First up on Tuesday there was a good 1-0 win for Bordeaux at Olympiakos with a Michael Ciani goal right before the half. The last thing the Greek side wanted to do was give up a goal at home so red-hot Bordeaux will have a nice lead to take back home to France. Barcelona came from behind to salvage a 1-1 draw at Stuttgart, and with the valuable away goal should find a way to advance to the next round. A fantastic Mark Gonzalez strike in the 66th minute drew CSKA Moscow level with Sevilla at home and gives them a chance going into the second leg as the match finished 1-1. The massive match-up of the week came with Inter Milan hosting Chelsea on Wednesday. Alberto Diego Milito scored in the 3rd minute for Inter, but Salomon Kalou equalized in the 51st with the valuable away goal. However, an Esteban Cambiasso goal 4 minutes later gave the Italian leaders the lead again, leaving Chelsea with work to do in the return leg.
The Europa League saw all of its Round of 32 second legs played. Benfica smashed Hertha Berlin 4-0, the first of their 4-0 wins for the week, and they will be moving on to the next round, 5-1 on aggregate. Panathinaikos stunned AS Roma with a 3-2 win at Roma to advance to the Round of16 on a 6-4 aggregate win. Their three goals came in a 5 minute span to end the first half, two from Djibril Cisse (notorious for playing incredibly well against me in FIFA) and one from Sotiris Ninis. PSV Eindhoven beat Hamburg SV 3-2 but were still knocked out indifficult fashion on the away goals rule. Fulham held off Shakhtar Donetsk with a 1-1 result in Ukraine to advance to the next round 3-2 on aggregate. Liverpool bounced back from an early deficit to beat Unirea Urziceni 3-1 and 4-1 on aggregate. Everton was not able to hold onto their 2-1 lead from leg 1 as they lost 3-0 at Sporting Lisbon to end their European run. German sides Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen both won their games 4-1 against Villarreal and Twente respectively to propel themselves on in the competition. The rest of the scores mid-week were Galatasaray 1-2 Atletico Madrid (2-3 on aggregate), Marsielle 3-1 Copenhagen (6-2), Fenerbahce 1-1 Lille (2-3), Hapoel Tel-Aviv 0-0 FK Rubin Kazan (0-3), Juventus 0-0 Ajax Amsterdam (2-1), SV Salzburg 0-0 Standard Liege (2-3), Valencia 3-0 Club Brugge (3-1).
On the weekend, Manchester United won the first trophy in England this year with a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium in the Carling Cup final. James Milner took an early lead for Villa on a fair penalty call but Michael Owen equalized for United just 7 minutes later. Red-hot substitute Wayne Rooney won it for Manchester United with a goal in the 74th minute. In the Premier League, the big game for the weekend was the first game of the weekend when Manchester City waltzed into Stamford Bridge and came out with a 4-2 win on the heels of a brace for both Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy. Arsenal handled Stoke City with a 3-1 win on the road after an early Danny Pugh goal for Stoke. Arsenal scored twice in second half extra time to take the victory, which was marred by a horrific injury to Aaron Ramsey in the second half. Tottenham held off streaking Everton with a 2-1 victory at home. American Landon Donovan missed a big chance in this game that would have pulled Everton even. Liverpool held off Blackburn at home with goals from Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres in a 2-1 win. After this weekend’s action, Chelsea sits only one point ahead of Manchester United, while Arsenal is just three points back of the leaders. Tottenham occupies the last Champions League qualifying spot in fourth but is 12 points off the pace. Manchester City is lurking in fifth, even with Tottenham points and well behind in goal differential, but with a game in hand. Liverpool is a point behind City in sixth, while Aston Villa is just three points behind Liverpool with two games in hand, still very much in the hunt for the final Champions League qualifying spot.
In Spain, Barcelona kept their lead in La Liga with a 2-1 win at home over Malaga. Real Madrid remains two points back with their 5-1 thrashing of relegation-threatened Tenerife on the road. Third-place Valencia lost in grand fashion, 4-1 at Atletico Madrid, who may be turning it around a bit as they use their momentum from their advance in the Europa League. Luckily for Valencia, Sevilla was unable to capitalize with a 0-0 draw at home to seventh-place Athletic Bilbao, so Sevilla is three points back of third. Mallorca took advantage of these dropped points and jumped to fifth with a 2-1 win at Valladolid as Deportivo La Coruna lost 1-0 at Villarreal.
