UEFA Champions League roundup

Real Madrid crushed FC Copenhagen of Denmark on Wednesday night. Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria scored a brace each as the Spanish giants won by 4-0 on away soil.

Ronaldo opened the scoring spree with a header earlier in the first half. The Portuguese international doubled the lead with superb free kicks before Angel Di Maria scored his own brace.

In Turin,Juventus were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Galatasaray of Turkey. Didier Drogba gave the visitors the lead before the 'Old ladies' turned around the match later in the second half with two goals. The Turkish side grabbed a late equaliser to share the spoils as Roberto Mancini made his Champions League debut with his new club.

In Glasgow,FC Barcelona needed a late strike by Cesc Fabregas to win by a 1-0 score line.

Mario Balotelli's dubious penalty enabled AC Milan to play a 1-1 draw against Ajax Amsterdam. The former Man City player pulled down an Ajax defender,but the referee thought otherwise and awarded a penalty to the Italians.

CSKA Moscow defeated Vitoria Plzen by 3-2 in Russia while Manchester City were beaten at home by Bayern Munich. The match ended 3-1 in favour of Pep Guardiola's men.

Manchester United could only manage a 1-1 draw against Shakhter Donetsk of Ukraine. Danny Welbeck's 18th minute goal was cancelled by a screamer in the 73rd minute.

PSG crushed Benfica by 3-0 with goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swede scored twice for the French champions.

Capital One Cup roundup

The stage is now set for the last 16 of the English League cup sponsored by Capital One.
The 16 teams emerged after two days of exciting across British grounds.

Defending champions,Swansea City were sent out of the tournament by Birmigham City. Michael Laudrup's men were beaten by 2-0.

Everton crashed out after a 2-1 defeat against Fulham at the Craven Cottage. Arsenal needed a 4-3 penalty shoot win to see off West Bromwich Albion at 'The Hawthorns'.

Up North,Manchester City trashed Wigan Athletic by 5-0. The 'Noisy Neighbours' will meet Newcastle United in the next round. The Tyneside recorded a home win over Leeds United.

Chelsea's 2-0 win over Swindon Town has guaranteed them a clash with Arsenal. One of Chelsea's new signings,Marco suffered a knee injury in that game.

Tottenham Hotspur mauled Aston Villa at the Villa Park.

Meanwhile, Luis Suarez narrowly missed a chance to prevent Liverpool from crashing out of the competition. Manchester United recorded a lucky 1-0 win over the 2012 champions.

Liverpool held by Swansea

Liverpool FC couldn't follow up their 3-0 win over Wigan with another 3 points against Swansea City. The 'Reds' were forced to a scoreless draw at the Liberty stadium in Wales. Liverpool's best chance came from Luis Suarez in the 34th minute. The Uruguayan's half volley came off the crossbar.

Some minutes later Jose Enrique's goal was correctly ruled out for offside. After the restart, the home side fizzled out and Liverpool stepped the gear towards the end of the match. Glen Johnson should have scored at least a goal before the half time.

The England right back nodded the ball wide on some couple of occasions. Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing were not impressive for Brendan Rodgers' side.

Pablo Hernandez was the best player for Swansea. The former Valencia winger was a constant threat in the Liverpool defence, but his efforts couldn't beat Pepe Reina. The Spanish goalkeeper has recorded back to back clean sheets in the EPL.

Liverpool are now unbeaten in their last eight league games and their next match is against Tottenham Hotspur.

Juventus beat Parma in Serie A opener

Defending Serie A champions, Juventus started their 2012/2013 Italian serie A campaign with a victory over Parma depite missing a penalty.

The visitors started strongly through counter attacks that were led by Dorlan Pabon and Jonthan Biabiany. Marco Storari prevented Pabon from wrecking havoc in the opening minutes of the clash. The Colombian went ahead to deliver a good corner kick that was headed over the bar by Marco Parolo who should have scored a goal for Parma.

Andrea Pirlo drifted a stylish free kick that Mirko Vucinic headed over the bar as the hosts started taking control of the match. Ghanaian player, Kwadwo Asamoah made his debut for the Old Ladies in the left flank. He was a constant threat to the Parma defence.
However, Juventus missed the chance to take the lead in th 34th minute. A quick clearance from Gabriel Paleta hit Vucinic and Stephan Lichtsteiner beat the offside trap that was set by the visitors. He was eventually brought down in the 18 yard box and a penalty was awarded to Conte's men.

