Last Week in Las Ligas

By Oliver (reg. font) and Jake (ital)
Premiership Results

  • Even when West Ham play well they lose- Carlos Tevez, the star Argentinean scores his first goal (and what a goal it was) but the hammers give up a big lead to fall 4-3 to Spurs
  • Manchester United score a goal in the 92nd minute to beat Liverpool despite being second best for much of the match- goal scorer John O’ Shea calls it the most important goal of his career and he maybe right, but he has only scored about three anyway.
  • Arsenal beat Reading for their first positive result in a while (it all goes down hill later in the week though).
  • Chelsea keep up the pace with United thanks to a Salomon Kalou winner at Portsmouth.

Arsenal 2-1 Reading

http://www.dailymotion.com/visited/search/Arsenal%2B2-1%2Breading/video/x1cq64_arsenal-vs-reading-match-highlights

Liverpool 0-1 Manchester United

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjfafmlWoXA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efootytube%2Ecom%2Fcategory%2Fvideos%2Fpage%2F3%2F

Fulham 1-1 Aston Villa

http://www.dailymotion.com/visited/search/fulham%2B1-1%2Baston%2Bvilla/video/x1cwxk_fulham11astonvilla

Man City 0-1 Wigan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77-i2iSfuCY

Newcastle 0-0 Middlesbrough

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6GEX_q3KaI

Sheff Utd 1-1 Everton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNQX9rXS5UU

Watford 2-2 Charlton

Portsmouth 0-2 Chelsea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwaGHtUEdIs

West ham 3-4 Tottenham

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ1gUR_LcPU (strangely with a sad song, maybe because it sort of sums up West Ham’s season)

Bolton 1-2 Blackburn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfen-WG-sOw

Champions League

Arsenal 1-1 PSV Eindhoven

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1e1bu_arsenal-v-psv-070307-ssn-match-repo

Well Arsenal’s season collapses (sorry dude) in the space of ten days with the afore mentioned loss to Chelsea in the Carling Cup, then the loss to Blackburn in the FA Cup and then this loss on aggregate to PSV-Arsenal took the lead through an own goal by, probably the most impressive player on the field, Chelsea owned PSV defender, Alex. However the 6’5 Brazilian made up for it with a crushing header ten minutes from time to send last years finalists tumblinf out before the quarterfinals.

Manchester United 1-0 Lille

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1e1mo_manu-v-lille-070307-ssn-match-repor

Lille did nothing to suggest the quality that they have in a fairly dour game between the future Premiership champs and the French contenders (if anyone can be called contenders to Lyon’s dominance) Larsson scored the decisive goal, in his last game at Old Trafford before heading home to Sweden to play for Helsinborg, while the goal was created by possibly the worlds best player, Portuguese star Ronaldo (Cristiano, not the fat guy), who continues to shine and is widely expected to sign a new contract this week worth about $250,000 a week.

AC Milan 1-0 Celtic

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1e1jw_ac-milan-v-celtic-070307-ssn-match

Scottish champs Celtic battled hard against the six times winners but were downed in extra time by Brazilian superstar Kaka. A proud performance from the Scots and they could have won in it normal time, but had two penalties shouts turned down.

Bayern Munich 2-1 Real Madrid

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1e1qw_bayern-munich-v-real-madrid-070307

Real had a goal ruled out for a handball at the end which could have sent them through- Bayern scored the quickest goal of all time in the champ’s league (ten seconds) (that is SO Real) through Dutch forward Roy Makkay and held on at the end despite pressure from the Spanish stars.

Liverpool 0-1 Barcelona

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoxyBL8JwDY&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efootytube%2Ecom%2F2007%2F03%2F06%2Fliverpool%2Dvs%2Dbarcelona%2Dhighlights%2F

The last two winners of the trophy tussled at a raucous Anfield, and Barcelona won the battle, however it was Liverpool that won the war as their superior away goals record sent them through to a Quarter Finals date with Arsenal conquering, Dutch champs PSV.

A thoroughly deserved result for the Scouse (see, Ryan, they even sound like a disease! A case of the Scouse has to be the next awful VD. I officially hate them. In an apathetic sort of way, but you know the way people throw the word hate around these days, so it’s all good…) who had dominated much of the game, including hitting the bat twice, without being able to kill it off. The European and Spanish champs looked a shadow of their former selves and Stars Ronaldinho and Eto did no where near enough as the hard pressing Red’s battled for the result. A late Gudjohnsen goal caused a scare, but they didn’t deserve a result, or too progress against a slick Liverpool unit.

