Aboutaball :: About World Football

Manchester United overhauled their cross-town rivals Manchester City to take top place in the Premier League table with ten games remaining in the 2011-12 season. United eased to victory against West Bromwich Albion with a goal in each half from the on-form Wayne Rooney. The first was diverted in after good work from Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez in the 35th minute and the second was from the penalty spot in the 71st minute. West Brom’s Jonas Olsson was dismissed in the 66th minute for a second bookable offence.

Meanwhile, Manchester City were going down 1-0 against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium. City domainated possession for long periods but were unable to find the net and succombed to an 83rd minute strike from substitute Luke Moore, only four minutes after he had come off the bench to replace Danny Graham. The Swans could have taken an early lead when they won a penalty in the 7th minute, only for Scott Sinclair’s effort to be well saved by City ‘keeper Joe Hart. It was mainly one-way traffic after that but, for once, City couldn’t find their cutting edge.

In the other game of the day, bottom of the table Wigan Athletic rescued a point from their trip to Carrow Road, having been 1-0 down against Norwich City. Wes Hoolahan gave the Canaries an early lead but the Latics came back strongly after the interval and replied through Victor Moses in the 68th minute. However, time ran out before Wigan could find a winner. The point leaves Wigan at the foot of the table but keeps them in touch with the rest of the teams struggling against relegation.

Manchester United’s win moves them on to 68 points at the top, one clear of Manchester City on 67, although City’s goal difference is still eight better than United’s. There is now a 13 point gap back from City to Spurs in third place.

Goal line technology was once again in the headlines following the early kick off at the Reebok Stadium, where Bolton Wanderers beat Queens Park Rangers 2-1. However, QPR manager Mark Hughes was left fuming after his side had an opening goal from Clint Hill incorrectly ruled out after the officials failed to see the ball crossing the goal line. Darren Pratley then gave Bolton the lead but QPR got back on level terms just after half time following another dubious decision from the officials, who allowed Djibril Cisse’s goal to stand despite replays showing him to be offside. However, Bolton super-sub Ivan Klasnic sealed all three points for the home side with an 86th minute winner, but it could have been a very different game had Clint Hill’s ‘goal’ been allowed to stand.

That result lifted Bolton out of the relegation zone and there was a similarly good outcome for fellow strugglers Blackburn Rovers in their own ‘six-pointer’ against Wolverhampton Wanderers. A brace from Junior Hoilett secured a 2-0 away win for Rovers and piled the pressure on Wolves’ caretaker manager Terry Connor to leave the home side winless since they dismissed Mick McCarthy.

Goals were scarce in the other three Premier League matches of the afternoon, with a trio of 1-0 home wins for Chelsea, Aston Villa and Sunderland. Roberto Di Matteo continued his efforts to salvage Chelsea’s season by guiding them to victory against Stoke City, who played with ten men for over an hour following the dismissal of Ricardo Fuller. Didier Drogba’s 68th minute strike secured the points for the Blues in their first league game since Villas Boas’ sacking.

Elsewhere, Aston Villa managed a rare home win courtesy of an injury time goal from Austrian substitute striker Andreas Weimann and Sunderland moved to within two points of visitors Liverpool by beating them 1-0 at the Stadium of Light. Nicklas Bendtner scored in the 56th minute but was later carried off injured.

The Saturday evening game see Everton host Spurs and Manchester United, Swansea and Norwich host West Brom, Manchester City and Wigan respectively on Sunday, with Arsenal facing Newcastle United on Monday evening.

Bayern Munich recorded a thumping 7-1 victory against Hoffenheim at the Allianz-Arena to bounce back from last weekend’s disappointing 2-0 reverse at Beyer Leverkusen and boost confidence ahead of this week’s crucial UEFA Champions League last-sixteen second leg against FC Basel.

The Bavarians stormed out of the blocks, racking up three goals inside twenty minutes and seven before the hour mark. Mario Gomez opened the scoring in only the 5th minute and Arjen Robben doubled the advantage from the penalty spot in the 12th minute. Toni Kroos put the result beyond doubt six minutes later with the first of three goals set up by Franck Ribery. The Frenchman was also the provider for second strikes from Robben and Gomez in the 29th and 35th minutes respectively. Mario Gomez completed his hat-trick shortly after the interval and Ribery finally got his own name on the scoresheet in the 58th minute.

Bayern took their foot off the gas at 7-0 and spared Hoffenheim further punishment, even contributing an own goal courtesy of Luiz Gustavo in the 85th minute to give the visitors something to cheer. With Gomez, Robben and Ribery suddenly hitting top form, Bayern will expect to overturn their 1-0 deficit against Basel and the scoreline will serve as a reminder to Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund that the title race isn’t quite over yet.