Antonio Mirante saved the resultant penalty to keep his side in the game.

Second Half
In the 54th minute, Asamoah drifted the ball across the first of goal, but Vidal's effort ended up as a side netting at full stretch. Lichtsteiner scored the first goal of the match when he tapped the ball into the net after another good work by Asamoah on the wing. Alessandro Lucarelli elbowed Vidal, but the Italian player only got a yellow card for his nasty challenge.

Bizarre goal
Andrea Pirlo's free kick was saved by Mirante, but the referee awarded a goal to Juventus to make it 2-0. The goal was highly controversail as Parma protested against the bizarre goal. Marco Storari prevented the visitors from pulling one back as he parried Sotiris Ninis' shot away from goal.

The Juventus keeper made two late saves to ensure his side didn't concede a goal on the opening day of the Italian Serie A league.

Manchester United well beaten by Everton

Manchester United started their new premier league season with a defeat at the Goodison Park. Marouane Fellaini was the hero of the night despite Robin Van Persie's much anticipated debut for the Red Devils.
The first chance of the day went to Fellaini. The Belgian international had his effort tipped unto the post by David De Gea after beating Antonio Valencia and Michael Carrick. Nikica Jelavic could beat the United keeper in the 20th minute. David Moyes' men exchanged a couple of slick passes to the delight of the home crowd but they couldn't get a goal.

The attempt led to a corner kick and De Gea was United's hero was again. The young Spaniard punched the ball away from his goal area and also denied Steven Pienaar a goal opportunity. The South African player made his return to the Goodison Park during the summer and his performance was commendable.

In the 33rd minute, Leighton Baines fired a pile diver that was parried into the path of Fellaini, but the Belgian failed to score.  Tim Howard was also called into action by the visitors. Wayne Rooney's free kick went over the wall, but Howard dived to deny the former Evertonian an opportuity to score a goal on his return to the Goodison Park.

Leon Osman and Leighton Baines' efforts were thwarted by De Gea towards the end of the first 45 minutes.

Second Half
Osman's shot came off the crossbar after Fellaini had knocked down the ball from Tony Hibbert's cross. Phil Jagielka prevented Danny Welbeck from taking the lead right after that attempt by the home team. In the 57th minute, Fellaini capped his man-of-the-match display with the winning goal. He was able to beat Carrick in the air to nod the ball into the United net.

Shinji Kagawa teed up Tom Cleverley, but his effort was cleared off the line by Phil Jagielka. Sir Alex Ferguson unleashed last season's EPL  top scorer  on Everton alongside Ashley Young. Robin Van Persie announced his presence on the pitch when he delivered a low cross that was intended for Kagawa, but Howard beat the Japanese to the ball. That was the last notable chance of the game as Everton hanged on for a victory over the former league winners.

Man City avoids opening game shocker at Etihad stadium

Manchester City avoided what cold have been the biggest shock of the weekend when they came from 2-1 down to beat Southampton FC at the Etihad stadium. It was the Saints first appearance in the English Premiership after a two year absence.

Jack Rodwell's mistake almost cost his team three points.

Jack Rodwell and Yaya Toure were included in the starting line up by Roberto Mancini and the two players started the game in the midfield positions. Guly do Prado and James Ward Prowse started in the attack for the visitors while Lambert was left on the bench despite finishing last season as the club's top scorer. Argentine forward, Sergio Aguero sustained an injury in the opening minutes of the game after being at the receiving end of a sliding tackle by Nathaniel Clyne. Edn Dzeko was introduced into the match as a replacement for Aguero who left the pitch on a stretcher amidst cheers from the City fans.

Penalty saga
Carlos Tevez was fouled by Jos Hooiveld and Howard Webb had no option than to award a penalty to the defending league champions. David Silva stepped to play a woeful spot kick that was easily saved by the Saints goalkeeper. Dzeko was well marked by the visitors. He found it difficult to get to the end of crosses by Gael Clichy and Pablo Zabaleta.

Meanwhile, Samir Nasri was able to find Tevez in the penalty box after 40 minutes of action. The Argentine attacking maestro fired his team into the lead with a well-taken shot. After the restart, Rickie Lambert gave the visitors something spectacular. He came off the bench and scored the equaliser. His initial effort was cleared back to him by Lescott and he was able to beat Joe Hart in the City goal.

Steven Davis made it 2-1 to the visitors when he got to the end of a pass by Adam Lallana. Jack Rodwell's back pass in the Southampton area sparked off a counter attack that resulted in that goal.