Chelsea 2-1 Porto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SkTEHmDVho&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efootytube%2Ecom%2F2007%2F03%2F06%2Fchelsea%2Dporto%2Dhighlights%2Dgoals%2F

Poor performance from Chelsea, but they did enough to go through against the Portuguese champs. Winning goal by Michael Ballack, who actually had a decent game, however Lampard was awful. The most impressive player on the field was Porto’s Ricardo Quaresma, a Cristiano Ronaldo clone, full of fancy flicks and turns, he took his goal well and will likely be on his way to England or Spain this summer for a hefty fee.

Lyon 0-2 Roma

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKtQcNdTPAg&mode=related&search=

Highly fancied Lyon (my tip to do well) crashed out to hard working Roma at home.

Roma were the better team throughout and deserved their win against an unsure looking Lyon (who have been uncharacteristically weak domestically the past few weeks) Brazilian winger Mancini scored the second, which I have to say was one of the coolest goals I have ever seen (see it alone in goal of the week).

Valencia 0-0 Inter Milan

http://www.dailymotion.com/visited/search/valencia%2B0-0%2Binter%2B/video/x19sx5_inter-vs-valencia-highlights

A brawl spoiled/saved this game, which ever way you look at it- a bad tempered affair throughout regular time, with both teams coming close, but afterwards a despicable/hilarious punch up ensued leading with Inter’s defender Nicolas Burdisso nursing a broken nose after a Carmelo Anthony style hit and run away move from Valencia winger Navarro (who had not even played a minute off the actual game). (Sanchez Flores is going to threaten benching Navarro, Melo-style.)

http://www.dailymotion.com/visited/search/valencia%2Binter/video/x1dsik_valenciainter-rissa-micidiale (just the brawl

Champs Lge Draw made today as well- (Friday)

And these are the games

Liverpool – PSV Eindhoven (I’m picking Liverpool)

AC Milan – Bayern Munich (I’m picking Milan)

AS Roma – Manchester United (I’m picking Man U)

Chelsea – Valencia (I’m picking Valencia–UPSET ESPECIAL)

Goal of the Week

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N19h4N7o4Q0

Not even debatable this week as Roma’s Mancini scores an awesome goal with about 5 step overs to totally bamboozle the defence and kill of Lyon.

Player of the Week

Would have said Tevez for his performance against Tottenham, but they lost so how about Aaron Lennon for his performance for Spurs in the same game.

POI

This weeks video is of Carlos Tevez, to show the sort of player he can be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK2ucVW6BKY

Managed to scrounge tickets to the Carling Cup Final between Arsenal and Chelsea at Cardiff’s 74,000 capacity Millennium Stadium, in Wales.

One of the best games I have ever seen and I got some (partially bias) notes to share about it later

But First on to the League and Manchester United’s charge to the title continues, while Chelsea manage to win enough not to make it a foregone conclusion- On another note West Ham suck and their players don’t deserve their wages

Let’s get to it

Premiership Highlights

Fulham 1-2 Manchester United

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ajw9_fulham-vs-manchester-united-goals

Ronaldo saves the day again for United, with a 89th minute run and strike that show that he may well be the best player in the world at this moment in time, as much as I hate the guy he keeps on doing amazing things and I’m starting to admire him, ok with that I’m off to throw up..

Ok back- the rest of the highlights

Charlton 4-0 West Ham

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwC4NIDZd-g&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efootytube%2Ecom%2Fforum%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Fp%3D160

Great football from Charlton in a battle of the relegation threatened Londoners, Jerome Thomas gets two and Charlton roll to the easy victory…Bye, bye West Ham

Liverpool 4-0 Sheff Utd (with awesome commentary)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoU4LBJq63E&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efootytube%2Ecom%2Fforum%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Fp%3D160

Everton 3-0 Watford

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS3HoXl7u_Y&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efootytube%2Ecom%2Fforum%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Fp%3D160

Manuel Fernandes, Everton’s new signing gets his first goal and Leon Osman scores a peach to round it off, Mikel Arteta also referred to as the ‘magical Spaniard’ throughout by the commentator, and while it’s not the catchiest nickname it is a fairly decent description

Middlesbrough 2-1 Reading

Wigan 1-0 Newcastle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYI_iQbhUUU&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efootytube%2Ecom%2Fforum%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Fp%3D160

Tottenham 4-1 Bolton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYI_iQbhUUU&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efootytube%2Ecom%2Fforum%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Fp%3D160

