Biggest news story this week?

Well, yesterday we had quite an active set of games in Scotland. The biggest news to come from the northern nation, however, was Celtic's 1-0 victory over Rangers! Not only w as this a grudge match as usual, but the 3 points actually allowed the B'hoys to leapfrog their cross town rivals. While there were chances on both sides, it all came down to Joe Ledley's 52nd minute strike when it came to deciding the game. Despite just the one goal, it was still a heated match-up to be sure! Hibernian and Inverness drew 1-1 in their match Wednesday with Garry O'Connor putting the home side ahead in the 8th minute. Inverness eventually retaliated though, through Jonathan Hayes 4 minutes before half time. St. Johnstone v.s. Kilmarnock meanwhile was more one-sided: the home side took control in the 26th through Francisco Sandaza before Sandaza struck once more in the 1st minute of stoppage time of the 1st half. Kilmarnock never recovered. St. Mirren and Dundee United ended level despite both sides accumulating 2 goals. Steve Thompson initially gave the home side the advantage in the 27th minute. Just 4 minutes later, Jonathan Daly equalized for Dundee. Graham Carey put things right for St. Mirren once more but it was to no avail as weakness at the back allowed Stuart Armstrong to draw the visitors level once more. Aberdeen and Hearts played out a goalless draw while Motherwell's match with Dunfermline was postponed. Have a good week!

English Premier League update!

Well, there were quite a few games today in England and some important movement in the table as well! While Newcastle's 0-2 away victory over Bolton exhibited the late battling that we all love about Newcastle, it leaves them 7th in the league. Hatem Ben Afra and Demba Ba were the two players to strike in the 69th and 71st minutes respectively to ensure the success of the travelers. Meanwhile, Fulham did well for themselves on their trip to Chelsea's home field with a 1-1 draw against a side with a lot more cash and talent. Juan Mata gave the Blues a 1-0 lead in the 47th minute of the 2nd half but that was cancelled out with Clint Dempsey's wonderful equalizer in the 56th minute. Liverpool and Blackburn ended in similar form except Blackburn just got lucky. The home side succumbed to an own goal from Charlie Adam in the 45th minute to give Blackburn a 0-1 lead into the break. However, Liverpool rallied and ended up striking home - just once - in the 53rd through Maxi Rodriguez. On now to Manchester United v.s. Wigan. Honestly, it was never going to be a close match however United utterly thrashed the visitors with the first goal coming from Park Ji-Sung in just the 8th minute. Dimitar Berbatov then struck twice, in the 41st and 58th minute, to make it 3-0. Normally, that would have been the time for United to take their foot off the gas. On the other hand, they may need a strong goal difference against a challenging Manchester City side this year. So they proceeded to strike twice more: through Antonio Valencia in the 75th and then Berbatov completed his hat trick in the 78th. Meanwhile, Stoke v.s. Aston Villa ended a dismal 0-0 with a couple of yellows handed out and nothing else. Sunderland's 1-1 draw with Everton was a good game though, Jack Colback gave the home side the lead in the 26th before Leighton Baines equalized for Everton in the 51st minute from the penalty spot. West Brom and Manchester City actually completed their match 0-0 as well!

What you have to look forward to!

Well tomorrow, Saturday the 24th, most of the action will be taking place in Scotland. Celtic will be facing Kilmarnock in Glasgow in a game that could in theory narrow Ranger's lead from 4 points to 1 point. Dundee United v.s. Hibernian is another game with the Dundee side looking to overtake Kilmarnock with a win over their 11th place competition. Dunfermline and St. Johnstone are another face-off with the visitors hoping for some points to narrow their gap with 3rd-place Motherwell. Since they are playing bottom-of-the-table Dunfermline, it might be on the cards. Then, we have Hearts playing against Motherwell. While Motherwell are in 3rd to Hearts' 5th, Hearts will be excited since they are at home. Inverness and Aberdeen are also playing with the northerners down to Aberdeen in the tables but just by one place and they are at home! St. Mirren and Rangers will probably be the most straight-forward game of the day! Rangers are top of the table and flying high and I honestly don't see them dropping points in this game. And that's really all there is this weekend! Enjoy.

Around the leagues.

Well, in England today we had quite the battle between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. Spurs actually took the lead in the 8th minute through Emmanuel Adebayor. While they held on to their lead for a time, Chelsea fought back and equalized through Daniel Sturridge in the 23rd minute. While there was more action, there were no more goals and the match ended 1-1. Over in Turkey Besiktas and Karabukspor played out a 1-0 performance with the home side taking the lead and winning in the 37th minute after Hugo Almeida found the back of the net. Meanwhile, Gaziantepspor and Bursaspor fought in a 2-2 draw. Olcan Adin gave the home side the lead in the 32nd minute before Ibrahim Bangura equalized in the 56th minute for Bursaspor. Abdullah Elyasa Sume then gave Gaziantepspor the lead once more in the 66th before Bursaspor were brought level once more! This time though, Ozan Ipek was the man for the home side. He struck in the 86th minute to win the game. Genclerbirligi v.s. Istanbul was the third game today in Turkey and the home side were powerfully in charge. Yasin Oztekin opened the account in the 7th minute while Herve Tum added a second in the 24th. Tum then added a second for himself - Genclerbirligi's third - in the 43rd minute. Last but not least, Ermin Zec completed the 4-0 scoreline in the 73rd minute. The final game of the day was between Trabzonspor and Orduspor who amassed a total of 5 goals. Trabzonspor were given the lead in the 22nd minute through Halil Altintop. Their lead was opened up further by Burak Yilmaz from the penalty spot in the 34th minute. Yilmaz had struck another pair by the 76th minute too! He made it 3-0 before half time and completed his hat-trick in the 76th. Orduspor did have something to smile about though: Hakan Ozmert gave them a goal of their own to make it a 4-1 game.

