1. If you're a football/futbol fan, the Super Bowl wasn't the only reason to be excited yesterday. As an opening act, you had the Premiership's second and third place sides, Liverpool and Chelsea squaring off. Just like the Super Bowl, officiating played a huge role (more on that in my Super Bowl 8 In the Box which will be up later this week). About 3/4 through the match, Chelsea's Frank Lampard got a bullshit red card for a challenge that was pretty much all ball. Chelsea hung in there for a while down a man, but in the final minutes Liverpool got a goal on a header from Fernando Torres to go up 1-0, then Torres scored again to make it 2-0 Liverpool. Adding to the fact that they may have lost the match and any chance at catching Man U because of that, Lampard now faces a 3 match ban that Chelsea is going to have to appeal.
2. The man who for 6 seasons scored double digit goals for Tottenham is heading back to Spurs after a six month sojourn with Liverpool. Robbie Keane, Ireland's captain, who had much difficulty cracking Rafael Benitez' lineup this year, heads back as Harry Redknapp continues the process of getting Tottenham's band back together in an effort to avoid relegation. Former Spurs scorer Jermain Defoe returned after a similarly abbreviated stint at Portsmouth.
3. Real Madrid got their sixth straight victory this weekend, 2-1 over Numancia. Still not good enough for "Honorary President" Alfredo di Stefano (pictured above) who says they "lack sparkle". You know who can help them with that right?
Other big matches this weekend-
- The Prem's 4th and 5th place teams, Villa and Arsenal, both stumbled to scoreless draws at home, missing an opportunity to pick up 3 points on Chelsea. Arsenal's zip zip against West Ham is particularly painful, because they are 5 points out of a Champions League berth right now.
- Barca continues to roll, getting a pair of goals from Lionel Messi to come from behind for a 2-1 victory at Racing. Barca got a pair of guys ejected in the last 2 minutes of the match.
- With the Kaka saga behind them, AC Milan is on a roll and Inter should start being nervous. While the Serie A leaders struggled to a 1-1 draw at home against 18th place Torino, Milan pasted Lazio in Rome 3-0. AC passed Juventus, who lost at home to Cagliari 3-2, and is now just 6 points out of first place.
- It's still really early in the Mexican season, but we had a big match this weekend as defending champs Toluca beat Pumas 1-0. Patrick's Club America continues to sleepwalk thru the beginning of this season, losing to Morelia 1-0.
WEEKEND SCOREBOARD
EPL
17 Stoke 1, 10 Man City 0
12 Bolton 3, 14 Spurs 2
19 Boro 0, 18 Rovers 0
5 Arsenal 0, 8 West Ham 0
9 Fulham 3, 16 Portsmouth 1
4 Villa 0, 7 Wigan 0
11 Hull 2, 20 West Brom 2
1 Man U 1, 6 Everton 0
15 Newcastle 1, 13 Sunderland 1
2 Liverpool 2, 3 Chelsea 0
LA LIGA
9 Athletic Bilbao 3, 8 Malaga 2
17 Numancia 0, 2 Real Madrid 2
10 Racing 1, 1 Barca 2
19 Espanyol 1, 15 Recreativo 1
6 Deportivo 3, 5 Villarreal 0
7 Atletico 1, 11 Valladolid 2
18 Osasuna 1, 20 Mallorca 0
4 Valencia 3, 14 Almeria 2
16 Real Betis 2, 13 Getafe 2
12 Sporting Gijon 1, 3 Sevilla 0
SERIE A
8 Napoli 2, 12 Udinese 2
3 Juventus 2, 7 Cagliari 3
11 Atalanta 1, 13 Catania 0
19 Chievo 1, 15 Sampdoria 1
14 Siena 1, 16 Lecce 2
1 Inter 1, 18 Torino 1
4 Genoa 1, 9 Palermo 0
10 Lazio 0, 2 AC Milan 3
20 Reggina 2, 6 AS Roma 2
17 Bologna 1, 5 Fiorentina 3
PDM
6 Tecos 1, 3 Cruz Azul 0
5 Morelia 1, 4 America 0
4 Monterrey 1, 1 Chivas 2
5 Atlas 1, 6 Tigres 1
1 Jaguares 1, 3 San Luis 2
4 Necaxa 2, 3 Indios 2
1 Pachuca 1, 2 Atlante 1
6 Santos 0, 5 Puebla 0
2 Toluca 1, 2 Pumas 0
No comments:
Post a Comment