Eventful night for Robbie Keane as he scores two and gets sent off for handball, giving away a penalty

Blackburn 3-0 Portsmouth

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1b256_blackburn-vs-portsmouth-highlights

So that’s the weekend’s Premiership action- but Sunday was the big ‘un for me- as me and my buddy John got tickets to the Arsenal- Chelsea Cup final-

Which despite some of Arsenal’s veteran stars being left out, still promised to be a cracking game- it did not disappoint- here are my notes on the game

Arsenal- Chelsea – Carling Cup Final

  • So arrived at the stadium about an hour before kick off to enjoy the pre-match atmosphere, GK’s first out on the field, Almunia and Poom for the Gunners and Cech, Hilario and Cudicini for the Blues, crowd maybe half full and already in good voice
  • Both teams home announcers….’announce’ the line ups and it really is a case of men against boys, Arsenal going with the ‘kids’ that have brought them this far, (average age of 21) leaving Henry, Silva and Rosicky in street clothes while Chelsea have all the big guns on show-
  • Biggest boo count? (c)Ashley Cole gets a really negative reaction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRIbGggD6k0 based on his jumping ship to Chelsea over the summer (the chant is based upon the rumour that Ashley had a gay experience with a man last summer, filmed, again supposedly on a mobile phone) while John Terry gets a huge cheer from the blues, as he was supposed to be injured, but supposedly, isn’t
  • Both teams come out to rapturous applause http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0yk85EXi_0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXtdAjN1ZFI and it really appears to be men against boys- Fabregas, Denilson and Hoyte all appear small and look pretty frail in the flesh (I’m pitch side- so I get to see) while Ballack, Drogba and Mikel of Chelsea are all huge, strapping men, surely this will be a mis-match?)
  • Plenty of Arsenal hugging before the game, cant work out if this is ‘fruity’ or tender and touching
  • Funny video of some boys trying to get the Arsenal players attention http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThUIP5ua0E0
  • 3pmGame kicks off
  • 3.02 Nice start from Arsenal, playing good neat football and keeping the ball away from the expensive stars of Chelsea, so far so good for the youngsters
  • Chelsea’s starting lineup costs between 300 and 400 million dollars- just something worth noting
  • First bit of comedy as ‘Stand up if you hate Tottenham’ chant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vkKaWZu2-I echoes around the stadium and both blue and red fans leave their seats to show their feelings for their city rivals (and supposedly Steve Nash’s latest investment- don’t Steve- I like you!)
  • 3.08 First real shot on goal- Cesc Fabregas from 20 yards- fairly comfortable save for Cech- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhc9P041TIA
  • On that note worth nothing that 19 year old Fabregas is really bossing the midfield early on and dictating play
  • Arsenal dominating early play, Baptista’s cross leads to an almighty scramble in the box, finally cleared by Terry, Arsenal already threatening and looking really good
  • Denilson, Fabregas Walcott and Diaby are schooling the bigger and more experienced Chelsea midfield of Essien, Makelele, Lampard and Ballack
  • 3.10 What a save!! Baptista’s 25 yard piledriver turned around the post from Cech- he may be the only keeper in the world who could have saved that.
  • $60 million man Andriy Schevchenko miscontrols the ball off his shin into touch- huge cheer from the Gunners fan, the Ukranian looks bemused, hes started very slowly
  • 3.12 GOAL!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDz783DexXs
  • Walcott’s first for Arsenal. The 35,000 plus Gunners’ fans in attendance are in dreamland- What a start and what a goal- won back by Walcott himself before dispatching it to Diaby, great pass from the young Frenchman directly onto the self-assured run of Walcott and such a mature finish from the 17 year old- celebrates like he won the lottery- he’s seriously pleased with that
  • 3.15 Goal seems to have finally woke Chelsea up from there early game slumber, Lampard picks up the ball and drives it straight into a scrambling Phillipe Senderos as Chelsea push forward looking for some shots
  • Arsenal fans are seriously taunting the Chelsea fans- chants such as ‘we remember when you were s**t’ and ‘one, nil, to the Arsenal’ ring around the stadium
  • 3.19 GOAL!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSTgAUHc1aI Suspicion of offside as Ballack’s ball finds Drogba. Cool finish under the legs of Almunia from the big man, and against the run of play, the champs have tied it up 27th of the season for the Ivory Coast hitman
  • This time its Chelsea fans’ turn to goad the red half of the stadium ‘stand up for the champions’ they chant, with some hand signals thrown in to add to the effect http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1Xf_d-djsI
  • It’s all got a bit quiet in the red side of the stadium
  • Wenger is Pi**ed- he’s giving the assistant referee the hair dryer treatment, he clearly feels that was offside. Saying that so do I- Quick phone call to my buddy watching it on Sky Sports, in the pub confirms the worst ‘definitely offside’ is his reply
  • Chelsea fans throw celery at Cesc Fabregas as he takes a corner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzIN7gcag38
  • One thing you can’t help but notice about the Gunners is there insistence on overcomplicating things- both Aliadiere and Walcott can be considered guilty of this- it’s a little infuriating- sometimes you just gotta’ shoot the damn ball when you get the chance guys!
  • 3.43 19 year old Brazilian, Denilson with a cute bit of skill, spinning Lampard before playing a super ball down the line to Aliadiere, fantastic tackle from ex Porto man, Ricardo Carvalho saves Chelsea’s bacon
  • Arsenal fans let their feelings known about Chelsea’s ‘style’ of football, shouting ‘hoof’ every time Chelsea go long toward Drogba (a lot- but when it works, it works) and chanting ‘boring, boring Chelsea’ whenever they get the ball and go backwards