Turn Around
Vincent Kompany played the ball into the penalty area from a corner that was taken by Nasri. Dzeko tapped the ball home to bring scores to 2-2. Samir Nasri scored the winning goal to save the Citizens from getting an embarrassing one point. The Frenchman picked his angle before firing the ball past Davies who was in goal for the visitors. Edin Dzeko was credited with the assist. 

Montpellier beaten by Lorient in French Ligue 1

French Ligue 1's defending champions have been beaten by lowly rated FC Lorient. Montpellier seemed to be on their way to victory until two late goals from Lorient denied the champions an away victory. Emmanuel Herrera put the defending champions on the 37th minute mark. Nigeria's John Utaka provided an assist for the goal. The scorer of Montpellier's only goal was pulled out by Girard Rene in the the minute of play. Alain Traore and Jeremie Aliadiere scored two goals within the two minutes of injury time to ensure Christian Gourcoff's men secured their first win of the season after last week's 2-2 draw against Paris Saint Germain. Lorient now have four points from two games and this latest success is bound to propel them to take on other notable team sin the French Championnat.

Jeremie Aliadiere

Gomez's late strike hunts Real Madrid

Mario Gomez's injury time winner was enough to give Bayern a slim 2-1 win over Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday night. The Bavarians pummelled their Spanish opponents for the entire 90 minutes. Karim Benzema missed a glorious opportunity after seven minutes of action. German midfielder, Bastian Schweinsteiger lost the ball in the centre circle and Angel Di Maria pounced on the ball to tee up Karim Benzema who couldn't beat Manuel Neuer in goal for Bayern. Frank Ribery put the Germans ahead with a 17th minute shot that skipped past Iker Casillas. A corner kick from Kroos was poorly dealt with by Sergio Ramos and the Frenchman fired the ball into the back of the net.
Real Madrid couldn't equalise before the end of the first half regardless of their superior ball possession. Karim Benzema missed the opportunity to make it 1-1 before half time when he failed to beat Manuel Neuer.

Mesut Ozil made it 1-1 in the 53rd minute, a pass across the goal line by Benzema was cut back by Ronaldo before Ozil tapped home from close range. With 19 minutes to go, Gomez fired the ball over the bar when he should have poked home the ball to give his side the lead.
Howard Webb was lenient with Madrid players by not sending the likes of Sergio Ramos and Marcelo that were involved in rough tackles on Ribery and Thomas Muller. Several penalty appeals by Bayern were also shunned by the referee.
However, with less than 2 minute to the end of the game, Phillip Lahm dribbled Coentrao on the right wing before laying an accurate pass for Mario Gomez to guide in his 13th goal of the UEFA Champions League season.
Bayern must not lose by 1-0 or more than a goal margin in the second leg that will be played next week. A 1-0 win will be enough for Jose Mourinho's men.

Real Madrid crush Osasuna!

Christian Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain scored two goals each as Madrid claimed a 5-1 away win over Osasuna in yesterday's Spanish Primera Liga match that was played at Estadio Reyno de Navarra. Karim Benzema opened scoring after just 7 minutes of action. Ronaldo's cross was volleyed into the corner of the Osasuna net from a difficult position. In the 37th minute, Ronaldo fired a shot from 40 yards and the goal keeper couldn't stop the Portuguese from grabbing his 36th league goal of the season. Spanish International, Xabi Alonso fashoined out a great pass that was converted by Gonzalo Higuain as Madrid took a 3-0 lead on the 40th minute mark.

After the restart, Roversio unleashed a cross that was headed in by Nino and the home side started dreaming of a come back. Ronaldo scored his brace with a well taken free kick in the 70th minute. Seven minutes later Gonzalo Higuain scored his 101st goal in the history of the league. Ronaldo's cross was nodded in by the Argentine striker who has now scored 20 goals in this season's Primera Liga. Real Madrid will host APOEL Nicosia in the Champions League on Wednesday before Valencia's visit to the Bernabeu next weekend while Osasuna will meet Rayo Vallecano.

Chelsea breaks Benfica's home record as Madrid marches on.

