Huge domestic recap! 8/29/2011.

I'd like to start in Northern Europe, Sweden specifically as the Allesvenskan is going into their 23rd round of games. Current leaders Helsingborg defeated Orebro 2-0 thanks to goals from Hannu Patronen and May Mahlangu in the 71st and 85th minutes respectively. All Orebro could do in the game was collect 2 yellows and a red. 2nd-place Elfsborg were edged 2-1 by Malmo who scored first and last in a fairly exciting game. Meanwhile, AIK scored the 1 vital goal of a 1-0 match against Syrianska through Robert Persson in the 1st minute of stoppage time of the 2nd half. 4th-placed GAIS struck 3 past Mjallby without reply. Wanderson opened the scoring in the 2nd minute for the home side while Mervan Celik struck in the 9th and 75th minutes to lock the game down. Over in Scotland Hearts struck 2 past Hibernian thanks to Ryan Stevenson in the 39th and Andy Webster in the 69th. Rangers remain undefeated after a 2-0 victory over Aberdeen with a goal from Steven Davis and Naismith. A goal in each half was a good way of maintaining their dominance of the visitors. Celtic rebuilt their form and defeated St. Mirren 0-2 in a tough away game. Down south in England there were some huge, intense matches as Manchester United crushed an out-of-sorts Arsenal 8-2! Danny Welbeck opened the game for United with a goal in the 22nd while Ashley Young struck a 2nd 6 minutes later. Wayne Rooney struck United's 3rd in the 41st to effectively bury the Gunners despite Theo Walcott's clean goal in the 3rd minute of stoppage time in the 1st half. So, 3-1 at the half. Rooney converted again in the 64th with Nani tacking on a 5th just 3 minutes later. Park Ji-Sung scored in the 70th to give United a 6-1 lead only to have Robin Van Persie score for Arsenal 4 minutes later. Carl Jenkinson's sending-off in the 77th only added to Arsenal's woes as Rooney slotted home a penalty in the 82nd and Young scored a 2nd in the 91st minute to officially end a game that had really been finished for some time. New Castle were able to edge Fulham 2-1 thanks to 2 goals from Leon Best in the 48th and 66th minutes. Clint Dempsey's 88th minute goal was, while nice, too little too late for the visitors. Tottenham were hammered at home by Manchester City after Edin Dzeko scored a hat-trick between the 34th and 55th minutes. Sergio Aguero tacked on a 4th for City on the hour. Tottenham then rallied to make 1 in the 68th through Younes Kaboul. The good feelings from that goal didn't last. Dzeko struck Manchester City's 5th goal (his 4th) in the 3rd minute of stoppage time of the 2nd half to end the game. 1-5. On the other side of the Channel in the Netherlands, Den Haag defeated De Graafschap 0-3 thanks to goals from Aleksander Radosavljevic (in the 45th), Wesley Verhoek (in the 83rd), and Mike Van Duinen (in the 87th). 3rd-place PSV Eindhoven thrashed Excelsior 6-1 after a good 1st goal from Dries Mertens in the 30th. Mitchell Te Verde equalized for the visitors so they went into half-time level 1-1. In the 2nd half the floodgates burst. Ola Toivonen started things off with a goal in the 47th. Mertens added a 3rd 2 minutes later before scoring yet again in the 51st minute. Jeremain Lens scored for PSV too (in the 72nd) while Toivonen ended the scoring with his 79th minute strike. Feyenoord drew level with Heerenveen 2-2 while AZ defeated Groningen 0-3. Over in Germany Hannover and Mainz drew 1-1 with Mainz breaking the home side's heart after opening through Sami Allagui in the 2nd minute. Mohammed Abdellaoue equalized for the home side at the half-hour mark and that's how the game ended! Currently tied for 1st place Schalke won against Monchengladbach thanks to Raul's sole goal in the 64th to keep their opening run of on a roll. In the more temperate climate of Portugal Sporting were surprised by Maritimo despite taking the lead in the 38th through Marat Izmailov. Maritimo equalized through Rafael Miranda in the 48th while Leocisco Sami tacked on a 2nd in the 52nd. Jeffren brought the home side level in the 75th only for Baba to score in the 91st minute to give Maritimo a well-deserved 3 points. Over in Spain, Real Madrid demolished Zaragoza 0-6 to get their season off to a perfect start. Cristiano Ronaldo opened the account in the 24th while Marcelo added a 2nd just 4 minutes later. Xabi Alonso made it 0-3 for Madrid after scoring in the 64th. Ronaldo struck twice more on either side of Kaka's 82nd minute goal. 6-0 Madrid. We'll have to see how Barcelona handles this challenge to their title. Enjoy!