Schalke 0 Manchester United 2: Champions League result

Semi-final first leg



Schalke 0 Manchester United 2



Scorers: Ryan Giggs 67, Wayne Rooney 69



Halftime: 0-0



Teams:

Schalke: 1-Manuel Neuer; 22-Atsuto Uchida, 32-Joel Matip, 21-Christoph Metzelder, 2-Hans Sarpei (3-Sergio Escudero 73); 17-Jefferson Farfan, 14-Kyriakos Papadopoulos, 18-Jose Manuel Jurado (31-Julian Draxler 83), 11-Alexander Baumjohann (12-Peer Kluge 53); 7-Raul, 9-Edu.



Manchester United: 1-Edwin van der Sar; 20-Fabio, 5-Rio Ferdinand, 15-Nemanja Vidic, 3-Patrice Evra ; 25-Antonio Valencia, 16-Michael Carrick, 11-Ryan Giggs, 13-Park Ji-Sung (18-Paul Scholes 73); 10-Wayne Rooney (17-Nani 83), 14-Javier Hernandez (8-Anderson 73).



Attendance: 54142



Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain).



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LITHUANIA 1 SPAIN 3 | EURO 2012 GROUP I QUALIFIER RESULT

SPAIN managed to win away to LITHUANIA 1 - 3 in their EURO 2012 Group I qualifier to give them another victory, consolidate the Groups Top spot & put them nearly into the Euro Finals of next year. The match went ahead after UEFA officials & the French referee decided that the turf ( without grass ) was apt to play on & safe. Correct decision as no one from both teams were injured in a game played in good spirits as there was no difficult situations for the referee. 

Xavi scores for Spain: photo-J.A.Gracia/Marca

Spanish Coach Del Bosque put the following starting 11: Casillas; Iraola, Piqué, Albiol, Arbeloa; Xabi Alonso, Javi Martínez, Xavi, Cazorla, Villa & Llorente, with At.Bilbao defender Iraola winning an International Cap & other well know stars getting a rest.

The match was played well considering the circumstances of the surface with Spain dominating & with Lithuanian goalkeeper Karcemarskas stopping the Spanish forwards. The first goal came in the 19th min via XAVI HERNANDEZ which took a slight deflection to loop over the goalie.

The second half saw Spain begin well until Valencia CF defender & Lithuanian Captain STANKEVICIUS got onto a "cracker" from 30 mts to power drive passed Iker Casillas with an unstoppable goal. This raised the confidence of the home team & they put Spain under pressure & gave them their worst 15 mins of Football. Spain reacted with substitutions giving David Silva & Juna Mata a run & it paid off.

Spain scored their second in the 70th min via an own goal from defender KIJANSKAS who could do little as Llorente was in clear shot position, then JUAN MATA finished off a nice worked play with a third for Spain in the 83rd min.

Great result for Spain & even better was the fact that no one got injured playing on a "terrible" ground, that at least held out the full 90 minutes.



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SPAIN 2 CZECH REPUBLIC 1 | EURO 2012 GROUP I QUALIFIER MATCH RESULT

The SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM & current European & World Champions defeated the CZECH REPUBLIC 2 - 1 in a difficult & at times frustrating game as the visitors put Spain on the ropes for 69 mins before solving the "situation". The victory opens up a significant gap between Spain,  which now leads Group I ,  & second placed Czech Rep with a 6 point margin. 

There were two milestones tonight of worthy mention. The first was the 100th International Cap that XAVI HERNANDEZ gets onto his name & DAVID VILLA who surpassed mythical Spanish player Raul & become  the "all  time Historical goal scorer for Spain" with his two goals taking his tally to 46 goals for the Spanish National Football Team.

Plasil for Czech Republic

The Czech Republic had their ideas fairly clear from the start: DEFEND. I suppose they thought that If by doing so, they could find a counter-attack & get lucky, so be it, with defending the priority. Thus, it was so, with Spain controlling proceeding & Czech goalie Peter Cech stopping everything kicked/headed towards his goal. Then in the 28th min the Czech side attacked in a rare forward move & PLASIL tried his luck from outside the box that found the post & scored a "surprise" goal. First & only attack by the Czech side & a goal!