Inter Milan remained in first in Serie A with a win after three straight draws. Inter held off a desperate Udinese side 3-2 on the road. AC Milan remains just 4 points back with a 3-1 win over visiting Atalanta, while AS Roma is now 7 points back after a 2-2 draw at sixth-place Napoli. In a huge match, Palermo surprised Juventus 2-0 at Juventus to pull into the fourth and final Champions League spot in Serie A. Palermo is now two points ahead of both Juventus and Napoli. Sampdoria failed to take advantage of the lost points in this section of the table as their hot streak cooled off with a 1-0 loss at mid-table Parma. Sampdoria is still lurking one back of Juventus and Napoli.
Bayern Munich finally took the lead in Germany with a solid 1-0 win over visiting fourth-place Hamburg SV. Bayer Leverkusen continued their season-long unbeaten run with a 0-0 draw against Cologne but now sits two points back of leading Bayern. Leverkusen currently has 13 wins with 11 draws, and the exact 50-20 goals for-goals against rate as 15-7-2 Bayern. Schalke 04 picked up some ground on Leverkusen with a 2-1 win against fifth-place Borussia Dortmund and is now just two points back of second place, 8 points ahead of Hamburg, so they are solidly in the third and final Bundesliga Champions League spot.
In France, leaders Bordeaux were idle for what feels like the tenth week in a row (in reality just the second), and they are now level with Montpellier, who defeated Stade Rennes 3-1. Bordeaux has a 13 goal advantage in goal differential and two games in hand so they are still solidly in front of Ligue 1. The battle for the third Champions League spot is still fierce, as third-place Lyon is just two points behind Montpellier, a point ahead of Marseille and two points ahead of Lille. Lyon was vaulted into third with a 2-0 win over Nice as Lille dropped points with a 2-1 loss at AJ Auxerre. Marsille moved into fourth with their 3-0 win at Paris Saint-Germain.
In the classic Old Firm match, Rangers came away with a 1-0 win at home on the back of a stoppage time goal by American Maurice Edu. Rangers now sit 10 points ahead of second place Celtic with a game in hand, in what will surely prove to be an insurmountable lead. The big three won in the Netherlands: First place PSV Eindhoven 5-1 over RKC Wallwijk, second place Ajax Amsterdam 4-0 over FC Utrecht, and third place Twente Enschede 2-1 over NEC Nijmegen after an 85th minute Bryan Ruiz goal. PSV remains one point ahead of Twente and 7 ahead of Ajax. In Portugal, leaders Braga were victorious 3-1 over Olhanese while Benfica remains one point back after a 4-0 win at Leixoes. Fourth-placed Sporting Lisbon easily handled third-place FC Porto 3-0, but Sporting is still a distant fourth, 11 points back of Porto. In the top of the table clash in Austria, leaders Red Bull Salzburg won 1-0 at Rapid Vienna and are now 5 points clear at the top.
Here are the rankings, along with some comments by Blaine, including a Portsmouth rant at the end.
Rank Team Country Points
1. Barcelona (Esp) 50
T2. Inter Milan (Ita) 47
T2. Real Madrid (Esp) 47
4. Manchester United (Eng) 44
5. Chelsea (Eng) 42
6. AC Milan (Ita) 39
T7. Arsenal (Eng) 35
T7. Bordeaux (Fra) 35
T7. Bayern Munich (Ger) 35
I've made it no secret that I think the Bundesliga is garbage. I hate the style of play, the media attention they get despite being a 2nd rate league, and the fact that its in Germany, the most overrated country in the world. That being said, Bayern Munich have been so incredibly impressive thus far in 2010 that I just had to write about them. They're yet to lose a match since the New Year (the Western New Year, that is), and have drawn only once. They have 8 wins. Upon further examination, they haven't lost since a Champions' League fixture November 3rd vs. Bordeaux. Oh by the way: their last Bundesliga loss was September 26th. What?! Yes. September 26th. As in, they haven't lost in the Bundesliga since before my 21st birthday. Are they goddamned serious? Because that's just a ridiculous run. They now sit at the top of the Bundesliga, and I don't see them forfeiting that post any time soon (or ever). Hats off to the boys from Allianz Arena, their run is simply ridiculous, incomprehensible, unprecedented, etc., etc.
