Shalom, and a warm welcome to another breakdown of the week’s European football action as told by Tom and Blaine. This week saw a fair number of upsets, grudge matches, Herculean efforts, and flops, so the rankings have been shaken up just a bit. The first big match of the new week occurred Tuesday (at 4:00am Hong Kong time, mind you), when Manchester United battled Manchester City in a Carling Cup match. It was the first leg, held at the City of Manchester Stadium, and City was able to pull off the 2-1 victory over the Mighty Reds. Both City goals were scored by Carlos Tevez, the former Manchester United striker who’s been no stranger to controversy since him move to City. During Tevez’s celebration, United legend Gary Neville let him know his displeasure at his antics by giving him a one-finger salute, which will likely lead to a fine by the FA. The second leg is due to be played in a couple of days. On the weekend, Manchester United bounced back with a 4-0 trouncing of Hull City to put them at the top of the table, albeit with more games played than Arsenal and Chelsea in second and third. Elsewhere in the Premier League, Liverpool showed that they aren’t complete garbage with an impressive, 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs continued their poor week with a draw against Leeds United in the FA Cup after conceding a 96th minute equalizer. Another enormously important match this week was the always intriguing Milan derby between Internazionale and AC Milan. AC Milan was coming into the match playing as well as any club on the planet, acting as more or less a freight train running through opposing defenses, and as a steel reinforced wall holding out their offenses. Inter was playing reasonably well, and sitting at the top of the Serie A table. A win for AC would have put them 3 back of Inter with game in hand, very much within striking distance. Inter went ahead early on with a 10th minute Milito goal, but then were dealt a blow when Wesley Sneijder was given a red card. That didn’t change much though, as Inter went up 2-0 on a 65th minute Pandev goal before a meaningless 90th minute red to Lucio and missed PK by Ronaldinho ended the match 2-0. Inter now sit 9 points ahead of Milan, although Milan does have a game in hand, making first a possibility, albeit an unlikely one. The 2 huge Spanish clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, both rolled to easy wins in La Liga, with Madrid beating Malaga 2-0 and Barca beating Valladolid 3-0. Sevilla regained some semblance of dignity with a 1-0 win over Almeria, which was their first La Liga win in like 8 months or something, and as a congratulations to them I’ve decided to rank them 25th. For those who are paying close attention (and I doubt very much anyone is paying this close of attention), Sevilla was ranked 4th awhile back in these very rankings (or at least in mine). AS Roma continued their very hot form with a win over reeling (and my God, do I mean reeling) Juventus. Juve has now dropped to 6th in Serie A, with Roma and Napoli sitting in 3rd and 4th, respectably, and dark horse Palermo in 5th. Roma have still not lost a Serie A match since October. Not a whole lot of note happened to our Dutch representatives, as Ajax and PSV Eindhoven both won, while Twente drew. This moves PSV into 1st in the Eredivisie, putting Twente in 2nd and Ajax in 3rd. Bayern Munich enjoyed a respectable away win vs. Werder Bremen at 3-2, and Bayer Leverkusen extended their stay at the top of the table with a 3-0 win over TSG Hoffenheim. Bayern Munich is breathing right down their necks, though, only 2 back of first and playing in brilliant form. Also, don’t count out Schalke 04, who are only 3 back of Leverkusen and have been hanging around the top of the table all season. That’s about it for this week. The Champions League knockout stage starts in a couple of weeks, that should be absolutely epic. In the meantime, just remember, don’t eat the yellow snow (I sure won’t be, cause its 60 degrees here every day, in January!)
Biggest Riser: AS Roma from T19th to 16th.
Biggest Faller: Schalke 04 from T12th to 17th.
There was very little movement at the top this week. All that happened was Arsenal falling into 7th and Manchester United moving into a tie with AC Milan for 5th place.
