Some great matches all around the world this weekend, and I've decided to take a small look at the Scottish league, something which I'm relatively unfamiliar with. Both teams had a 100% record going into this Old Firm Derby, and I have the feeling that the league will be mostly decided on this result, and when the return fixture at Ibrox Stadium comes around.
Right now Rangers are first in the league after their win over Celtic who are three points behind the table leaders. The third placed team in the table is Motherwell who are already eight points behind second placed Celtic. While I personally believe that Rangers will win the Scottish title (especially after this win), it'll be interesting to see what happens in the future, especially in the Champions League.
Celtic - Rangers
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| Rangers player celebrating their third goal |
Things were going perfectly for the home side at Celtic Park when Hooper scored a goal for Celtic in the 45th minute. A tap in at the back post which should've been closed down earlier by the distracted Rangers defence. But things began to slowly swing towards Rangers's way, and when Loovens directed a free kick into the back of his own net to equalize, Rangers had the momentum. Then, Kenny Miller took advantage of a disorganized Celtic defence to volley home Rangers's second goal. The third goal arrived after a pretty blatant dive by Broadfoot which was awarded with a penalty which Kenny Miller scored. Although Celtic will be unhappy with this mistake by referee William Collins, there were two, maybe three Celtic players who could've been sent off but weren't.
So this away win seperates the two dominant sides in Scotland by three points right now, but can Celtic make a comeback? The only way for that to happen would be for Rangers to slip up in one of their games before the next Old Firm Derby at Ibrox. Although it seems very difficult for Neil Lennon's side, we'll just have to see whether the Scottish Premier League will provide us with a surprise this season.
But now onto the English Premier League, where Manchester United defeated Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium 2-1. This win comes after Wayne Rooney renewing his contract with United, but some speculate it's just a deal so that the club can get more money when they sell him in the upcoming summer. Here's what happened for a Rooney-less Manchester United which faced Stoke City.
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| Chicharito celebrating his second goal |
Stoke City - Manchester United
Although the red devils were missing Rooney, a different youngster scored to ensure that they would still get three points away at Stoke. It was Javier Hernandez a.k.a. "Chicarito"who scored a two goals for Manchester United. His first was a wild backwards header from a deep cross. The only way to describe the header is that Chicarito's body flopped awkwardly as he created the power to flick the ball into the net with the back of his head.
The match was also influenced when Gary Neville should've been sent off after two bad tackles on Etherington. The first was sanctioned with a yellow card, but the second one which was probably the worse of the two, wasn't accompanied by the second yellow which should've been displayed to the United right-back on his 600th appearance for Manchester United.
Yet Stoke City fought back, and in the 81st minute substitute Tuncay scored a brilliant goal into the top left hand corner of Edwin van der Saar's net to equalize. But it was the young Mexican Chicharito who scored the winner for Manchester United in the 86th minute. He tipped Evra's shot past Sorensen and into the back of the net to make sure that Manchester United brought home three important points.
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| Boyata was sent off for this challenge on Chamakh |
Although United got three points to remain in the title race, Chelsea managed a 2-0 win over Wolves to stay five points ahead of everyone else. But the big match happened at Eastlands where Manchester City were defeated 3-0 by Arsenal.
The score flatters the gunners, and the game was highly influenced when Boyata was sent off five minutes into the match. From there Arsenal went on to score three, with Fabregas missing a penalty. It's a good win for Arsenal who will want to remain in the title race. It'll be interesting if we see Arsene Wenger's side go on a winning streak after this good win, can they challenge for the title? Share your thoughts below!
That's all I can manage for this week, if you're interested in what happened in the Serie A, be sure to visit
Serie A Talk for in depth match reports on the Italian league.
