Lyon Knock out Real Madrid and Bayern Edge past Fiorentina plus Europa League results

And epic first week to the second leg of the Champions League round of 16, epic matches that showcase some fantastic young talents. Not only this, but the first leg of Europa League round of 16 ended with some interesting results...

Europa League 1st leg results:


Juventus get a 3-1 win against Fulham, but Roy Hodgson's side has a crucial away goal.

Panathinaikos slip up at home against Standard Liege, losing 3-1 at home.

Valencia and Werder Bremen fought out a 1-1 draw which had Valencia play without Banega for over 30 minutes after the promising young midfielder was sent off.

Hamburger have little trouble against Anderlecht winning 3-1 at home thanks to Mathijsen, Van Nilsterooy, and Jarolim.

Rubin Kazan and Wolfsburg drew 1-1 as did Benfica and Olympique Marseille.

Atletico Madrid and Sporting Lisbon battled out a 0-0 draw, Sporting had two men sent off and Atletico failed to capitalize.

Liverpool fall poorly against Lille losing 1-0, the reds will hope they can win back at Anfield, very similar to the Real Madrid - Lyon tie in the Champions League...

Champions League 2nd leg results:

Real Madrid - Lyon: Aggregate 1-2

Probably one of the greatest upsets in French Champions League history, Lyon was able to nab a 1-0 win back in France, but going to the Santiago Bernabeu is a much different thing. Real Madrid dominated the first half, a fiery Ronaldo along with a quick Higuain put Lyon on their heels, just 6 minutes in Guti plays a fantastic pass to Ronaldo who steams his way past a defender to slot it through Lloris' legs at a tight angle. It seems like it would be target practice for Real, but after many wasted opportunities and selfish decisions (Higuain hits the post on a completely open net etc.), Real Madrid only went in one up after the first half. Claude Puel decided to make two key substitutions at the half, putting Kallstrom and Gonalons for Makoun and Boumsong, these two gave an attacking spark to the Lyon side that was slowly growing in confidence. Govou misses a good chance in front of Casillas, but eventually, in the 75th minute, Lisandro Lopez flicks up a ball in the 18 for Pjanic to volley into the goal. Real Madrid break down completely for the rest of the match, players are greedy and Kaka' is eventually taken off much to his anger. Lyon break down Real Madrid a couple times and find themselves 1 on 1 against Casillas, but they don't need to score, wasting fantastic opportunities to humiliate Real further, the two teams draw 1-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Fiorentina - Bayern Munich: Aggregate 4-4 Bayern through on away goals


After the refereeing injustices that Fiorentina suffered in the Allianz Arena, the Italian team was ready to make an impact at home, it took Fiorentina 28 minutes to make the breakthrough, Vargas leaps onto a ball out on the left wing and blasts it past Butt letting the Viola take the lead. In the second half, Jovetic helps lengthen the lead by sliding it past Butt after a clever back-heel from Gilardino, but Bayern react with a low shot by Van Bommel heavily affected by the windy conditions in Florence. Jovetic scores again after a loose ball in Bayern's area was badly cleared, but Fiorentina's hopes were halted by a phenomenal shot by Robben, after dribbling past two defenders, the Dutchman cuts in and blasts the ball into the top left corner. Even though Bayern lost, they were equal in score letting the Germans go through on away goals.

Arsenal - Porto: Aggregate 6-2


What should've been a shaky evening for Arsenal without Fabregas and Gallas turned out to be an homage to Wenger's beautiful football, all of Arsenal's players were fantastic, working to demolish a mediocre Porto side. Arshavin was deadly along the wing, providing Bendtner with fantastic service twice, which the striker tucked away quickly putting the gunners two up by halftime. Then the Nasri show began, the young Frenchman playing in Fabregas' role goes on a fantastic slalom dribbling past three Porto players before tucking the ball into the far corner at an impossible angle. Soon after Eboue followed after rounding Helton and passing the ball in the net, and finally Bendtner grabbed his first hat trick in his senior career after slotting a penalty into the back of the net, making the final score 5-0 for the gunners.