General Update! 12/18/11.

So! A lot is happening in the world of football right now. First of all, how about a brief overview of the leagues of Europe? Well, in England Manchester City have maintained their hold on the league title - though things are still very close between them and their cross-town rivals United who are in 2nd with 39 points: just 2 points less! Tottenham Hotspur aren't looking too bad either, holding 3rd by 2 points as well, but they should be confident: they've been playing very nice football this season. Chelsea are right behind them in 4th with 32 points. Arsenal and Liverpool round out the top 5 as they are both tied for points with 29 after 16 games. Newcastle are a surprise though: they have not fallen out by any stretch of the imagination! Instead, they are in 7th with 27 points - right on the heels of the Gunners and Liverpool. Down in Spain meanwhile Real Madrid remain on top of the league despite the loss in El Classico to 2nd place Barcelona. The two sides are divided by 3 points with Madrid holding 40 and the Catalans holding 37. Valencia meanwhile occupy 3rd with 33 points which gives them a very small comfort zone over the likes of 4th-place Levante who have 29 points. CA Osasuna have 5th position with 25. On now to Italy where Juventus have reclaimed their place at the top of the table with 33 points from 15 games. AC Milan are right on with them though, more than willing to take the top if the Old Ladies slip. AC are just 2 points behind - as are Udinese Calcio! Lazio hold 4th quite nicely though, defying 5th-placed Inter Milan to catch up with them with a 6 point spread. Lazio have 29 to Inter's 23. Over in Germany things are also competitive with Bayern holding 1st by just 3 points. Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 each have 34 in 2nd. Borussia Monchengladbach aren't out either though, just 1 point shy of the 2nd place sides. Werder Bremen hold 5th though, making 29 points from 17 matches played. In Portugal, Porto have drawn level with Lisbon rivals Benfica with both sides holding 33 points from their first 13 matches. Sporting Lisbon occupy 3rd, 27 points from 13 games isn't too bad however 4th place SC Braga have a game in hand and 22 points already. If they play their cards right and Sporting drop some points, Braga may be looking at a shot at the title. CS Maritimo are in a similar position though they have already played their 13th game. In the Netherlands AZ Alkmaar actually control the league - just by a point though! 2nd place PSV have 37 which means the pressure is really and truly on. FC Twente are 4 down in 3rd with Ajax right with them. Feyenoord are in 5th with 31. In Scotland Rangers are leading by 4 points over Celtic in 2nd who have 44 points - this hasn't been a good year for the B'hoys. Having said that though, they still have a full 10 points over 3rd place Motherwell. Motherwell do have a game in hand though. Now then. In other news, Barcelona are the best club on earth! It's official! They claimed victory earlier today with a 4-0 drubbing over Brazilian side Santos in the Club World Cup. What is there to say about the affair? Well, Barca were up to their usual title flair with massive amounts of possession and great goals too! Lionel Messi was the man of the match, Xavi helped control the ball-game, and the likes of Dani Alves and company made sure Barca dominated from back to front.

Champions League draw!!!

Well the group stage is over and now we get into the knock-out round! Who will face who? Will any of the smaller sides make it out? Well, you can puzzle these questions after this knowledge session: Olympique Lyon of France will face Cypriot side APOEL FC over two legs while SSC Napoli from Italy will test themselves against the English giants Chelsea! AC Milan and Arsenal are the other two Italian and English sides respectively to face off in what is sure to be an exciting match-up. Swiss surprises FC Basel 1893 will challenge Bayern Munich of Germany in their first fixture while the other German representatives, Bayer 04 Leverkusen will pray for blessings as they face FC Barcelona. Speaking of Spanish sides, Real Madrid and PFC CSKA Moskva of Russia will clash while fellow Russian side FC Zenit St. Petersburg face the challenge of defeating the Portuguese side SL Benfica. Last but not least, Olympique Marseille from France face Inter Milan of Italy! Enjoy the games!

Europa League group stage wrap-up! 12/15/11.

Well the group stage has been completed and it was not kind to many sides but the sides that have weathered the storm are: PAOK FC of Greece and FC Rubin Kazan of Russia qualified from Group A. Meanwhile in Group B Standard de Liege from Belgium and Hannover of Germany were the teams that made it through - very comfortably it should be noted. Group C on the other hand had more contestation with PSV of the Netherlands going through smoothly but Legia Warszawa from Poland had to fight to the death for qualification. I already covered Groups D - G in my last post so I'll hop over to Group H where Club Brugge KV and SC Braga made it through. They hail from Belgium and Portugal respectively. Group I meanwhile was held by Club Atletico de Madrid (Spain) while Udinese Calcio (Italy) grabbed second on the last day of the group - drawing 1-1 with Celtic to ensure their progression. Finally, Group J was controlled by FC Schalke 04 of Germany while FC Steaua Bucuresti from Romania did very well for themselves. Enjoy the next round of games!