English Premier League
Manchester City entertained Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium and after Frank Lampard missed a penalty on 52 minutes which also blew his chance of scoring his 200th goal for the London club, Yaya Toure broke the deadlock when he did well to curl the ball past Petr Cech. Carlos Tevez then doubled the champions’ lead when his thunderous strike from outside the box beat Cech all ends up 5 minutes from time.
Manchester United travelled to London to meet Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road and got into the lead when Rafael smashed home a left footed screamer from long range leaving keeper Julio Cesar amongst many others in absolute aw on 23 minutes. Ryan Giggs doubled the advantage with 10 minutes left after being played in by Nani and the Welshman kept his cool to finish well past Cesar.
A brace from Santi Carzola gave Arsenal a much needed win against Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium but his second came 5 minutes from the end after Andreas Weimann had leveled the score for the Villans.
Gareth Bale became the hero for Tottenham yet again when he won it for the Spurs in their London derby against West Ham United. Bale put his side in the lead after 13 minutes but his strike was cancelled out by Andy Carroll’s penalty. Joe Cole put the Hammers in the lead on 58 minutes but parity was restored when Gylfi Sigurdsson tapped home from close range. Jussi Jaaskelainen kept his side in the game but was eventually beaten by Bale’s 25 yard bullet into the top corner.
Dimitar Berbatov’s peach of a volley gave Fulham a 1-0 win over Stoke at Craven Cottage while Norwich came from behind to beat Everton 2-1 at Carrow Road with Kei Kamara and Grant Holt scoring for the Canaries after Leon Osman had put the Toffees in front.
Arouna Kone scored twice along with Maynor Figueroa as Wigan beat Reading 3-0 at the Madejski Stadium. West Bromwich Albion beat Sunderland 2-1 at the Hawthorns with Romelu Lukaku scoring twice for the Baggies and Stephane Sessegnon scoring for the Black Cats.
Yohan Cabaye, Papiss Demba Cisse, Moussa Sissoko and Jos Hooiveld (Own Goal) gave Newcastle United a 4-2 win over Southampton at St. James’ Park. Morgan Schneiderlin and Rickie Lambert scored for the Saints.
Spanish La Liga
Goals from David Villa and Lionel Messi helped Barcelona beat Sevilla 2-1 at the Camp Nou after Alberto Botia had put the visitors in front. Real Madrid too came from behind away at Deportivo La Coruna with Kaka and Gonzalo Higuain scoring after Riki had put the hosts in front. Radamel Falcao’s penalty was enough to hand Atletico Madrid a 1-0 win over Espanyol at home.
Barca lead the pack with 68 points after 25 games with Atletico on 56 and Real on 52.
German Bundesliga
Mario Gomez struck twice as Bayern Munich thrashed Werder Bremen 6-1 at the Allianz Arena while Borussia Dortmund were held to a 1-1 draw away at Borussia Monchengladbach.
Bayern top the table with 60 points after 23 games followed by Dortmund on 43 and Bayer Leverkusen on 42.
Italian Serie A
League leaders Juventus beat Siena 3-0 at home while Napoli were held to a goalless stalemate away at Udinese. Lazio beat Pescara 2-0 at home with AC Milan and Inter Milan drawing 1-1 in the derby.
After 26 games, Juve lead with 58 points chased by Napoli on 52 with Lazio, Milan and Inter making up the top 5 on 47, 45 and 44 points respectively.
French Ligue 1
David Beckham made a winning debut for Paris Saint-Germain as they beat title rivals Marseille 2-0 with fellow challengers Lyon beating Lorient 3-1 at home.
PSG lead with 54 points after 26 games with Lyon in 2nd on 51 and Marseille in 3rd with 46.
Dutch Eredivisie
PSV lead the pack after 24 games with 50 points closely followed by Ajax with 48, Feyenoord with 47, Vitesse Arnhem with 45 and Twente Enschede with 44 points.
PSV were beaten 2-1 away at Feyenoord while Ajax drew 1-1 at home against ADO Den Haag. Vitesse Arnhem beat Heracles Almelo 5-3 away while Twente were beaten 2-1 away at Heerenveen.
Portuguese Liga
It’s a two horse race between Porto and Benfica level on 52 points after 20 games and the former beat Rio Ave 2-1 at home while the latter beat Pacos de Ferreira 3-0 at home.
Scottish Premier League
Celtic lead with 62 points after 29 games followed by Motherwell and Inverness on 43 and 42 points respectively and they have played a game less.
While Inverness were held to a goalless draw at home by Dundee United, Celtic lost 2-1 away at Motherwell.
Spanish Copa del Rey
Real Madrid progressed to the final after they beat Barcelona 3-1 at the Camp Nou thanks to a brace from a Cristiano Ronaldo and Raphael Varane. Jordi Alba’s late goal was a mere consolation as Madrid won 4-2 on aggregate after the 1st leg at the Bernabeu ended 1-1.
Atletico Madrid set up a derby final as they beat Sevilla 4-3 on aggregate. Having won the 1st leg 2-1 at home, Atletico drew 2-2 away to secure a final tie.
