European Soccer Round Up: Leagues Cup Edition

While Major League Soccer is in the middle of its offseason amongst preparations for the upcoming 2024 season, football/soccer is still being played all around the world, with a lot of leagues in their league cups.

England has both the FA Cup and the EFL Cup going on, while France has the Coupe de France, and Spain has the Copa del Rey. The Italian Coppa Italia quarter-finals were also going on as well. League cups are some of the most exciting times in football, as there is a chance that you will see small clubs face off against clubs who are giants, and may even see some surprise upsets in matches.

England

To start it off, England’s higher-level teams entered the FA Cup this past weekend, as the third round of the tournament began.

Third Round Scores (* = Replay due to Draw)

Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton *

Brentford 1-1 Wolves *

Fulham 1-0 Rotherham

Tottenham 1-0 Burnley

Maidstone United 1-0 Stevenage

Coventry 6-2 Oxford United

Millwall 2-3 Leicester City

AFC Wimbledon 1-3 Ipswich Town

Sunderland 0-3 Newcastle United

Watford 2-1 Chesterfield

Stoke City 2-4 Brighton

Gillingham 0-4 Sheffield United

Blackburn Rovers 5-2 Cambridge United

Newport County 1-1 Eastleigh *

Norwich City 1-1 Bristol Rovers *

QPR 2-3 Bournemouth

Plymouth Argyle 3-1 Sutton United

Southampton 4-0 Walsall

Hull City 1-1 Birmingham City *

Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 Cardiff City

Chelsea 4-0 Preston

Swansea 2-0 Morecambe

Middlesbrough 0-1 Aston Villa

West Ham 1-1 Bristol City *

Nottingham Forest 2-2 Blackpool *

Luton Town 0-0 Bolton *

Peterborough 0-3 Leeds United

Shrewsbury 0-1 Wrexham

West Brom 4-1 Aldershot Town

Manchester City 5-0 Huddersfield

Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool

Wigan Athletic 0-2 Manchester United

For the matches that will need a replay, those will be taking place on Tuesday, January 16th and Wednesday, January 17th. The fourth round of the English FA Cup will begin on Thursday, January 25th and will finish up on Monday, January 29th.

Along with the English FA Cup, the EFL Cup semifinals were also going on throughout the week, with Chelsea taking on Middlesbrough and Liverpool taking on Fulham. Both of these matches are the first of two legs, so the clubs will look to take an important advantage in leg number two. I

n the first semifinal matchup between Middlesbrough and Chelsea, a 37th minute goal by Hayden Hackney was all that was needed, as Michael Carrick’s Boro side took the 1-0 advantage over Chelsea going into the second leg. The other matchup would see a 2-1 for Liverpool, as goals by Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo would see the home side comeback from a 1-0 to give them the advantage after the first leg. The second legs for both of these matches will be taking place on Tuesday, January 23rd and Wednesday, January 24th.

France

In France, the Coupe de France Round of 64 took place from January 5th to January 7th, seeing 32 different matchups throughout the weekend.

Coupe de France Round of 64 Scores (Team Advanced in Penalty Kick Shootout)

Challans 0-4 Rodez

Chambly 1-2 Racing Club de France

Feignies Aulnoye 1-0 Quevilly

Pau 1-4 Nantes

Sarreguemines FC 0-2 Valenciennes

Metz 1-1 Clermont Foot (Clermont Foot 3-1 in PKs)

Fabregues 1-4 Trelissac

Brest 1-0 Angers

Lille 12-0 Golden Lion de Saint Joseph

Lyon La Duchere 1-2 Le Puy

Olympique Ales 1-2 Paris FC

Orleans 2-1 Nimes

Romorantin 4-0 CS Le Moule

Amiens 1-2 Montpellier

Avoine Chinon 0-4 Strasbourg

Entente 1-1 Bordeaux (Bordeaux 4-2 in PKs)

Les Herbiers 2-2 Chateauroux (Chateauroux 4-3 in PKs)

Sochaux 2-1 Lorient

St Omer 2-3 Dunkerque

Nice 0-0 Auxerre (Nice 4-2 in PKs)

CA Pontarlier 0-3 Lyon

Guingamp 0-2 Rennes

Le Havre 2-1 Caen

Lens 2-2 Monaco (Monaco 6-5 in PKs)

Thionville Lusitanos 0-1 Marseille

Bergerac Perigord 2-1 Libourne

Chambery 0-3 Toulouse

Dieppe 0-4 Laval

Dinan-Lehon 0-3 Reims

Feurs 3-5 St Priest

Louhans Cuiseaux 0-2 Rouen

Revel 0-9 PSG

The Round of 32 for the Coupe de France will begin on Friday, January 19th and will take place over the entire weekend, with matches finishing on Sunday, January 21st.

CLAIRE FONTAINE – NOVEMBER 15 : Kylian Mbappe is warming up during the 2nd training of the French Soccer National Team prior to the departure for the Soccer World Cup 2022, at the Centre National du Football, Clairefontaine in Yvelines, France. (Photo by Glenn Gervot/Icon Sportswire)

Spain

The Round of 32 for the Spanish Copa del Rey was underway from January 6th to January 8th, as Spain’s league cup is starting to come to a close. The scores for the Round of 32 were as follows

Copa del Rey Round of 32 Scores (Team Advanced in Penalty Kick Shootout)

Lugo 1-3 Atletico Madrid

Espanyol 0-1 Getafe

Elche 0-2 Girona

SD Huesca 0-2 Rayo Vallecano

Deportivo Alaves 1-0 Real Betis

Arandina CF 1-3 Real Madrid

Burgos CF 0-3 Mallorca

SD Amorebieta 2-4 Celta Vigo

Castellon 0-1 Osasuna

Racing de Ferrol 1-2 Sevilla

Cartagena 1-2 Valencia

Eibar 0-3 Athletic Club

Barbastro 2-3 Barcelona

Malaga 0-1 Real Sociedad

Tenerife 2-0 Las Palmas

Unionistas de Salamanca 1-1 Villarreal (Unionistas 7-6 in PKs)

The Round of 16 for the Copa del Rey will be taking place over three days from Tuesday, January 16th to Thursday, January 18th.

Italy

Another country that has its League Cup going on at the moment is the country of Italy. The Coppa Italia quarter finals were underway from Tuesday, January 9th to Thursday, January 11th. The scores for these matches went as follows:

Coppa Italia Quarter Finals Scores (Team Advanced in Penalty Kick Shootout)

Fiorentina 0-0 Bologna (Fiorentina 5-4 in PKs)

Lazio 1-0 Roma

AC Milan 1-2 Atalanta

Juventus 4-0 Frosinone

The semifinals for the Coppa Italia will see Juventus face off against Lazio, and Fiorentina face off against Atalanta. The first leg for both of these matches will take place on April 3rd, with the second leg taking place on April 24th.

All in all, it is an exciting time to be a football fan in Europe. All of the league cups are entering their main stages, which provides some exciting matches for clubs. Hopefully your favorite clubs will continue to progress in the cup, and if they have been eliminated already, onto next year!