Chelsea ended Benfica's unbeaten run at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon,Portugal. Salomon Kalou's first half strike was enough to give Roberto di Matteo's side an unlikely 1-0 win against their hosts. The first half of the game was characterized by half chances and excellent defending from both sides. Raul Meireles fired a shot that was saved by the Benfica keeper. Salomon Kalou did a good job down the right flank before feeding the Portuguese International.
In the second half, David Luiz cleared the ball on the goal line to deny his former club the chance to take the lead. Terry's arm caused some controversy in the camp of the home side as he handled Maxi Perira's shot in the penalty box some few moments after Ashley Cole blocked a goal bound shot from Jardel.
Chelsea took the lead in the 75th minute when Fernando Torres provided a cross that Kalou turned it into the net after battling two defenders.

In Cyprus,Apoel Nicosia lost at home to Real Madrid by three goals to nil. The Cypriot were able to force the Spanish club to a goalless draw in the first half, although Karim Benzema missed a seater. The Frenchman made amends by scoring a brace in the second half. The first was a diving header while the last goal was a neatly taken shot. Mourinho introduced Kaka and Marcelo after the first goal and the two players exchanged passes before Kaka scored a beautiful goal.

Mourinho

Real Madrid will have very little work to do at the Santiago Bernabeu when the two sides meet again. 

Real Madrid wins again

Despite the one match suspension that was given to Mesut Oezil, Sergio Ramos and Jose Mourinho, the capital club were able to crush Real Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday night. Christiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema scored two goals each after Gonzalo Higuain had given them the lead. While Xabi Prieto scored Sociedad's only goal in the 42nd minute. Benzema provided the assist for the first goal of the night. Ronaldo fired Kaka's well timed pass into the far corner after 33 minutes to score his Centinnial goal for Real Madrid. Xabi Alonso lobbed the ball over the visitors defence before Benzema chested the ball and volleyed it over Sociedad's keeper in the 40th minute. Xabi Prieto pulled one back for the visitors on the 42nd minute mrak to make it 3-1 at half time.
After the restart, Madrid added two more goals to move back to the top of the La liga with a 6 point gap.

Liverpool fumbles again!

Liverpool lost  their second match at home in the English Premier League on Saturday afternoon. A first half penalty was converted  by Maloney after Skrtel had fouled Nigerian International, Victor Moses in the 18 yard box. Victor Moses was later substituted in the 42nd minute following a knock he picked up after the tackle from Martin Skrtel. Liverpool players struggled against a stubborn Wigan side in the first half of the match. Andy Carroll came on at the start of the second half and it was as if the Reds were going to stage a comeback after Luis Suarez equalised in the 47th minute. Steven Gerrard's cross was turned in by the Uruguayan as Al-Habsi had no answer to Suarez's effort. Scot man, Gary Caldwell scored Wigan's winner in the 63rd minute.  Rahim Sterling became the third youngest player to feature in a Premiership match, but he couldn't save his team from defeat. With this result,  Liverpool have now lost five of their last six matches in the League. Kenny Dalglish's side lost their last match to another relegation threatened side on Wednesday. Norwich City and Liverpool are now level on 42 points each and a further slip from the Reds will be enough for Norwich to push them down to 8th.

Downing fires Liverpool to FA Cup semi final.

Stewart Downing was on hand to fire Liverpool to their first FA Cup semi final since 2006. Luis Suarez gave Kenny Dalglish's men the lead after 23 minutes. The Uruguayan forward curled in a shot into the corner of the net after an eye-catching one-two pass with Maxi Rodriguez in the 23rd minute. Three minutes later, former Liverpool striker, Peter Crouch drew his side level with a header. The Stoke player was unmarked and he was able to beat Andy Carroll to nod home off a corner kick that was taken by Etherington. Pepe Reina was shown the yellow card after he protested the decision of the referee to have awarded a corner instead of goal kick.
In the second half, Stewart Downing scored Liverpool's winning goal in the 57th minute. The former Middlesbrough and Aston Villa player fired a shot after breaking into the opponent's penalty box from the right flank. Liverpool will now face the winner of the match between Everton and Sunderland in next month's semi final at the new Wembley Stadium in London.

FA Cup

Tornadoes ends Enyimba's unbeaten run.

Niger Tornadoes of Minna defeated Enyimba FC of Aba at the Mallam Bako Kotangora Stadium on Saturday evening. The Nigerian Premier League match was Enyimba's first defeat in six games. Atake Son scored the only goal of the game in the 75th minute of action. Paul Godwin was beaten by the debutant's goal after several goal attempts from Enyimba were rebuffed by the Tornadoes goal keeper. Enyimba have amassed 23 points so far this season.

Manchester Disunited in Spain.

