European Football

[taz]

FT: PSV Eindhoven 7-1 Roda JC

PSV routed Roda 7-1 at the Philips Stadion. PSV dominated from the start and took the lead 15 minutes in. Geroginio Wijnaldum fired in a teasing cross which Ola Toivonen diverted into the net. Things got worse for Roda minutes later when Jagos Vukovic was shown a red acard for bringing down Tim Matavz when he was 1-on-1 with the keeper. Dries Mertens then fired home the resulting freekick to double PSV's lead. Dries Mertens then made it 3-0 on 33 minutes with a thumping low shot. A minute later, Kevin Strootman made it 4-0 with a brilliant curling effort. Roda managed to get themselves on the scoresheet 10 minutes into the 2nd half when Senharib Malki was able to squirm a low shot into the net. Dries Mertens completed his hat trick minutes later with a crisp effort. A minute later, PSV were awarded a penalty bt Wijnaldum spurned the penalty. With 7 minutes to go, Tim Mavatz lofted home a Jeremain Lens cross to make it 6-1. With a minute to go, Dries Mertens got his 4th and PSV's 7th by converting a penalty.

[taz]

FT: Real Madrid 6-2 Rayo Vallecano

Real Madrid ended a poor week with a thumping victory over Rayo Vallecano. Rayo took a shock lead 14 seconds in. Lassana Diarra lost possession of the ball allowing Raul Tamudo to strike from distance which Iker Casillas could not hold which allowed Miguel Perez Cuesta to slot the rebound home. Tamudo also had another shot blocked 15 minutes in. Cristiano Ronaldo equalised 5 minutes before half time with a low strike. On the stroke of half time, Sergio Romas had beaten Jimenez to Xabi ALonso's freekick which allowed Gonzalo Higuain to put the loose ball into the net to make it 2-1. Kaka was fouled by Jose Movilla 5 minutes into the 2nd half with Ronaldo converting the resulting penalty to make it 3-1. Cuesta then pulled a goal back for Rayo after slotting the ball home at the far post following a corner. Minutes later, Angel Di Maria was sent off for an intentional handball. Raphael Varane restored Real Madrid's two goal lead when he converted Xabi Alonso's corner. Karim Benzema slotted the ball home from edge of the box with 20 minutes to go and Ronald completed his hat trick from the penalty spot with 5 minutes to go when he was tripped trying to round Jimenez.

[taz]

FT: Napoli 0-0 Fiorentina

Napoli failed to win at home to Fiorentina and capped off a poor week after the midweek defeat to Chievo. Half hour in, Riccardo Montolivo took a shot from distance which tested Morgan De Sanctis. Minutes later, Stevan Jovetic dragged a shot wide from the edge of the box. Edinson Cavani pulled a shot across goal and wide with 5 minutes to go in the first half. Minutes later, Gianluca Comotto went close to breaking the deadlock but his header brought a out a fantastic save from De Sanctis. 5 minutes into the 2nd half, Ignacio Fideleff nearly gifted Fiorentina a goal but Juan Vargas sent his shot into the sidenetting. Then with half hour to go, Montolivo went close with his shot fizzing over the bar. After that, both teams were unable to create any notable chances.

[taz]

FT: Ajax 1-1 Twente

Twente scored late on to earn a point at Ajax and remain top of the Eredivisie. 5 minutes in, Miralem Sulejmani had a shot go narrowly wide. 10 minutes in, Ajax took the lead. A great run by Derek Boerrigter saw him square the ball for Sulejmani to roll the ball into the open goal. With 3 minutes to go, Peter Wisgerhof whipped in a cross which Luuk de Jong was able to nod home to get the crucial equaliser.

[taz]

FT: Montpellier 0-3 Paris St Germain

PSG have become joint leaders of Ligue 1 after a dominant display at Montpellier. 3 minutes in, John Utaka brought out a good save from Salvatore Sirigu at full stretch and Olivier Giroud also had the rebound blocked by Sirigu. Nene then attempted a lob for PSG with 18 minutes on the clock but his lob went inches over the bar with Geofffrey Jourdren backtracking. 5 minutes before halftime, Kevin Gameiro broke the deadlock. Blaise Matuidi sent nene on his way who then delivered a sublime cross for Gameiro to fire the ball home. 2minutes before half time, Javier Pastore scored a fantastic volley to put PSG 2-0 up. Pastore got his 2nd and PSG's 3rd of the night with 10 minutes to go with a superb lob. Montpellier did look towards a consolation goal but Giroud was denied by Sirigu who was excellent.

