What seemed to be AC Milan's perfect chance to reopen the title race in Italy turned out to be a nightmare for the rossoneri, right at the beginning Sneijder flicks the ball up and from 25 yards out blasts a venomous volley that shaves the post. Soon after, a great lift over the Milan back line by Pandev provided Diego Milito the perfect chance which he put a away with a great diagonal. Sneijder also had a great chance to double the lead but was stopped by Dida in the six yard box, the dutchman would not stay on for long, when Lucio was yellow carded for simulation, Wesley Sneijder applauded the referee sarcastically and was subsequently send off with a straight red. The ten-man Inter squad held on well to Milan who seemed to be imprecise and without confidence until the end of the first half. In the second half, a very strange story to tell, what should've been Milan's time to shine turned out to be Inter's greatest moments, although Borriello had some great chances thanks to fantastic crosses by Beckham, Julio Cesar was rock solid and stopped everything towards the Inter goal. Mourinho decided to keep the two strikers and was rewarded with great play from both of them, Pandev and Milito tracked back to help the squad defend, and were deadly on the counter attack, with multiple opportunity's created which weren't put away. When Pandev and Milito combined to get Pandev on a 1v1 with Dida, the Macedonian chipped it beautifully over the keeper only to see it hit the inside of the post. But a minute later, Maicon is brought down, and Pandev scores a brilliant free kick to put Inter out of Milan's sight. At the end of the match, Lucio was sent off for accumulation of yellow cards, but the neroazzurri dominated Milan, even when they were two men down, keeping Mourinho's home undefeated streak intact.
Final Score 2-0
This was a solitary match in the premiership, and with the recent debt that has been revealed about the United owners, the red devils needed a win to go top of the table. What can only be described as a simple game, in the beginning minutes of the match, a shot by Scholes was parried by Myhill but Rooney was there for the followup. With a great start, the next goal would come much later in the match, in the 82nd Rooney rocketed a shot past Myhill, about four minutes later, a delicious ball by Nani is headed in by Rooney at close range, and finally in extra time, Rooney between two defenders squeezes a shot that completes his poker and puts United on top of the table.
Final score 4-0
In La Liga, Barcelona demolish Real Valladolid 3-0 thanks to a fantastic Xavi and a wild Dani Alves, Xavi scored a half bicycle kick half volley, and Dani Alves blasted one in from the wing. Messi completed with a third thanks to a great pass by Ibrahimovic. Meanwhile Real Madrid are a one man team, from scoring goals to committing fouls, Cristiano Ronaldo did it all against Malaga, with a tap in and then a fantastic rocket which went into the top corner, in two minutes Real had the game wrapped up. But in the second half, Ronaldo was sent off for whacking a player with his hand viciously while dribbling, from hero to zero, Madrid hang on to be 5 points away from the Catalan giants.
The Bundesliga had a crucial match between Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen, the match ended 3-2 for Bayern thanks to Muller, Olic, and Robben, but Leverkusen stay on top after a 3-0 victory over Hoffenheim with even ex-Liverpool defender, Hyppia, scoring. But what continues to be the revelation of the season is Felix Magath's Schalke who drew 2-2 with Bochum, putting them firmly in third, two points behind Bayerm
In the Carling Cup, Manchester City pull off a win against Manchester United at Eastlands, with the great ex, Tevez scoring both goals, while Villa get through to the final after an epic match against Blackburn which ended 6-4 for Villa. With only the second leg of the semifinal between both sides of Manchester left until the final, Tevez will be looking to make an impact against his former side at Old Trafford.