Manchester United - AC Milan: Aggregate 7-2


It seemed inevitable that Manchester United would breeze past AC milan, but the careless meandering fashion which the English champions accomplished the feat was amazing, it took a Rooney double to put the game to bed, a fantastic header and a good finish. Ji Sung Park then slotted one home right before Rooney was replaced by Berbatov, the Englishman did what he needed to do, and Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to make sure he kept his wonder-boy far from any possible injuries. AC Milan had some possession of the ball, but United let them have it where there was no danger, and eventually the fourth came, a diving header from Fletcher completed the great United night which brought memories of the 7-1 thrashing against Roma.

What do you think of this week's action, Beckham's return, and next week's Champions League action? Comment below!

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Real Latch onto Barcelona and Inter held to a draw

This weekend was filled with cup action in England, allowing footy fans to watch leagues from around the world. And the only Premiership match that took place was one in which an American scored, hoping that Donovan can continue with Everton.

In England, Everton - Hull City finished 5-1 for the toffees, Arteta netted two, with Donovan scoring one and giving a great assist for Rodwell. Hull scored with Cairney, but Garcia put one past Myhill in an unlucky own goal created by Arteta. The other Premiership fixture was Wigan - Liverpool which finished Wigan 1 Liverpool 0, Torres missed great chances, and eventually Rodallega put one away to make sure that Wigan stay firmly out of the relegation zone.

Roma - AC Milan


Both teams were desperate to gain some points, but in the end they basically cancelled each other out, Roma started with vigour, Julio Baptista shot a rocket in the first ten minutes which swerved towards the top right corner, only to be saved by a brilliant Abbiati. But after their strong start, Roma lost their pace, and Milan started to grow in confidence, raising the tempo of the match which hurt the tired Roma side. Vucinic tried to make the difference but AC Milan was the dominant force throughout the rest of the match, and although they didn't capitalize on their chances, Milan look ready to face Manchester United in midweek.

In Italy, Juventus continue their chase for Champions League football after defeating Fiorentina 2-1, a great goal by Diego, rounding Frey to tap it in, and a powerful close range shot by Grosso let Juventus push for the fourth spot. Inter Milan were held to a 0-0 draw by Genoa, Balotelli started, and disappointed, the youngster slowed down the tempo of the game constantly diving and attracting fouls, and eventually when he was actually fouled in the box, the ref refused to acknowledge it, thinking of it as another dive. Sampdoria came back to win 2-1 against an everfalling Lazio, Floccari started the scoring, but a rocket by Guberti, and a goal by Pazzini helped Sampdoria claim three important points.

In Spain, Real Madrid latch onto Barcelona after an epic 3-2 comeback against Sevilla, Real went two down after Xabi Alonso netted an unfortunate own goal, and Dragutinovic scored, seemingly giving Sevilla the win. But in four minutes Real Madrid were level, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the first in the 60th with Sergio Ramos following in the 64th. Then it was super-sub Van der Vaart who was able to squeeze the ball past Palop in the 93rd minute who gave his side a fantastic win. Barcelona had a slip rarely seen, away to Almeria Barcelona drew 2-2,  Domingo Cisma gave Almeria the lead in the 12th minute, but Messi equalized twice after Puyol let in an own goal. One goal was a beautiful free kick by the Argentinian, just a half step, and the chip swerved beautifully into the back of the net, but what probably stopped Barcelona from winning was Ibrahimovic's direct red card in the 61st, leaving Barcelona to watch Real Madrid latch onto them at the top of the table.

What do you think of this week's action? Comment below!

International Friendlies: Crouch at the double

Peter Crouch stepped up his claims for a FIFA World Cup starting spot with two goals as England came from behind to defeat Egypt 3-1 at Wembley. The Tottenham striker took his goal tally for his country to 20 in 37 games after replacing club-mate Jermaine Defoe at half-time when England trailed to Mohamed Zidan's opener. Shaun Wright-Phillips also hit the target as England recovered from a poor first-half performance to run out comfortable winners.

"Anyone who plays for England is going to feel under pressure, certainly in a World Cup year," Crouch said after the game. "You can only try to do your best and I did. Its up to the manager. All you've got to do when given your chance is try and take it and I've given the manager something to think about tonight."

Egypt looked full of confidence in the early stages and enjoyed plenty of possession, but it was England who created the first clearcut opening after five minutes. Rooney picked out the run behind the Egyptian defence of Walcott and his low centre fell perfectly into the path of Frank Lampard, but the Chelsea midfielder struck his shot straight at Essam El Hadary who was able to parry his effort at the expense of a corner.

