Brilliant domestic action!

There has been a ton of action this weekend and obviously a recap is required! First off, I'd like to talk about Scotland where Celtic had an opportunity to wrap-up the league title in extraordinary fashion against their cross-town rivals Rangers. Instead, they were almost destroyed as the home side struck early, in the 11th minute, to get the visitors started off on the wrong foot. Sone Aluko was the man who gave Rangers that lead. Then, in the 29th minute Cha Du-Ri acted foolishly and was handed a red card. Victor Wanyama saw a similar fate in the 57th minute to put Celtic down two men! It's a wonder Rangers didn't score more honestly but nevertheless, in the 72nd minute they found their 2nd through Andrew Little. Ranger's 3rd came just 5 minutes later as Lee Wallace slotted home to great acclaim. Carlos Bocanegra was sent off for Rangers in the 88th which was abruptly followed by Scott Brown converting from the penalty spot. Thomas Rogne then struck in the 2nd minute of stoppage time of the 2nd half to make it 3-2 but it was to no avail: Celtic had let the hand get out of hand and allowed Rangers to register the 3 points. Looking at the table, that is significant as 3rd place Motherwell are now just 3 behind Rangers while Dundee United hold 4th precariously with 46 points. St. Johnstone have a game in hand though and could easily move from 5th to 4th. Celtic are in 1st and untouchable with 75 points. Down in England, Manchester City and United are level on 70 points though United have a game in hand. That is after Manchester City were held 1-1 by an impressive home Stoke side this weekend. Peter Crouch was the man who actually gave Stoke the lead in the 59th minute after an uneventful 1st half. Yaya Toure eventually leveled for City in the 76th minute but the fact that they couldn't outdo the 12th-place side doesn't bode well for the title contenders. Down in 3rd, Arsenal have only 58 points, essentially leaving the two Manchester sides to fight for the title. Having said that, Arsenal are definitely being challenged by Tottenham (4th) who are just 3 points behind the Gunners. 5th-place Chelsea are level with Newcastle after the Blues finished 0-0 against Spurs while Newcastle defeated West Brom 1-3 thanks to goals from Papiss Demba Cisse on either side of Hatem Ben Afra's 12th minute strike. Shane Long did bring West Brom one back in the 52nd but the game really was up after the 1st half. Over to Germany now where Dortmund maintained themselves at the top of the table with a 1-6 drubbing of Koln. Bayern, who are 2nd just 5 points behind the leaders with 57 weren't quite as successful at home against Hannover but they got the result - edging their guests 2-1 in a close contest thanks to goals from Toni Kroos and Mario Gomez beating out Didier Ya Konan's 74th minute goal for Hannover. As such, Schalke are 4 points behind the Bavarians in 3rd after their by-the-book 2-0 victory over Leverkusen thanks to a pair of goals from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Monchengladbach are still in 4th despite getting edged by Hoffenheim at home on Saturday. Leverkusen and Bremen are tied for 5th with 40 points apiece. Over in the Netherlands, AZ Alkmaar were able to maintain their lead over the table for another weekend after edging RKC 1-0 thanks to Johann Berg Gudmundsson's 49th minute strike. Just a point behind them though are Ajax who handily defeated PSV Eindhoven 2-0 in their match Sunday. That result allowed Twente to leap-frog them into 3rd after Twente drew 1-1 with Den Haag despite going down in the 6th minute. PSV are in 4th though while Feyenoord are level with them at 51 points. On to Portugal now where Porto have reclaimed their top-of-the-table position after drawing with Pacos Ferreira despite the fact that Pacos Ferreira players scored all of the goals! 2nd position Benfica had a bye week this week though they'll be looking forward to going on from this point - just a point behind their rivals. Braga have actually managed to infiltrate the top 3 and have secured their position with 55 points despite not playing this weekend. As such, that allowed Sporting of Lisbon to 'catch-up' in 4th with only 44 points. Braga do have a game in hand though. Maritimo are actually challenging the lions of Lisbon as they are only 2 points behind them in 5th. East in Spain, Real Madrid were able to keep 6 points between themselves and their rivals Barcelona this weekend as the Catalans have 69 to Madrid's 75 (Madrid faced Real Sociedad in Madrid and won 5-1 while Barcelona traveled to Mallorca and won 0-2). Valencia and Malaga are the two tied for 3rd with 47 points each as Levante are 3 points below them both, in 5th. Last but certainly not least, AC Milan have strengthened their position at the top of Serie A with 63 points from 29 matches to 2nd-place Juventus' 59. Having said that, Juve's 2-0 victory over Inter Milan on Sunday was far more impressive than AC's 2-1 victory over Roma. Martin Caceres and Alessandro Del Piero were the men of the match in Turin as they struck in the 57th and 71st minutes respectively while AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck both of their goals, in the 53rd minute from the penalty spot and in the 83rd minute from the field. Pablo Osvaldo had actually given the visiting Romans the lead in the 44th minute but to no avail. Lazio are 8 points behind Juventus in 3rd with 51 points while Napoli aren't too far off with 48 points. 5th position Udinese also have 48 points. Hope you all had a great weekend!