It’s the half– hell of a game so far

  • 4pm Robben is on for Chelsea replacing Makelele, clear indication that Mourinho wants to push the pace in the second half
  • 4.01 Yeah! I start a chant ‘where’s your hair gone?’ To the prematurely balding Arjen Robben, who immediately shoves my words down my throat by skinning Armand Traore down the right flank
  • Arsenal begin well again, neat passing and playing ‘keep ball’, clearly frustrating the Chelsea players
  • No end product though as another cross, this time from Fabregas ends up in the giant mitts of Peter Cech
  • Sheva tries to score the best goal ever- after dribbling through three he is finally tackled by Toure on the edge of the Gunners box
  • Chelsea’s Essien, who incidentally is already booked, hacks down the impressive Denilson, ref lets him off- he’s freakin’ lucky not to be off for that!
  • 4.08 Ref lets the ball run from the foul and Diaby is through on goal………….great chance, he shapes up, Henry’esque, but puts it at a good height for the keeper and Cech punches it away, what a chance for Arsenal to take the lead. Diaby kows he could have done better
  • Robben is causing mayhem- he’s so fast and skilful, why on earth doesn’t he start for Chelsea? Maybe for Ballack- the prime candidate for the most disappointing player in the premiership award (I totally made that award up) along with team-mate Andriy Shevchenko
  • 4.11 OH I actually stop breathing for a second- so close for Arsenal again- another Fabregas effort pings wide, that was inches away- Arsenal are rampant early on in this half
  • Robben wins a corner for Chelsea with a spectacular, trademark dive that has become his calling card http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nswdGk4Iy78
  • Ball swings in- there’s a mix up in the box, luckily for the Gunners it ends up over the bar, rather than under
  • 4.16 Terry is down from the corner, what happened? (update– he got kicked in the face by Diaby and was out cold before he hit the floor) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsWhqasLwLg (see it)
  • This is clearly bad news- Both Arsenal and Chelsea players are waving urgently for the medical team and Diaby looks utterly distraught
  • 4.24 Finally Terry is stretchered off, but it looks bad for the England captain as he is being made to wear an oxygen mask and has barely moved
  • Chelsea replace him with Nigerian playmaker, John Obi Mikel
  • 4.28 The break seems to have boosted Chelsea who are beginning to dictate play- Drogba, breaks through, outpacing Senderos (who clearly cannot cope with the Premierships leading scorer) but Almunia saves smartly to his left and smothers the rebound
  • 4.32 Diaby, perhaps still a little shaken and suffering from a knock (turns out from kicking Terry in the face) is replaced by Belarusian dribble machine, Aliksander Hleb, shame to see Diaby go, the young Frenchman has had a great game and for today at least, has justified his rep as the new Patrick Viera
  • 4.35 Lampard rattles the bar with an audacious effort. You can only appreciate the swerve on that seeing it live- that really moved. Arsenal livin’ on the edge here- (See it) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47Z7hQhd3NI
  • 4.40 Adebayor is on for Arsenal and the Gunners fans toast him with a chant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUKlv5TO4qk
  • 4.44 GOAL!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UvQwWDOUYc And it’s Chelsea, and it’s Drogba- awful clearance from Denilson, snatched up by Essien, Robben moves forward with it, on the left this time and provides a near faultless cross for Drogba to rise and power it past Almunia- Both Drogba and Robben have been superb this half
  • Oh dear- it’s a fight in the stands, right in front of me in fact- Arsenal fans have taken offence to two Chelsea fans in the Arsenal end, over-celebrating the goal and have tried to get at them
  • Security throws all these clowns out- you would think people would learn with the things that have happened recently with crowd violence- but clearly not-
  • Anyhow, we got some extra time here. Something close to ten minutes I would think
  • 4.50 Chelsea hit the bar again! Shevchenko this time- if that had gone in that would have been it for Arsenal. As it is they still have a chance
  • Normal time is up- and we got 6 minutes of extra time, a little unkind if your asking me….which your not
  • It’s all getting a bit desperate for Arsenal-
  • 4.55 Fight! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDb9Q9kfcf8 Mikel brings down Toure and the Arsenal captain reacts, shoving Mikel in the chest. Tempers boil over as players from both sides wade in, it’s all getting a bit ugly here
  • Fabregas has Lampard in a headlock, Adebayor is swingin’ and Chelsea left back Wayne Bridge is on the deck, seemingly from a blow from Emmanuel Eboue. Mourinho and Wenger are on the field in the middle of it and so are the assistant coaches- This is wild! oh boy this is going to have repercussions
  • 4.59 Ref Howard Webb is reaching for some cards- Mikel, Toure and Adebayor are off and Fabregas and Lampard pick up yellows
  • Adebayor is FURIOUS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAse1QoQaYw – is he going to punch that assistant referee?
  • Nah he didn’t but he had to be restrained and escorted off the field
  • Time for a couple of free kicks for the Gunners…………………………… they come to nothing, my life aint that good, we are going to lose here
  • Close, but no cigar- Whistle goes and Chelsea are Carling Cup Champs

