The recent English Premier League match of Manchester United against Middlesbrough at Old Trafford brought a big smile to Manchester United head coach Sir Alex Ferguson, who was all smiles following the 4-1 victory of the Red Devils against Middlesbrough.

Manchester United midfielder Nani was the first to score when he fired a rocket of a shot from 30 meters out to beat Middlesbrough keeper Mark Schwarzer. Middlesbrough was able to get back in the game soon after when Aliadiere put a header into the Manchester United goal, the first goal conceded at Old Trafford this season. With the game tied at 1-1, Middlesbrough’s Stewart Downing almost gave the lead for Boro, but his header sailed wide. Stewart Downing eventually made a costly error in the Middlesbrough back when he gave away the ball to Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, who smashed it into the goal to give ManU a 2-1 advantage.

Read more on Manchester United Win Against Middlesbrough 4-1 at Old Trafford

Six goals to Nil!

Chelsea was firing on all cylinders in their recent English Premier League match against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. Manchester City, who are ranked at number 3 in the English Premier League points standings should’ve shown a better result, but it was all Chelsea from the start, and the downpour of goals were definitely a delight for Chelsea fans.

The Chelsea Blues biggest win of the season came thanks to two goals from Chelsea’s super striker Didier Drogba and a goal each from the likes of Chelsea’s Michael Essien, Joe Cole, Salomon Kalou and Andriy Shevchenko.

Chelsea’s Michael Essien added some big stats to his record by also providing two assists and a goal, and could clearly qualify as Man of the Match as well as Didier Drogba, who scored two goals.

Read more on Chelsea Destroy Manchester City 6-0 in English Premier League

Real Madrid’s Team Captain Raul Gonzalez started the Spanish La Liga match against Deportivo La Coruña on the bench as part of Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster’s rotation strategy. Real Madrid’s Raul was brought in by Schuster on the 65th minute to replace Real Madrid striker Javier Saviola, and it was Raul who broke the 1-1 deadlock within minutes of his entry into the game to help Real Madrid claim a 3-1 win against Deportivo La Coruña to keep their hopes of a second consecutive Spanish La Liga Championship by leading the Primera Liga standings.

However, it was Deportivo who were the first to make a goal in the match at the Santiago Bernabeu to stun the home crowd. Deportivo’s Xisco picked up a cut-back from team mate Joan Verdu and avoided the challenge of Real Madrid centre-back Christoph Metzelder before firing through the legs of Iker Casillas to make the score 1-0.

Bernd Schuster’s side did not have to wait long for an equaliser when last season’s Spanish La Liga top goalscorer Ruud van Nistelrooy made the score 1-1 six minutes later with a kick from the penalty spot.

Read more on Real Madrid Defeat Deportivo La Coruña 3-1 in Spanish La Liga Matchday 9

English Premiership champions Manchester United look like they are all set to qualify after posting its third consecutive win in the 2007-08 UEFA Champions League group stages. The recent victory of Manchester United was an away match against Dynamo Kyiv, where the Manchester United Red Devils beat Dynamo 4-2.

It took only 10 minutes for Manchester United to find a goal when ManU’s Rio Ferdinand headed in a free-kick from team mate Ryan Giggs. In the 18th minute, Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney added a second goal with a brilliant counter-attack.

Dyanmo Kyiv were able to draw a goal back when Dynamo’s Diogo Rincon headed in a corner by team mate Carlos Correa. However, Manchester United midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo was able to extend the lead to two goals just before the half by heading in a sublime cross from Ryan Giggs.
Read more on Manchester United: Three Straight Wins in UEFA Champions League Group Stage Qualifiers!

Well, the unbeaten streak wasn’t going to last forever, and it was just going to be a matter of time before Spanish La Liga champions Real Madrid would be handed their first loss of the 2007-08 of the Spanish La Liga. Real Madrid’s first loss in 8 matches came courtesy of Espanyol, who are ranked 5th in the league with a total of 16 points after collecting the entire 3 points from their 2-1 victory over Real Madrid at their home pitch in Montjuic.

Real Madrid head coach Bernd Schuster commented, “I don’t think the international matches took a toll. We can’t make excuses for the defeat. We lost against an Espanyol team that played a great match. We can’t look back. Being a part of Real Madrid entails going through games like these, and we just have to deal with it.”

Indeed, Espanyol was a hard team for Real Madrid, and two minutes into the match, Espanyol scored an early goal when Espanyol’s Luis Garcia kicked a corner into the penalty area and Espanyol’s Albert Riera was able to rise above everyone to head it into the near post beyond the reach of Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

Espanyol doubled their advantage in the 53rd minute when Espanyol captain Raul Tamudo controlled a pass from Valdo and chipped a shot over the head of Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas.