Elsewhere, there were home wins for a trio of teams in the bottom half. Wolfsburg came from behind to pile on the misery for a Bayer Leverkusen side still reeling from their spectacular midweek capitulation against a Lionel Messi inspired Barcelona. Stefan Kiessling had given Bayer an early lead but Patrick Helmes cancelled it out and Ashkan Dejagah put Wolfsburg ahead on the stroke of half time. An own goal from Michal Kadlec wrapped up the points for Wolfsburg despite a late consolation goal from substitute Eren Derdiyok to make it 3-2.

Mainz 05 ran out 2-1 winners at home to Nurnberg thanks to first half goals from Nicolai Muller and Mohamed Zidan. Nurnberg fought back after the interval but could only muster a solitary reply from Daniel Didavi despite Adam Szalai’s late dismissal. Koln won a bad-tempered encounter with Hertha BSC 1-0 with a first half goal from Christian Clemens. Three dismissals in the second period saw the home side finish with nine men as substitute Mato Jajalo and Lukas Podolski saw red with Levan Kobiashvili of Hertha joining them for an early bath, so to speak.

The other game of the afternoon saw third placed Borussia Moenchengladbach fail to close the gap on the leaders with a 0-0 stalemate against struggling Freiburg, who remain in the relegation places.

VFB Stuttgart also played out a goalless draw against Kaiserslautern on Friday night and the late game on Saturday sees leaders Dortmund visit Augsburg. Sundays fixtures see Hannover 96 travel to Werder Bremen and Hamburger SV visit Schalke 04.

Radovan Curcic’s Serbia team recorded a 2-0 win over Armenia at the Tsirion Athlítiko Kentro in Limassol, Cyprus. VFB Stuttgart midfielder Zdravko Kuzmanovic gave Serbia the lead after a quarter of an hour and Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic doubled the lead on the half hour mark. Vardan Minasyan’s Armenia were unable to muster anything in reply.

Serbia will now face hosts Cyprus tomorrow afternoon in the second of their back to back games, and Armenia have an immediate chance to respond to their defeat with a fixture against Canada later on tomorrow.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were denied a draw with Brazil by a late own goal from Glasgow Rangers’ Sasa Papac. Brazil took the lead early on through Real Madrid full-back Marcelo in the friendly match in front of over 17,000 fans at the AFG Arena in St Gallen, Switzerland. However, the lead didn’t last long as VFB Stuttgart’s new signing Vedad Ibisevic equalised in the 13th minute. The stalemate endured until injury time but Bosnia-Herzegovina couldn’t quite hold on until the final whistle as the unfortunate Papac put through his own goal.

The division’s bottom two met in Ligue 1 today, with Sochaux and Auxerre both hoping to boost their survival chances with a much needed win in this crucial six-pointer. However, neither team could muster the firepower to end their lengthy winless streaks as the game fizzled out into a disappointing 0-0 draw. Despite the result and their poor form, neither team has been cut adrift as the bottom eleven clubs are separated by only seven points and Auxerre even managed to leapfrog Nice courtesy of the latter’s 3-0 capitulation in Dijon.

Elsewhere, the only other winners were Toulouse, who secured an impressive 3-0 away win in Nancy, and Lille, who take all three points home from Brittany thanks to a 1-0 win in Lorient. Another goalless stalemate between relegation strugglers was played out in Corsica, where Brest made the long trek to face Ajaccio. In a weekend of epic away trips Valenciennes travel back from Marseille having shared a point and a goal apiece and Evian Thonon Gaillard salavaged a point from their trip to Cean courtesy of a late Sidney Govou goal.

Unbeaten Juventus regained top spot in Serie A with a 3-1 win over Catania at the Juventus Arena in Turin. Antonio Conte’s side went behind to an early strike from one of Catania’s Argentinian contingent, Pablo Cesar Barrientos, but fought back well, with the peerless Andrea Pirlo bagging an equaliser in the 22nd minute. The stalemate endured until well into the second half but the turning point was when Catania were reduced to ten men following a second caution for defender Marco Motta.

It was always going to be an uphill struggle for the visitors from then on, and Pirlo’s probing eventually reaped dividends as the maestro set up both Giorgio Chiellini and Fabio Quagliarella to secure the three points for the Old Lady. Juventus are now two points clear of Milan, having played the same number of games, but could be knocked back off their perch on Sunday afternoon as the Rossoneri visit struggling Cesena.