Celebration highlights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jtovqPWQD8

Full Highlights- Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJb3_dfMhhc

Big celebrations for Chelsea-and the fans can’t resist the chance to rub it in Arsenal’s ex Chelsea man, William Gallas’ face- ‘Gallas, Gallas what’s the score?’ reverberates around the stadium as the Arsenal players look on glumly. As Terry has been taken to hospital, Lampard lifts the cup- but I don’t really want to see it- so I’m off to catch the train-

Reading 2-3 Manchester United (FA Cup Replay)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ497uQ0gOY&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efootytube%2Ecom%2F2007%2F02%2F27%2Freading%2D2%2D3%2Dman%2Dutd%2F

Blackburn 1-0 Arsenal (FA Cup Replay)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1bxuj_blackburn-1-0-arsenal-mccarthy-goal

Not content with losing the Carling Cup, Arsenal tumble in the FA cup, with a loss at Blackburn, by a goal to nil, this leaves Arsenal’s only realistic goal of silverware being the Champions League, but seeing as the Gunners are a goal down to PSV Eindhoven of Holland, even this is looking unlikely

Goal of the Week

Not from England- but still awesome, in fact, too awesome too ignore

Martin Palmero of Boca Juniors doin’ what he does best

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-2mFP5KRnc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efootytube%2Ecom%2Fcategory%2Fvideos%2Fpage%2F2%2F

Player of the week

On the big stage Didier Drogba stepped up on the big stage- simple as that


Video of the week

Cesc Fabregas-

To show how good he is- (I gushed about him all report!) Ill show u some highlights- he is 19!!! And one day will be the best player in the world- mark my words (he’s not far off now)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XPR02evgoE

SPAIN

Valencia 1 Celta 0

Sevilla 2 Barcelona 1

Sid Lowe on Dani Alves:

He is 23 years old, his name is Daniel Alves da Silva and right now he’s the best player in Spain. He could also be about to win the league title after an unbelievably good performance helped take his side top with Saturday night’s rip-roaring 2-1 victory over FC Barcelona at the Sanchez Pizjuán. Which isn’t bad for a club whose budget is €30m, compared to Real Madrid’s €346m, Barcelona’s €242m and Valencia’s €133m. And which certainly isn’t bad for a kid who arrived as a complete unknown four seasons ago.

Betis 1 Deportivo 0

Mallorca 3 Levante 1

Espanyol 1 Villarreal 1

Nastic 2 Athletic Bilbao 0

Zaragoza 3 Real Sociedad 2

Racing 1 Osasuna 0

Real Madrid 1 Getafe 1

Recreativo 1 Atlético 0

Not hard to predict.