By JOHN BOSCHINI
Those who woke up early on Sunday morning were treated to one of the best Premier League games of the season.
Manchester City used a last-minute penalty from Mario Balotelli to beat Tottenham 3-2 and go six points clear at the top of the table. Balotelli, who came on as a second-half sub, was lucky to be on the field following a kick to Scott Parker's head.
The first four goals came in a furious nine minutes as Samir Nasri and Joleon Lescott put Manchester City up 2-0 before Jermain Defoe was gifted a goal and a stunning goal from Gareth Bale drew Spurs level. Defoe almost gave Tottenham the lead in the dying minutes but his shot with the goal gaping glanced just wide and on the other end Balotelli converted a penalty.
In Germany, the top of the table is now tighter than ever as a mere one point separates first and fourth. Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 all have 37 points with Munich clinging to the lead thanks to goal difference.
Juventus clings to a one-point lead in Serie A as they took care of business against Atalanta and AC Milan dispatched Novara.
Here is a look back at all the action from over the weekend in Europe.
England
Manchester United kept pace with their cross-town rivals thanks to a 2-1 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates. Danny Welbeck fired United to a victory with nine minutes left in the game and Arsenal find themselves five points off fourth place. Bolton refuse to go quietly into relegation and moved out of the bottom three with a 3-1 win over Liverpool.
SATURDAY
Norwich City 0, Chelsea 0
Everton 1, Blackburn Rovers 1
Fulham 5, Newcastle United 2
Queens Park Rangers 3, Wigan 1
Stoke City 1, West Bromwich Albion 2
Sunderland 2, Swansea City 0
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2, Aston Villa 3
Bolton Wanderers 3, Liverpool 1
SUNDAY
Manchester City 3, Tottenham Hotspur 2
Arsenal 1, Manchester United 2
GERMANY
Borussia Mochengladbach continue to be one of the surprises of the season after a 3-1 victory over Bayern Munich. Borussia Dortmund and Schalke also made emphatic claims in their return to the field with 3-1 and 5-1 wins respectively.
FRIDAY
Borussia Monchengladbach 3, Bayern Munich 1
SATURDAY
Nurnberg 2, Hertha Berlin 0
SC Freiburg 1, FC Augsburg 0
Schalke 04 3, VfB Stuttgart 1
TSG Hoffenheim 0, Hannover 96 0
VfL Wolfsburg 1, FC Cologne 0
Kaiserslautern 0, Werder Bremen 0
SUNDAY
Hamburg SV 1, Borussia Dortmund 5
Bayer Leverkusen 3, Mainz 2
SPAIN
Real Madrid and Barcelona continue their march away from the rest of the field with comfortable wins over the weekend. Valencia conceded in the final minute to lose even more ground to the top two but Levante's 0-0 draw with Real Zaragoza maintains Valencia's four point cushion for third place. Sporting Gijon and Villareal face off today in a battle of relegation-threatened teams.
SATURDAY
Espanyol 3, Granada 0
Racing Santander 1, Getafe 2
Real Sociedad 0, Athletico Madrid 4
Real Betis 1, Sevilla FC 1
SUNDAY
Osasuna 1, Valencia 1
Rayo Vallecano 0, Mallorca 1
Malaga 1, Barcelona 4
Levante 0, Real Zaragoza 0
Real Madrid 4, Athletic Bilbao 1
ITALY
Inter Milan extended their winning streak to seven games and continue to pose a threat to the title. Wesley Sneijder came on as a second-half sub in Inter's 2-1 victory over Lazio. AS Roma put five past Cesena as they lurk in sixth place. Udinese managed to hold on to third place with a narrow win over Catania.
SATURDAY
AS Roma 5, Cesena 1
Atalanta 0, Juventus 2
SUNDAY
Bologna 0, Parma 0
Cagliari 0, Fiorentina 0
Lecce 2, Chievo Verona 2
Novara 0, AC Milan 3
Palermo 5, Genoa 3
Siena 1, Napoli 1
Udinese 2, Catania 1
Inter Milan 2, Lazio 1
NETHERLANDS
AZ Alkmaar and Ajax's 1-1 draw opened the door for PSV Eindhoven to move into pole position but they failed to take advantage with a 1-1 draw with FC Uthrecht. FC Twente were the big winners of the weekend with a 5-0 victory to mark Steve McClaren's return to the dugout.