Read more on Espanyol Gives Real Madrid First Loss of Season

It is very difficult to defeat Arsenal at their home pitch at the Emirates Stadium, and the Bolton Wanderers felt those hardships during their recent visit for an English Premier League match.

Arsenal were pushing the tempo from the start, and Bolton did well to keep Arsenal’s attempts from getting into the back of the net. Arsenal, however, were very relentless in their attack with the likes of Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor, Eduardo Da Silva and captain William Gallas making several threats on the Bolton goal.

Eventually, the search for a goal was rewarded to Arsenal on the 68th minute when Arsenal took a free kick that was tapped to Arsenal defender Kolo Toure, who rocketed a low shot into the bottom left corner. Arsenal doubled their advantage in the 80th minute when Arsenal substitute Theo Walcott provided a low cross that was turned by Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky and scored into the Bolton Wanderers goal.

Read more on Arsenal Beat Bolton Wanderers 2-0 To Keep Top Spot of English Premiership

The race is over in Group D of the UEFA Euro 2008 Qualifiers. Germany and the Czech Republic have won the top two spots of Group D, and are assured of a trip to the Euro 2008 Finals in Austria and Switzerland.

Germany hosted the Czech Republic at the Munich Football Arena just recently where the Czech Republic upset Germany 3-0, to earn the Czech Republic 3 points to assure them a trip to the Euro 2008 Finals. Germany, who already qualified for the Euro 2008 Finals even before their match against the Czech Republic, may have played a little too cautiously, but that doesn’t discount the fact that the Czech Republic played some amazing football.

The Czech Republic were off to a flying start with a goal as early as the 2nd minute of the match when Czech Republic’s Jan Koller had beaten the German offside trap and was able to pass it to an unguarded Libor Sionko who slotted past Germany keeper Timo Hildebrand.
Read more on Czech Republic Are Headed For Euro 2008 Finals!

Russia’s chances for qualifying to the UEFA Euro 2008 Finals are still alive after coming from behind to beat England 2-1 in their recent Euro 2008 qualifying match held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia this October 17. It wasn’t an easy task though for Russia with England playing top form. In fact, it was England who struck first to silence the Russian home fans when England striker Wayne Rooney of English Premier League champions Manchester United chested a flick pass from teammate Michael Owen and slammed a powerful volley into the goal of Russia past Russian goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov.

Russia were struggling to get an equaliser, and Russia’s head coach Guus Hiddink made some adjustments with key substitutions, bringing in midfielder Dmitri Torbinskiy to replace defender Vasili Berezutski in the 46th minute, and then brining in forward Roman Pavlyuchenko to replace a tired Aleksandr Kerzhakov in the 58th minute.
Read more on Russia Beats England 2-1 To Stay Alive in Group E of UEFA Euro 2008.

ust last month, the France national football team was looking dismal at third place of Group B in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying stages. With only the top two teams of Group B qualifying for the Euro 2008 Finals, it looked like France needed to produce some amazing football in order to keep in contention with Scotland and Italy, who were leading Group B at that time. A recent 6-0 away win against the Faroe Islands restored some confidence for France, and France was looking to carry over that momentum going into a tough match against Lithuania at La Beaujoire in Nantes, France.

The match had a shaky start for both Lithuania and France. France saw a lot more attempts at the goal of Lithuania during the first half through the efforts of Florent Malouda, Karim Benzema, Franck Ribery, William Gallas and Thierry Henry, but they weren’t to capitalize on their effortsto get past Lithuania keeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas. The closest France could get were hits at the crossbar care of Florent Malouda of English Premiership club Chelsea and Karim Benzema of French Ligue 1 champions Olympique Lyonnais.
Read more on Thierry Henry Scores 2 Goals For France To Beat Lithuania in Euro 2008 Qualifier

Portugal recently defeated Azerbaijan 2-0 for Euro 2008 group stage qualifying match to improve t0 20 points to share the 2nd place in Group A with Finland. Portugal’s first goal came from from a corner kick set by Deco and was headed in by Portugal’s keeper Bruno Alves past Azerbaijan goalkeeper Farkhad Veliyev. On the 29th minute, Azerbaijan captain Aslan Kerimov was given a red card after elbowing Portugal super star Cristiano Ronaldo of English Premier League champions Manchester United. With 10 men down, Portugal was eventually able to capitalize near the end of the first half when Portugal’s Hugo Almeida was able to stretch a volley from Luis Miguel.

Poland leads Group A with 24 points. However, with only 2 teams from Group A moving on to the Euro 2008 Finals in Austria and Switzerland on June 2008, it looks like the race will be tight between Portugal and Finland.
Read more on Portugal Hope To Be Among Top 2 In Group A of the UEFA Euro 2008