[taz]

FT: Barcelona 5-0 Atletico Madrid

Barcelona produced a stunning performance to dispatch Atletico Madrid. 10 minutes on the clock and Xavi's crossfield pass was chested down by David Villa who went past Miranda and slotted the ball past Thibaut Courtois. On 15 minutes, Lionel Messi was through on goal and his shot rebounded off Courtois onto Miranda and into the net to make it 2-0. It was 3-0 on 25 minutes when Messi went past three players before beating Courtois at his near post. With 10 minutes left, Messi then went across the ege of the box and hit the ball low past Courtois to make it 4. In the final minute, it was 5-0 when Messi drilled the ball through the legs of Courtois.

[RomaShield27]

Great round ups, thanks taz. Another close encounter for Barca, it seems. Didn't they win 8-0 last week? lol, not much competition for them. I was thinking about Pastore the other day and wondering how he was getting on at PSG, looks like he's doing well for himself (for the €40m+ or whatever it was, he'd want to be, I suppose).

[forzaitalia]

Pastore has sort of disappeared off everybody's radar now he's moved to Ligue 1, really.

[taz]

[taz]

FT: Cologne 2-0 Hoffenheim

Cologne defeated Hoffenehim to claim their first home victory of the season. This was their 3rd win in four games. Cologne took the lead 20 minutes in. Mato Jajalo dispossessed Sebastian Rudy, played a nice 1-2 with Lukas Podolski and drove the ball through the legs of Dominik Kaiser and into the net. On the half hour mark, Sebastian Rudy brought out a fine save from Michael Rensing. 5 minutes into the 2nd half, Podolski had a great chance to make it 2 but his shot hit the sidenetting. Podolski would get his goal eventually with 25 minutes to go when he hammered a shot to the near post for a 2-0 lead. Podolski went close to making it 3-0 but his freekick just went over the bar. Hoffenheim had their chances in the final 10 minutes. Knowledge Musona long range effort went just wide and Ryan Babel's looping shot hit the top of the net.

[taz]

FT: Lokomotiv Moscow 1-1 Rubin Kazan

Lokomotiv Moscow's winning streak came to an end when they were held at home against Rubin Kazan. After a goalless first half, Lokomotiv took the lead 5 minutes into the 2nd half through Alberto Zapater. With 15 minutes to go, Rubin equalised through Vlad Dyadyun. Lokomotiv are 5th on 43 points 9 behind 1st placed Zenit while Rubin languish in 8th.

[taz]

FT: Werder Bremen 2-1 Hertha Berlin

Werder Bremen left it late to defeat nine man Hertha Berlin and move up to 2nd in the Bundesliga. Adrian Ramos gave Hertha Berlin the lead 3 minutes in. He was umarked and allowed to take the ball down and lift the ball past Sebastian Mielitz into the top corner. 15 minutes on the clock and Adrian Ramos set up Raffael but he took too much time and his low shot lacked any power to trouble Mielitz. Werder Bremen levelled on 25 minutes albeit it was questionable goalkeeping from Thomas Kraft. Claudio Pizarro's close range header lacked any real power and what should have been a comfortable save by Kraft ended up resulting in Kraft putting the ball into the back of the net. 12 minutes in to the 2nd half and Hertha were reduced to 10 men when Christian Lell was shown a second yellow and he was followed by Adrian Ramos for a second yellow after kicking the ball away. Raffael nearly put Hertha in the lead with 10 minutes to go but minutes later, Claudio Pizarra had a goal harshly disallowed after being adjudged to foul Roman Hubnik. Then in injury time, Claudio Pizarro managed to nod home the winner.

Matchday 7 of 34

Friday 23 September

Stuttgart 1-2 Hamburg

Saturday 24 September

Schalke 4-2 Freiburg
Mainz 1-2 Borussia Dortmund
Wolfsburg 1-0 Kaiserslautern
Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0 Nuremberg
Augsburg 0-0 Hannover
Bayern Munich 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen

Sunday 25 September

Cologne 2-0 Hoffenheim
Werder Bremen 2-1 Hertha Berlin

[taz]

FT: Sporting Gijon 0-0 Racing Santander

Sporting Gijon got their first point of the season in a game they should have won. 20 minutes in, Ayoze swung in a freekick which David Barral headed goalwards but Tono was alert to it. 10 minutes into the 2nd half, Miguel de las Ceuvas advanced down the right and his cross found Oscar Trejo whose shot took a deflection and just skimmed past the post. Racing nearly snatched the 3 points with 10 minutes to go when Manuel Arana's shot took a wicked deflection which needed a good save from Juan Pablo at full stretch.