Rooney looked lively and El Hadary fumbled a low drive from the Manchester United player who had scored the winning goal against Aston Villa in the Carling Cup final on the same ground three days ago. However, England were indebted to a goal-line clearance from Defoe for keeping them on level terms after Robert Green appeared slow to react to a shot hit into the ground from Wael Gomaa following a corner from Mohamed Zidan.

Rooney set up a chance for Defoe but he hesitated slightly as he prepared to shoot and Ahmed El Mehamady was able to make the challenge. El Hadary cut out a low cross from Gareth Barry as England started to settle down although Zidan was only just too high with a shot from a narrow angle.

After 23 minutes the 80,000 home fans were stunned when Zidan put Egypt ahead following a slip by Matthew Upson. The West Ham defender went tumbling to the ground and allowed Zidan to take a pass from Hosni Abd Rabou in his stride, but the striker still showed some first-class control and a clinical finish in drilling his shot past Green.

England tried to retaliate and Rooney glanced a header wide from a chip into the box from Steven Gerrard. Then a corner from debutant Leighton Baines found its way to Lampard at the far post but his shot bounced down and over the crossbar. Defoe was only just too high with a flashing header and then forced El Hadary to push his shot around the post after shaking off the challenge of Gomaa who tried to tug him back.

England were now in control territorially and El Hadary held onto an effort from Terry from a Baines centre. Yet Egypt still moved the ball around in impressive fashion whenever the chance presented itself to venture forward. As usual, Rooney offered the best hope of providing some salvation early in the second half, but his curling 20-yard effort was easily collected by El Hadary. England's distribution of the ball was leaving a lot to be desired with a completely over-hit pass from Gerrard aimed at Rooney's run summing up their evening.

But out of the blue Crouch brought England back on level terms with 56 minutes on the clock. Gerrard found Barry in space to the right of the Egyptian box and his low cross was clinically converted by the Tottenham striker. Rooney volleyed just over the bar after Crouch had failed to make proper contact with a bicycle kick from a Wright-Phillips centre.

Gerrard was replaced after 72 minutes by James Milner and he quickly made an impact as England went ahead with 15 minutes remaining through fellow substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips. The Aston Villa midfielder saw his fierce shot beaten out by El Hadary but Wright-Phillips converted the rebound although the Egyptian keeper should have done better with his attempts to block the effort.

Then Crouch struck for the second time to take his England goal tally to 20 in the 80th minute. This time Wright-Phillips was the creator, although Crouch looked offside when he poked the ball over the line. Rooney left the field to rapturous applause when replaced by Carlton Cole, handing the captain's armband to Gareth Barry, who was the Three Lions’ third captain on a satisfactory night for Capello's men.

Other friendlies:

Portugal 2-0 China; Goals - Almeida (35') and Liedson (90').

France 0-2 Spain; Goals - David Villa (22') and Sergio Ramos (45').

Scotland 1-0 Czech Republic; Goals - Brown (62').

Albania 1-0 Northern Ireland; Goals - Skela (26').

Belgium 0-1 Croatia; Goals - Kranjcar (63').

Germany 0-1 Argentina; Goals - Gonzalo Higuain (45').

Italy 0-0 Cameroon; Goals - none.

Netherlands 2-1 USA; Goals - Dirk Kuyt (40' penalty; NED), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (73'; NED), and Bocanegra (89'; USA).

Slovenia 4-1 Qatar; Goals - Novakovic (14'; SLV), Cesar (30'; SLV), Kirm (34'; SLV), Montezine (41'; QAT), and Jokic (67'; SLV).   

Wales 0-1 Sweden; Goals - Elmander (44').

Austria 2-1 Denmark; Goals - Schiemer (11'; AUS), Nicklas Bendtner (17'; DEN), and Wallner (37'; AUS).

Poland 2-0 Bulgaria; Goals - Kuba (43') and Lewandowski (62').

Switzerland 1-3 Uruguay; Goals - Inler (29' penalty; SWI), Diego Forlan (34'; URU), Suarez (49'; URU), and Cavani (87'; URU).

Luxembourg 1-2 Azerbaijan; Goals - Guliyev (27'; AZB), Strasser (33'; LUX), and Mammadov (36'; AZB).

Romania 0-2 Israel; Goals - Y. Benayoun (45') and Barda (84' penalty).

More matches will be updated. Click here for more matches and info.