A second cup defeat in three days has ended any realistic hopes Arsenal had of ending their trophy drought before it reaches the seven year mark. Following hot on the heels of their midweek Champions League humiliation in Milan, Arsenal faced a tricky FA Cup tie at the Stadium of Light, scene of Thierry Henry’s late winner in the Premier League only seven days earlier. However, with the French striker heading back to America, there was no saviour this time around as Martin O’Neill’s Sunderland raced out of the blocks in search of revenge.

The Black Cats enjoyed the best of the opening exchanges and played with much more conviction than their opponents, whose injury crisis only deepened, with young Francis Coquelin forced off after only ten minutes, at the ground where they lost Per Mertesacker last weekend. Ramsey and Squillaci were also forced to leave the action prematurely soon after the interval, but by then the Gunners were already trailing to Keiran Richardson’s deflected shot in the 40th minute. Van Persie was perhaps unlucky to be denied a first half penalty, but Arsenal didn’t create many other openings and their fate was sealed in the 77th minute when a lightening break by Sessegnon and Larsson was rounded off by the unfortunate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who bundled the ball into his own net as it came back off a post.

England’s other Champions League representatives fared little better. Chelsea had to come from behind to earn a draw with Championship side Birmingham at Stamford Bridge, Davind Murphy having put the visitors ahead in the 20th minute, shortly before Juan Mata missed a penalty. Daniel Sturridge got the equaliser in the 62nd minute to force a replay.

In the other FA Cup Fifth Round ties there were wins for Everton, Leicester City and Bolton Wanderers against Blackpool, Norwich and Millwall respectively. The final three ties are being played on Sunday and see minnows Crawley Town and Stevenage take on Stoke City and Tottenham Hotspur respectively whilst Liverpool host Brighton and Hove Albion at Anfield.

At the end of a week in which they went into administration and were docked ten points to all but end their title hopes, Glasgow Rangers were desperately in need of a positive result to lighten the mood around Ibrox. However, there was no respite from their problems as they went down 1-0 to Kilmarnock in front of a capacity crowd. Former Hibs and Doncaster Rovers striker Dean Shiels got the only goal of the game, in the 12th minute and when Rangers’ Bosnian defender Sasa Papac was sent off just before half time there was no way back for Ally McCoist’s men. The result leaves Rangers a massive 14 points behind arch-rivals Celtic, having played a game more, with rumours of further details surrounding their financial plight expected to break in the Sunday papers.  It remains to be seen whether the new developments will signal light at the end of the tunnel or a greater than previously expected burden of debt.

Kilmarnock’s win lifted them into the top half of the table, above Dundee United, who could only draw 0-0 at home to St Mirren, and Aberdeen, who host St Johnstone at Sunday lunchtime. Elsewhere, Motherwell cemented their third place in the table with a comfortable 3-0 home win over nearest challengers Hearts, and bottom club Dunfirmline drew 1-1 with Inverness Caledonian Thistle at East End Park.

Barcelona failed to close the gap on leaders Real Madrid with a lacklustre 3-2 deafeat away to Osasuna. The champions’ hopes of retaining their La Liga title look to be fading fast as Real now have the chance to move 10 points clear if they can beat Levante at the Bernabeu tonight.

It was an odd team selection from Barca coach Pep Guardiola, with star midfielders Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas all left on the bench on an icy night at the Estadio Reyno de Navarra. Perhaps they were being rested ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League trip to Leverkusen, but whatever the reason, Barca were quickly made to pay by a clinical Dejan Lekic, who put Osasuno ahead after only four minutes.

The Serb doubled his tally in the 22nd minute to leave the Catalans with a mountain to climb and Guardiola reacted with a double substitution at the interval, replacing Puyol and Pedro with youngsters Cuenca and Tello. Their introduction brought new energy to the Barcelona attack and reaped instant dividends when Cuenca crossed for Sanchez to score from close range.

However, it was still a very open encounter and Barca took one risk too many at the back as they chased the game, allowing Raul Garcia to score with a neat first time finish that squeezed in off the foot of the near post. Guardiola then threw all remaining caution to the wind and replaced centre-back Pique with Fabregas in an all or nothing attempt to keep their title hopes alive.

It very nearly worked as Fabregas provided the assist for Tello to halve the deficit only two minutes after leaving the bench, giving Barca almost twenty minutes to chase an equaliser. However, the Osasuna defence stood firm and, baring one goal ruled out for a marginal offside decision, they effectively contained the attacking threat of Messi et al.

Elsewhere in La Liga, Bilbao missed out on a chance to move into the top four as they went down 2-1 away at Betis, Nelson scoring a late winner with the Basques having gone down to ten men following the dismissal of Javi Martinez in the 64th minute. The day’s other game saw a goalless draw between Racing Santander and Atletico Madrid played out at El Sardinero.