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European Rewind: Man United pounds Tottenham, Real Madrid run wild, & more

Manu reuters

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Manchester United showed why they're still a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League title race with a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Tottenham on Sunday.

Wayne Rooney opened the scoring in the 45th minute and Ashley Young scored a stunning double to give the defending champions all three points. Jermain Defoe scored in the 87th minute in what amounted to nothing more than a consolation goal. Tottenham have now lost two straight and are only four points ahead Arsenal in fourth.

Real Madrid maintained their impressive run of form in La Liga with a 5-0 victory over Espanyol. Gonzalo Higuain scored twice and Cristiano Ronaldo added his 30th goal of the La Liga season.

In Italy, Lazio won the Rome Derby, knocking off Roma, 2-1, to move into third place in Serie A. An early red card to Roma goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg helped Lazio jump all over their rivals in a match that remained competitive despite the man advantage.

Here are the results from around Europe:

ENGLAND

Robin van Persie came to Arsenal's rescue once again as a stoppage-time goal gave Arsenal a 2-1 victory at Anfield over Liverpool. Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny turned the ball into his own net but the van Persie equalized on the half-hour. The Dutchman completed the comeback with a stunning one-timed goal in stoppage time. 

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE SCOREBOARD

Liverpool 1, Arsenal 2
Blackburn Rovers 1, Aston Villa 1
Manchester City 2, Bolton Wanderers 0
Queens Park Rangers 1, Everton 1
Stoke City 1, Norwich City 0
West Bromwich Albion 1, Chelsea 0
Wigan Athletic 0, Swansea City 2
Newcastle United 1, Sunderland 1
Fulham 5, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
Tottenham Hotspur 1, Manchester United 3

SPAIN

Lionel Messi was missed this weekend as 10-men Barcelona struggled to a 3-1 victory over Sporting Gijon. Gerard Pique was sent off in the early stages of the second half and Gijon dramatically equalized. Eventually, the champions found the breakthrough with late goals from Seydou Keita and Xavi.

Athletic Bilbao and Malaga remain knotted in fourth place as both rolled to two-goal victories. Bilbao clings to the final Champions League spot with a 10-goal differential advantage 

LA LIGA SCOREBOARD

Getafe 1, Malaga 3
Mallorca 1, Osasuna 1
Rayo Vallecano 4, Racing Santander 2
Barcelona 3, Sporting Gijon 1
Sevilla FC 1, Atletico Madrid 1
Real Zaragoza 2, Villarreal 1
Athletic Bilbao 2, Real Sociedad 0
Granada 0, Valencia 1
Real Madrid 5, Espanyol 0 

GERMANY

It was a good weekend in Germany for Borussia Dortmund as their three main rivals for the Bundesliga title suffered costly defeats. The league leaders, for their part, dispatched Mainz with a 2-1 victory. Bayern Munich were abject in a 2-0 road loss to Bayer Leverkusen. Borussia Moenchengladbach conceded a late goal to lose at Nurnberg and Schalke couldn't earn a point at Freiburg.

BUNDESLIGA SCOREBOARD

Bayer Leverkusen 2, Bayern Munich 0
Hamburg SV 0, VfB Stuttgart 4
Hannover 96 2, FC Augsburg 2
Hertha Berlin 1, Werder Bremen 0 
Kaiserslautern 0, VfL Wolfsburg 0
SC Freiburg 2, Schalke 04 1 
Borussia Dortmund 2, Mainz 1
Nurnberg 1, Borussia Monchengladbach 0
TSG Hoffenheim 1, FC Cologne 0

ITALY

Being the only unbeaten team in a top European league is becoming an increasingly hollow title as Juventus slumped to a 1-1 home draw with Chievo Verona. Boukary Drame scored in the final 15 minutes to give the visitors a well-deserved point.

AC Milan increased their lead to three points with a 4-0 thrashing of Palermo. Zlatan Ibrahimovic fired home a hat trick and AC Milan increased their goal differential advantage over Juve to nine, effectively nullifying Juventus' game in hand.

SERIE A SCOREBOARD

Palermo 0, AC Milan 4
Juventus 1, Chievo Verona 1
Parma 1, Napoli 2
AS Roma 1, Lazio 2
Bologna 1, Novara 0 
Fiorentina 2, Cesena 0
Lecce 2, Genoa 2
Siena 3, Cagliari 0
Udinese 0, Atalanta 0
Inter Milan 2, Catania 2

FRANCE

Paris Saint-Germain is back atop the Ligue 1 standings with a 4-1 thrashing of AC Ajaccio. Montpellier earned a point with a late equalizer against Dijon but slipped a point behind PSG with a draw. St Etienne had their momentum stopped with a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Evian Thonon Gaillard.

LIGUE 1 SCOREBOARD

AS Nancy Lorraine 2, Lyon 0
Dijon FCO 1, Montpellier 1
Lille 2, AJ Auxerre 2 
Marseille 0, Toulouse 1 
Sochaux 1, Valenciennes 1 
St Etienne 0, Evian Thonon Gaillard 2
Bordeaux 1, Nice 2  
Caen 0, Brest 0
Paris Saint-Germain 4, AC Ajaccio 1
Lorient 1, Stade Rennes 1

NETHERLANDS

FC Twente is charging up the table on the back of an explosion of offense that's unusual even for the goal-happy Dutch league. Steve McClaren's men dispatched former league-leaders PSV Eindhoven 6-2 to move into second place and only one point behind leaders AZ Alkmaar. The top of the Eredivisie table has tightened dramatically with only five points separating the top six teams.