FRIDAY
ADO Den Haag 3, Roda JC Kekrade 3
SATURDAY
De Graafschap 0, Heerenveen 2
Excelsior 3, NAC Breda 0
FC Twente 5, RKC Waalwijk 0
SUNDAY
Vitesse Arnhem 0, NEC Nijmegen 1
AZ Alkmaar 1, Ajax Amsterdam 1
FC Groningen 2, SC Heracles Almelo 1
VVV Venlo 2, Feyenoord Rotterdam 1
FC Utrecht 1, PSV Eindhoven 1
——————
What did you think of the weekend's games? Impressed with Manchester City? Excited to see such close title races in Germany and Italy? Can Twente close the gap in Holland?
Share your thoughts below.
Balotelli has to come to the US…He would be a media hit
Lescott should have been sent off as well. Not Webb’s best game
Tottenham definitely have plenty of players that would start for United, but they also have some players that wouldn’t even make the bench. I agree Tottenham are a great team, but when United is a full strength, they are the better team, in both starters and clearly in depth of squad. Also, Tottenham had been tied with United at 2nd for all of one game and then they drop five points. They are not ready to handle that kind of pressure yet. Also, City continue to get the luck needed to win these games, it has me worried. Everything seems to work out for them in the end…
que Mancini complaining about squad size/famished club, etc.
I agree that I would be suprised if he does not get at least a two game suspension and if he were in the Bundsliga he might end up with 8 games like Jones did.
I believe the brawl was because people were clamoring for Bradley to start more games for the USMNT
Two things I saw this weekend. One tottenham is as good as united and wouldnt surprise me if they catch them for second. And man city when on all cylinders is almost unbeatable. There only weakness is defence I’m not a Lescott or Clichey fan. That being said they should have lost this weekend. And I dont think Balotelli tried to hit Parker in the face but he kicked out. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t get a suspension.
I don’t understand why people argue that it was unintentional. He was falling forward, why would you try to regain your balance by kicking out backward, that would only exacerbate the issue. Not to mention it was a very unnatural movement and directed directly at Parker’s head.
I watched it live and watched the replay. It was an unnatural movement to say the least. The commentators thought he was kicking out, and I think I have to agree with them.
Well, span, I’ll agree there is a fanatical hatred of the kid by the football press. But YOU have to admit that the kid is rather crazy, entirely irresponsible towards team rules, and has been in far more scrapes than he should have been.
And we’ll have to disagree about Sunday. I believe that he kicked out and while I don’t think he tried to kick Bale in the head, he WAS lashing out, not catching his balance.
I could see that happening too although January is running out fast. If so, then West Brom better watch out from below. Even Wolves could get their act together.
But I’ll stick with my trio…just a semi-educated guess.
@JOHN BOSCHINI….like many others you are too quick to judge Balotelli. Watch in full speed, not slo-mo. Just a player trying to regain his balance. If he intentionally stomped, where was the protest from Tottenham players? Oh wait, there was none. Witch hunt.
Balotelli should leave England…the bias against him is ridiculous.
not to mention Le Toux.
Coyle and Moyes have shown sincere interest in American/MLS talent. Gotta love that and cheer for them as a result.
I think Hughes will make some solid signings in January and solidify their place and have them well clear of relegation.
You can see the established teams, Bolton and Blackburn, starting to play better now and I’d bet both stay up. For all the wailing and gnashing of teeth about Kean at Blackburn, he’s got them playing a lot better now. And Coyle is a good manager and Wanderers should be fine.
Midseason bets on relegation: Wigan, QPR, Wolves.
good for Bolton…really hope they can stay out of relegation. Now let’s just get Holden and Ream on the field for a top 10 EPL finish next season 🙂
I forgot the link:
http://laliga1.com/laliga/22-01-2012-lecce-2-2-chievo-4776.html
I watched the last 20 minutes of the Lecce-Chievo match Sunday, in which Chievo squandered a 2-0 lead to end up with a 2-2 tie. Michael Bradley did not look good at all on Lecce’s late equalizer. He was standing all alone before the goal not marking anyone or shutting down the passing lane that was wide open for the goal. I watched the highlights at the link below, and it appears he also was at least partly responsible for allowing Lecce’s first goal and he was not involved in either of Chievo’s goals.
There was a major brawl after the game, involving players and coaches. Not sure what that was about, as the commentary was in Italian, but it took awhile to get thing calmed down. Anyone know what happened?