Here are the rankings:
Rank Team Country Points
1. Barcelona (Esp) 50
2. Chelsea (Eng) 47
3. Inter Milan (Ita) 46
4. Real Madrid (Esp) 45
T5. AC Milan (Ita) 40
T5. Manchester United (Eng) 40
7. Arsenal (Eng) 38
8. Bordeaux (Fra) 35
9. Valencia (Esp) 31
10. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) 30
T11. Bayern Munich (Ger) 28
T11. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) 28
T13. Manchester City (Eng) 24
T13. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) 24
15. Twente Enschede (Ned) 23
16. AS Roma (Ita) 22
17. Schalke 04 (Ger) 20
18. Aston Villa (Eng) 17
19. Ajax Amsterdam (Ned) 16
20. Benfica (Por) 12
T21. Braga (Por) 6
T21. Deportivo La Coruna (Esp) 6
T21. Napoli (Ita) 6
24. Marseille (Fra) 5
25. Lyon (Fra) 4
Also Receiving Votes: Mallorca (Esp) 3, Genoa (Ita) 2, Borussia Dortmund (Ger) 1, Sevilla (Esp) 1
| Rank | Tom | Blaine |
| 1 | Barcelona | Barcelona |
| 2 | Chelsea | Inter Milan |
| 3 | Real Madrid | Chelsea |
| 4 | Inter Milan | Real Madrid |
| 5 | Manchester United | AC Milan |
| 6 | Arsenal | Valencia |
| 7 | AC Milan | Manchester United |
| 8 | Bordeaux | Arsenal |
| 9 | Bayer Leverkusen | Bordeaux |
| 10 | Bayern Munich | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 11 | PSV Eindhoven | Twente Enschede |
| 12 | AS Roma | Manchester City |
| 13 | Schalke 04 | Bayer Leverkusen |
| 14 | Tottenham Hotspur | Bayern Munich |
| 15 | Valencia | Ajax Amsterdam |
| 16 | Manchester City | Aston Villa |
| 17 | Benfica | PSV Eindhoven |
| 18 | Twente Enschede | AS Roma |
| 19 | Aston Villa | Schalke 04 |
| 20 | Deportivo La Coruna | Napoli |
| 21 | Ajax Amsterdam | Marseille |
| 22 | Lyon | Braga |
| 23 | Mallorca | Benfica |
| 24 | Braga | Benfica |
| 25 | Borussia Dortmund | Sevilla |
Next five in for Tom, in reverse alphabetical order of the team’s country: FK Rubin Kazan (Rus), Napoli (Ita), Montpellier (Fra), Liverpool (Eng), Anderlecht (Bel)
Next five in for Blaine, in order of how many goals the team (or player) scored on the weekend: Wayne Rooney (Eng)-4, Galatasaray (Tur)-1, Juventus (Ita)-1, Lyon (Fra)-1, Fiorentina (Ita)-0
FA Cup Roundup
Full Results from Round 4:
Home Team Listed First
Preston North End 0-2 Chelsea
Reading 1-0 Burnley
Southampton 2-1 Ipswich Town
Aston Villa 3-2 Brighton
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-2 Crystal Palace
Everton 1-2 Birmingham
Portsmouth 2-1 Sunderland
Bolton Wanderers 2-0 Sheffield United
West Bromwich Albion 4-2 Newcastle United
Notts County 2-2 Wigan Athletic
Cardiff City 4-2 Leicester City
Derby County 1-0 Doncaster Rovers
Accrington Stanley 1-3 Fulham
Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Leeds United
Stoke City 3-1 Arsenal
Stoke humbles a somewhat weakened Arsenal side, leaving Chelsea as the only remaining "Big Four" club remaining in the competition.
Scunthorpe United 2-4 Manchester City
Round 5 Draw:
Wolverhampton Wanderers/Crystal Palace v Aston Villa
Manchester City v Stoke City
Derby County v Birmingham
Bolton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur/Leeds United
Chelsea v Cardiff City
Fulham v Notts County/Wigan Athletic
Reading v West Bromwich Albion
Southampton v Portsmouth
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