSG were also denied a spot-kick following a Javier Mascherano handball.

This all arrives in the aftermath of a domestic controversy when Gerard Pique caused consternation by suggesting Madrid's dubious penalty in the recent 3-2 win over Villarreal was just further evidence that the capital side are given preferential treatment by officials.

Alongside clippings of stories from Madrid-based publications, the Barcelona defender tweeted: "Against the same teams. 8 points [swing]. 8 exactly. Those cuttings are from the press of Madrid to avoid doubt."

Madrid star Sergio Ramos aimed a dig at his national team-mate over the issue a few days later, but Barcelona technical secretary Robert Fernandez backed the ex-Manchester United man, telling Esport 3 : "People may like it or not, but Pique is telling the truth."

But is Pique really telling the truth?

Of course, there are a number of refereeing decisions that can affect a football game – from offside calls and free-kicks to red and yellow cards.

But when it comes to penalty kicks, the evidence is clear; Barcelona receive more penalties than Real Madrid and also concede considerably fewer than their bitter rivals.

With the help of Opta, Goal tallied up every penalty awarded in La Liga only over the past five seasons. Only teams who have been in the Primera Division every year since 2012-13 were included in the study.

The data shows that Barcelona have won 47 penalties in the league in the past five years, more than any side in Spain and three more than Real Madrid.

CLUB	PENS FOR	PENS AGAINST	PENALTY GD
Barcelona	47	13	+34
Real Madrid	44	22	+22
Atletico	32	11	+21
Sevilla	39	29	+10
Granada	28	22	+6
Espanyol	20	15	+5
Athletic	25	24	+1
Malaga	22	22	0
R.Sociedad	19	27	-8
Valencia	26	35	-9
Celta Vigo	20	29	-9

Furthermore, when it comes to penalties conceded, only Atletico Madrid (11) have given away fewer spot-kicks since 2012-13 than Barcelona's 13.

Incredibly, Real Madrid have conceded nine more penalties than Barca during that time - seven more than Espanyol and the same number as Granada.

In total, this means that Barcelona have a penalty difference of +34 over the last five campaigns, comfortably the highest in Spain - and a +12 differential over Madrid.

Of course, it is difficult to draw too many solid conclusions from the penalty data without context. Some spot-kicks are correctly awarded, some incorrectly, and others not at all. Some penalties are of very little value to a team. If a side is 5-0 up and the referee points to the spot, it will be of less importance than the award of one when the score is goalless or in a more decisive match such as a Clasico.

It is also important to remember that the strength and style of a side also has a bearing. Barcelona have been the best team in La Liga generally over the past five seasons, winning three titles and possessing one of the best frontlines in history. It is only natural that skilful superstars like Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar will draw a large number of fouls in the opposition box.Similarly, a side with an outstanding defence like Atletico will naturally commit fewer errors in their own area – so it is no surprise that Diego Simeone’s men have conceded the least penalties. And a team that dominate territory, as Barcelona have done for much of the last five years, will offer the opposition less time and possession to threaten them.

But in terms of the basic number of penalties won and conceded over the past five years, Barcelona are comfortably the biggest victors in La Liga - news that will be of little comfort to fans of Madrid, or PSG for that matter!

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