Making their Champions League debut FCR Cluj beat Roma 2-1 in the Olympic Stadium.
Manchester City dismantled Portsmouth 6-0 at Eastlands on Saturday and inflicted on Pompey their biggest ever Premiership loss – the previous worst was a 5-0 loss away to Birmingham on January 21, 2006.
Best forgotten…..
The goal Chelsea conceded to Manchester United should be a considered a catastrophic defensive failure. The Chelsea defence broke down in almost every position. As the move formed on the United left side Alex got pulled out of position as Berbatov and Rooney dropped back into midfield.
Evra, Berbatov and Rooney exchanged passes and when the United full-back sprung forward Joe Cole failed to go with him. The diminutive Evra then outmuscled Chelsea full back Jose Boswinga inside the penalty box before squaring a pass to the unmarked Berbatov who had rejoined the play.
Berbatov was allowed to shoot and Petr Cech failed to hold what looked to be a fairly routine effort. Instead the ball spilled to Park – also left free – ten yards out and United were 1-0 up.
Best goals….
Some cracking goals in the match day one of Champions League play. Florent Malouda finished of####reat build up involving John Obi Mikel and Frank Lampard to score Chelsea’s third in a 4-0 rout of Bordeaux.
Fernandinho of Shakhtar Donetsk scored an absolute screamer from a free kick against Basel to help his side to a 2-1 win.
Another classic free kick came from Alessandro Del Piero against Zenit St. Petersburg. The ball was hit with power, dip and swerve from a distance where most players would not have even have attempted a crack at goal. It proved to be the only goal of the match.
Juninho Pernambucano’s ability from a dead ball position is renowned throughout the world. But the Lyon midfielder threw in something a little bit different against Fiorentina. Instead of having his usual crack from a free kick just outside the penalty area the Brazilian played a perfect pass around the defensive wall for Benzema to run onto and score.
Finally Steven Gerrard’s goal from open play for Liverpool against Marseille was as sweetly struck a shot as you are ever likely to see.
Goal feast……
Atletico Madrid are scoring almost at will at times this season. Three goals away to PSV Eindhoven in midweek were followed by four against Recreativo Huelva on Saturday – all without conceding a goal.
North Americans in Europe….
US international Michael Bradley made his debut for Borussia Monchengladbach in a 1-0 loss at home against Hertha Berlin.
Biggest Howlers……
A reasonable explanation as to why referee Andre Marriner cancelled Steven Gerrard’s second minute goal for Liverpool against Stoke has still not been forthcoming.
Boro keeper Ross Turnbull nearly pulled off one for the blooper reel as he was caught in two minds (neither of them particularly smart!) at the edge of his own penalty area. He recovered after fumbling the ball while under little pressure and managed to avoid handing Sunderland a golden scoring chance.
Stat facts...
Jo and Ched Evans (Manchester City), David di Michele (West Ham), Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal) and Michael Turner (Hull City) all opened their Premiership scoring account this weekend.
On Saturday evening Real Salt Lake played in Rice-Eccles Stadium for the last time before their move to new digs. After going unbeaten in a dozen home games in MLS this season it was a case of unlucky 13 as Chivas won 1-0.
Even after only a handful of games there are only two teams that are pointless in the top five leagues in Europe - in Italy Cagliari and in Spain Sporting Gijon.
What was said….
Paul Wilson considers Spurs’ transfer dealings this past summer and is left unimpressed.
Tony Cascarino suggests that Manchester United should sign Emile Heskey.
Roy Keane hates ABBA! No comment from ABBA about Roy Keane.
The 3rd round of the Carling Cup is on Tuesday and Wednesday, CIS Cup in Scotland on the same days and a there is a full schedule of games in Serie A and La Liga. Matches to look out for include:
Newcastle vs. Spurs Portsmouth vs. Chelsea Manchester United vs. Boro Blackburn vs. Everton
The Easter holiday fixture list in England has, on many occasions, proved to be a turning point in the title race. With the second leg of the Champions League quarter finals set for Tuesday and Wednesday, all three English teams left in the competition as well as Spurs will only play one Premiership game this weekend. In all twelve teams face double headers.
The top game has Chelsea facing Spurs for the fourth time this season and the previous three have been excellent games. These clubs are second and third in the top flight's "form" table and Chelsea are looking for an eighth straight league win while Spurs are trying for a sixth successive Premiership victory.
Manchester City and Fulham play each other Monday and by the time the full time whistle is blown either of these clubs could be safe for another year. On Friday Fulham plays Everton at Goodison in a match up that has seen the home club win every time over the 11 premiership encounters. Also on Friday, City have a massive six-pointer with a Charlton side that has generated momentum over the last month.
Other games that catch the eye over the next three days include; Reading v Liverpool (Saturday); Bolton vs. Everton (Monday); Charlton vs. Reading (Monday); Portsmouth v Man Utd (Saturday); Arsenal v West Ham (Saturday); and Newcastle v Arsenal (Monday). The Scottish League plays one more round before the split although there looks to be precious little to decide.
The Championship continues to be beat it’s elder cousin the Premiership in terms of competitiveness and uncertainty. The pick of the games is Sunderland vs. Wolverhampton.
In the Bundesliga it is case of the top versus the bottom with Schalke 04 playing every football fan’s favouritre abbreviation Borussia M'gladbach. M‘Gladbach fans cannot blame their defense for their present predicament – they have only let in 33. Goals at the other end have been the problem – only 22 - and their away form has been atrocious with only 5 points gained on the road. M‘Gladbach also have a tough run-in. They still have to play in form Hamburg, 7th place Hannover, Stuttgart, Bayern Munich, before finishing off against relegation rivals Mainz and Bochum.
Empoli are the surprise packet in Serie A this season and this Saturday they travel to the San Siro with a lead of one point over Milan. Founded in 1920 this is only their 7th season in Serie A and last season was their best ever finish – 11th and 45 points. Empoli have already equaled their best-ever points total and still have 9 games left. Top scorer is Luca Saudati with 9 goals and he is a man who fits the description of having had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus – 13 different moves between clubs and this is his 4th spell with Empoli. He started his career with Milan.
In Spain the biggest game would appear to be Real Zaragoza versus Barcelona. Of the last 17 games between these two Barcelona has won 8 and drawn 4. Zaragoza has already beaten beat Barcelona this year 1-0. The win came at the Nou Camp in the Copa Del Rey but they lost 2-1 at home and were knocked out. Zaragoza have only lost twice at home this season – back to back in December to Osasuna and Valencia.
Their top scorer Diego Milito with 11 goals - last season he had 15 - was with Genoa when they won Serie B but they were refused promotion because they were caught match fixing. He then moved to Real Zaragoza to replace David Villa when he moved to Valencia and it now looks that Milito may move again this summer – perhaps even to Barcelona.
Last but certainly not least the MLS get underway this weekend. While the media attention has been on the Beckham signing and others such as Blanco the fact is we are going to see neither of these players before mid-season. This weekend expansion club Toronto FC takes a first bow at the Home Depot Centre where they will face Chivas.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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