EREDIVISIE SCOREBOARD

ADO Den Haag 0, Heerenveen 0
RKC Waalwijk 1, Excelsior 0
VVV Venlo 2, NAC Breda 1
AZ Alkmaar 3, SC Hercales Almelo 1
Vitesse Arnhem 2, De Graafschap 0
Ajax 4, Roda JC Kerkrade 1
FC Utrecht 0, NEC Nijmegen 0
Feyenoord Rotterdam 1, FC Groningen 0
PSV Eindhoven 2, FC Twente 6

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What do you think of the weekend's results? Impressed with Manchester United and Arsenal? Will Chelsea be better off without AVB? Do you predict anyone overtaking Borussia Dortmund?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. It was hardly a “comprehensive” victory. For most of the game, Spurs were the dominant team. United were better when it counted and they deserve credit for the win, but no one who watched the game would call it “comprehensive”.

    Reply
  2. Nice breakdown, thanks. Who did you mean to put for Liverpool’s 2nd game against Top 7? Chelsea?

    It looks most likely that Tottenham and Arsenal remain in the CL spots. Tottenham’s lead over 4th and their remaining schedule make them favorites for 3rd despite current form, and Arsenal get all remaining tough games at The Emirates. Chelsea has too much of a schedule disadvantage even if they catch fire under their new manager (unlikely!), while Newcastle has both a tough run in and ground to make up. Liverpool could still contend but they desperately need wins at home.

    I’ll agree that the league is there for ManU to win. One has to wonder if City can handle the pressure during the run in. I’d give United decent odds to win the league even if they lose @City. A loss in that game requires United to make up 6 points (unlikely to overturn GD). Looking at City’s schedule, the only real “gimmes” are Sunderland, West Brom, and QPR at home and away at Wolves. United have no excuse to drop points until they host Everton, a run of 7 games that should net 21 points. Over that same span, I’d say City would do well to get 15.

    Reply
  3. This is terribly irresponsible reporting and makes SBI look very bad. I don’t think anyone who watched that game, even the strongest United supporter, would say that United “pounded” Spurs or had a “comprehensive” victory. Spurs dominated the first 60 minutes of the game, and should have been ahead. In the game, Spurs outshot United two or three to one and had far more corners. I don’t say this to take anything away from United–they were opportunistic and took their chances well, which Spurs obviously didn’t. But to call it a “pounding” or “comprehensive” is absurd.

    Reply
  4. Well, there are a couple ways to look at it I think. The announcers during the game kept saying that the score line doesn’t tell the story of the game. In some ways it did – United took the chances it got, Tottenham did not. But your impression that Spurs played a strong game and dictated play for long stretches is, I believe, correct.

    They were pounded on the scoreline, but not during the entire run of play. In a little wrap up like the one given in the weekend round-up, there isn’t space for more detailed analysis I suppose. But at the end of the day, the ability to take their chances showed United’s quality.

    Reply
  5. You’re right, I didn’t watch the game but every report I’ve read said it was amazing United was up 3-0 as Tottenham seemed to be dominating possession. The summaries for these articles are not very good. Last week they said United cruised to another victory even though they won at the last second 2-1. Someone needs to edit these to make sure they are accurate…

    Reply
  6. The run in for the 3rd/4th place in England should be interesting.

    Top 7 Matches Left / Bottom 5 matches left

    Tottenham – 53 Points: 1/3 (@ Chelsea),(@ Bolton, @ QPR, Vs. Blackburn)

    Arsenal – 49 Points: 3/3 (Vs. Newcastle, Vs. Man City, Vs Chelsea), (@ Wolves, @ QPR, Vs Wigan)

    Chelsea – 46 Points: 4/3 (Vs Tottenham, @ Arsenal, @ Man City, @ Liverpool), (Vs Wigan, Vs QPR, Vs Blackburn)

    Newcastle – 44 Points: 4/2 (@ Arsenal, Vs. Liverpool, @ Chelsea, Vs Man City), (Vs Bolton, @ Wigan)

    Liverpool – 39 Points (+ extra game Vs Everton): 2/3 (@ Newcastle, Vs. Liverpool), (@ QPR, Vs Wigan, @ Blackburn)

    Tottenham is in the worst form, but has the best remaining schedule, and has a 7 point lead above the 5ht place team.

    Newcastle has the worst schedule and has to make up 5 points for 4th place.

    Manchester United, IMO, is still the favorite to win the league. They only have one top 7 fixture left (@ Man City) and still have all 5 games left vs bottom 5 teams), Man City has 4 Top 7 games left and only 2 bottom five games left.

    Reply
  7. Ok, so I was under the impression that Spurs pretty much played Man United evenly, but got hit by goals against the run of play. Is that accurate or did United really “pound” Spurs and was their victory really “comprehensive”?

    Reply
  8. Should be interesting to see how the EPL title run ends. United have now played all the top 7 teams minus City, and City still have to play Arsenal, Chelsea, and Newcastle, plus United of course. At the time I was not a fan of United playing so many good teams back to back, but now they are theoretically on easy street, and they are getting injured players back every week. I’m cautiously optimistic…

    Reply

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