[taz]

FT: Parma 0-1 Roma

Luis Enrique got his first win of the season in Serie A away to Parma. 5 minutes in, Pablo Osvaldo played a nice 1-2 with Francesco Totti but Osvaldo's strike went just wide of the post. On the half hour mark, Sebastian Giovinco's strike from the edge of the box was kept out by Bogdan Lobont. Roma nearly took the lead on the stroke of half time but Totti's powerful strike was well saved by Antonio Mirante. 5 minutes into the 2nd half and Roma broke the deadlock. Aleandro Rosi whipped the ball in for Osvaldo to head past Mirante at the near post. On the hour mark, Osvaldo went close to doubling the lead but his 20 yard strike whistled wide of the post. With 5 minutes to go, Francesco Modesto whipped in a cross which Cristian Zaccardo powerfully headed towards goal but Lobont made a great save. In stoppagetime, Ze Eduardo had the chance to equalise but his shot was off target.

Matchday 5 of 38

Saturday 24 September

Bologna 1-3 Inter
Milan 1-0 Cesena
Napoli 0-0 Fiorentina

Sunday 25 September

Chievo 2-1 Genoa
Atalanta 2-1 Novara
Cagliari 0-0 Udinese
Catania 1-1 Juventus
Lazio 0-0 Palermo
Siena 3-0 Lecce
Parma 0-1 Roma

[taz]

FT: Rennes 1-1 St Etienne

Rennes failed to take top spot in Ligue 1 after being held to a draw with St Etienne. St Etienne started brightly and 5 minutes in, Jean Pascal Mignot would have scored had it not been for John Boye's last ditch tackle. 10 minutes on the clock, Stephane Ruffier managed to close down Julien Feret when he got away from Mignot. 5 minutes before the break, Rennes broke the deadlock. Jonathan Pitroipa's shot was only parried by Ruffier which allowed Youssouf Hadji to slot home the rebound. 5 minutes into the 2nd half, Feret put Hadji through on goal but he was denied by Ruffier and Pitroipa's ambitious lob moments later went over. St Etienne out of nowheere equalised on 55 minutes. Fabien Lemoine whipped in a cross which Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang headed powerfully past Benoit Costil. St Etienne were pushing forward for the winner and 10 minutes from time, they were awarded a freekick in a promising position. Bakary Sako curled the freekick towards the top corner but Benoit Costil was able to push the ball away.

Matchday 8 of 38

Saturday 24 September

Evian 2-4 Caen
Lille 1-1 Lorient
Lyon 3-1 Bordeaux
Nice 1-1 Dijon
Toulouse 1-0 Nancy
Valenciennes 1-1 Marseille
Montpellier 0-3 Paris St Germain

Sunday 25 September

Auxerre 4-1 Sochaux
Brest 1-1 Ajaccio
Rennes 1-1 St Etienne

[taz]

FT: Real Zaragoza 0-0 Malaga

It was scoreless at La Romareda. The game was dour. On the hour mark, Helder Postiga was denied a goal for a marginal offside call. The best chance of the game came in the final minute. Isco whipped in a cross from the right which Sebastian Fernandez pwerfully headed downwards but Roberto made a magnificent save to deny him.

[red]

[taz]

Spanish Primera Division

Matchday 6 of 38

Saturday 24 September

Sevilla 1-0 Valencia
Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Villarreal
Real Madrid 6-2 Rayo Vallecano
Barcelona 5-0 Atletico Madrid

Sunday 25 September

Mallorca 2-1 Real Sociedad
Levante 3-1 Espanyol
Granada 1-1 Osasuna
Sporting Gijon 0-0 Racing
Real Zaragoza 0-0 Malaga

Monday 26 September

Getafe 1-0 Real Betis

[taz]

[taz]

FT: Kaiserslautern 0-2 Stuttgart

Stuttgart scored an impressive win at Kaiserslautern to move upto 4th. After a first half dominated by Kaiserslautern, it took just over 5 minutes of the 2nd half for Stuttgart to score. Khalid Boulahrouz whipped in a low cross which Cacau diverted past Kevin Trapp. With 20 minutes to go, a good run from Martin Harnik resulted in him whipping in a cross which Boulahrouz lashed home leaving Trapp stranded to double the lead. Kaiserslautern had the chance to pull a goal back with 15 minutes to go when Itay Shechter rounded Sven Ulreich but he missed an open goal.