T10. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) 31
T10. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) 31
12. Manchester City (Eng) 30
Watched the City-Chelsea match the other night, and while the final scoreline looked pretty for City, the match was far from so one-sided. Chelsea completely dominated the first half, with City getting incredibly lucky to equalize just before the half on a shot that Petr Cech could have saved in his sleep. City did, however, play a marvelous 2nd half, capitalizing on every mistake Chelsea made. Chelsea's loss was their 3rd in their last 115 matches at The Bridge, which shows how impressive a 4-2 (essentially 4-1, Chelsea were gifted a penalty at the end) win was by City. Overall from this match, despite the fact that City were outplayed in the first half by a wide margin, we can say that they're a legitimate Champions' League threat, and that Mancini has bought himself some time. Also, it should be noted that Tevez continues to look spectacular every time he touches the ball, he's more or less proven to be a top-10 (perhaps top-5) player in the Premiership.
13. Schalke 04 (Ger) 24
14. Valencia (Esp) 21
T15. AS Roma (Ita) 18
T15. Benfica (Por) 18
T15. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) 18
18. Twente Enschede (Ned) 13
T19. Ajax Amsterdam (Ned) 11
T19. Lyon (Fra) 11
21. Sevilla FC (Esp) 9
T22. Braga (Por) 8
T22. Liverpool (Eng) 8
24. Montpellier (Fra) 7
25. Aston Villa (Eng) 6
Also Receiving Votes: Galatasaray (Tur) 4, Marseille (Fra) 4, Napoli (Ita) 3, Mallorca (Esp) 1
And here is how the voters voted:
| Rank | Tom | Blaine |
| 1 | Barcelona | Barcelona |
| 2 | Real Madrid | Inter Milan |
| 3 | Inter Milan | Real Madrid |
| 4 | Manchester United | Manchester United |
| 5 | Chelsea | Chelsea |
| 6 | Bayern Munich | AC Milan |
| 7 | AC Milan | Bordeaux |
| 8 | Arsenal | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 9 | Bayer Leverkusen | Arsenal |
| 10 | Bordeaux | Manchester City |
| 11 | Schalke 04 | Bayern Munich |
| 12 | Manchester City | Bayer Leverkusen |
| 13 | Tottenham Hotspur | Twente Enschede |
| 14 | Benfica | Valencia |
| 15 | Lyon | Ajax Amsterdam |
| 16 | AS Roma | PSV Eindhoven |
| 17 | Valencia | Schalke 04 |
| 18 | PSV Eindhoven | AS Roma |
| 19 | Montpellier | Sevilla FC |
| 20 | Liverpool | Benfica |
| 21 | Aston Villa | Braga |
| 22 | Marseille | Galatasaray |
| 23 | Braga | Napoli |
| 24 | Sevilla FC | Liverpool |
| 25 | Mallorca | Aston Villa |
Next five in for Tom, in order of how good I think they are: Ajax Amsterdam (Ned), Twente Enschede (Ned), FC Porto (Por), Panathinaikos (Gre), FK Rubin Kazan (Rus)
Next five in for Blaine, in order from most awesome to least awesome: Wayne Rooney (Eng), Mallorca (Esp), Lyon (Fra), Palermo (Ita), Juventus (Ita)
A special mention goes out to Guadalajara of the Mexican Primera Division, who has started the season 8-0-0. I've watched several of their games so far and they are a very impressive looking team, with a goal differential of 19-6 to start the season. In attack they are led by Javier Balcazar with 8 goals already, and they have a strong supporting cast of Adolfo Bautista, Alberto Medina, Omar Bravo, Hector Reynoso and Xavier Baez. They've been known to break out the 4-2-4 and they use it well.
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