Athletic Bilbao disunited the unity between Manchester United and the Europa League title. Athletic Bilbao defeated Sir Alex Ferguson's team 2-1 in Spain to qualify on a 5-2 aggregate score.Manchester United tried to attack their hosts right from the blast of the whistle but Rooney couldn't convert Park's cross into a goal. Spanish striker, Fernando Llorente broke the deadlock after 23 minutes when a long ball from his own half was volleyed past David De Gea in the United goal. Oscar De Marcos made it 2-0 when his shot couldn't be kept out by Jonny Evans. Wayne Rooney shook off tackles by the Spanish defenders to curl in a beautiful goal in the 85th minute. United will now return to England with the hope of focusing on the EPL title.

Seven star Bayern hits Hoffenheim in Munich!

Bayern Munich bounced back from their 2-0 defeat against Bayer Leverkusen as they crushed TSG Hoffenheim by seven goals to one at the Allianz Arena on Saturday afternoon. A hat trick from Mario Gomez and a brace from Arjen Robben contributed to the white wash of the visitors. Gomez put the Bavarians ahead after just five minutes with a shot from close range. Arjen Robben converted an 11th minute penalty that was won by German captain,Philipp Lahm. Toni Kroos made it three nil on the 18th minute mark.

Dutch International, Robben made it 4-0 after 29 minutes. He rounded Tom Starke before slotting home the ball. Ribery's cross was nodded in by Gomez on the 35th minute mark. Mario Gomez completed his hat trick with a 48th minute strike, before Ribery made it 7-0 after 58 minutes. Ryan Babel forced Luiz Gustavo to score an own goal after 85 minutes of play. The match ended 7-1 in favour of Bayern who are now 5 points behind Dortmund that played a barren draw against Augsburg.

Napoli tears Cagliari into shreds!

SSC Napoli defeated Cagliari by a tennis score of six goals to three at the Stadio San Paolo Stadium in Naples on Friday night. Uruguayan International, Edinson Cavani was left on the bench ahead of next week's UEFA Champions League match against Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge. Joaquin Larrivey's hat trick couldn't save the visitors from suffering a heavy defeat i the hands of their hosts. Marek Hamsik gave Walter Marrazzi's men the lead after 10 minutes. Gokhan Inler delivered an incisive pass to Hamsik who drilled a shot from 22 yards. Team captain Paolo Cannavaro made it 2-0 after 19 minutes when the Italian defender utilized a great cross from his Argentine team mate, Ezequiel Lavezzi. The Argentine was involved in the own goal that was scored by David Astori. Lavezzi whipped in a dangerous free kick that Astori turned into his own net to make it 3-0 after half an hour. Eight minutes later Joaquin Larrivey scored the first of his three goals by nodded home from close range off a fee kick that was taken by Conti. Lavezzi made it 4-1 on the 55th minute mark via a penalty.
Four minutes later Edinson Cavani replaced the Argentine forward and he made an quick impact on the game by passing the ball to Gargano who fired past the Cagliari keeper. Joaquin Larrivey scored a second goal for the visitors via another header in the 77th minute.  Maggio made it 6-2 with 5 minutes of regulation time to play before Larrivey completed his hat trick few seconds to the end of the match with another header.

SSC Napoli will now go into Wednesday's Champions League fixture against Chelsea with a high hopes. The Italians are leading 3-1 on aggregate and a draw or a one goal margin defeat in London will be enough to see them through to the last eight of Europe's top club competition.

World Cup 2014 qualifiers review!

Japan lost their group 3 World Cup qualifier to little known Uzbekistan at the Toyota stadium. Shadrin's 54th minute goal was enough to send Japan crashing to a surprise 1-0 home loss. Tajikistan played a 1-1 draw against North Korea in the other group match.
Bahrain were fully at home as the mauled Indonesia by ten goals to nil. Dhiya scored a hat trick while Abdulrahman, Taleb and Abdullatif scored a brace each. Samsidar got a 4th minute red card for Indonesia.
Iran and Qatar played out a two all draw in another group 5 match.
Brosque scored a brace as Australia cruised to a 4-2 win over former Asian Champions, Saudi Arabia in a group 4 match that was played in Melbourne. In the other group match that was played in Muscat, Oman defeated Thailand 2-0.

The 2014 World Cup will be played in Brazil in the summer of that year. Meanwhile, the Celecao of Brazil defeated Bosnia in a narrow 2-1 victory on Tuesday night.