Obviously this motivated Spain further to attack more & the Czech team took their defending to the maximum level,  literally constructing a defensive wall.

Iniesta for Spain

The nerves set in onto the Spanish Camp & Coach del Bosque took some brave risks. He changed Xabi Alonso for Fernando Torres at the start of the second half & shortly later defender Capdevila for Cazorla. Spain continued dominanting the match entirely & smashing into the Czech Wall until finally in the 69th min Iniesta found DAVID VILLA who equalized & become the Spanish Team all-time Historical goal scorer. It was a big sigh of relief as Spain was seeing how time was flying by & the game was getting more & more complicated.

David Villa become Spain all-time goalscorer

Spain continued with their pressure as they wanted the victory & in the 73rd min Iniesta was fouled in the area & awarded a penalty. DAVID VILLA stepped up & scored the second for Spain & his 46th overall for his country.  There was a few more chances for Spain towards the end, especially one that Torres had stopped by team-mate Cech & the match finished happy for the locals.

Spain now plays Lithuania next week, after the latter defeated Poland 2 - 0 tonight in the other Group I clash.


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EUROPA LEAGUE RESULT | VILLAREAL 2 BAYERN LEVERKUSEN 1 ( 5 - 3 AGG) | VILLAREAL MOVES INTO QUARTER FINALS

SPANISH FOOTBALL managed to get another Club into the Quarter Finals stage, in this case, the EUROPA LEAGUE competition after VILLAREAL won 2 - 1 German Club BAYERN LEVERKUSEN in their return 2º leg clash ( 5-3 on aggregate)

Great match by Spanish International Cazorla

The Germans played their best Football the first 30 mins of the first half were they looked dangerous & seemed like they may have a chance to turn things around. However, the 32nd min goal by Spanish International midfielder for Villareal SANTI CAZORLA gave the calmness needed for his team & shifted the objective further away from the Germans. 

Rossi scored for Villareal

The goal looked as if it had taken a weight off the Spanish Team & they began controlling events with a fantastic second half of touch play Football. The sealer came in the 60th min when Cazorla combined with ROSSI with the latter riffling the second goal. The task was now beyond the Germans who did not give in & managed to get a consolation goal via DERDIYOK in the 80th min.

Villareal now go into tomorrows UEFA Europa League draw & will find out which team they will meet in the quater-finals.

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REAL MADRID 3 OLYMPIQUE 0 ( 4 - 1 AGG) | CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULT

It has been six years being knocked out at this stage of the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE with the French team Lyon being the "boogy" team in the last years. However, the "dark spell" was broken tonight with a victory by REAL MADRID CF 3 - 0 over OLYMPIQUE DE LYON thus winning 4 - 1 on overall aggregate. With this result Real Madrid goes into the Q/Finals of Champions League were it will soon know its next rival after UEFA celebrates the draw next Friday. 

Marcelo scores for Real Madrid CF:reuters

Real Madrid started with Cristiano Ronaldo & were dangerous from the beginning with clear chances that put the French team on defensive guard. Lyon goalie Lloris stopped some great shots & would later be working hard as the game went on. However the French team grew in confidence & put Real Madrid through 20 min of its worst Football as they managed to change the tide.

Then in the 32nd min a crucial point in the game occurred when Xabi recovered a ball in the midfield & found MARCELO who 1-2 touched with Ronaldo a then scored the opener to bring some ease back into the Spanish team which was suffering.

Karim Benzema back on target:reuters

The second half was to be Real Madrid which went after the match with sporadic danger from the French especially from Gomis who was a menace all night. With Real Madrid on a roll, KARIM BENZEMA took advantage of a loose Lyon defence & scored in the 65th min to set his team on course. The French forward has radically transformed himself from a timid, ineffective & questioned player into a regular goal scorer that is finally showing his true class.  Real Madrid continued with its good play & the third came via a Ozil passing header that found DI MARIA who chipped over Lyon goalkeeper Lloris to seal the qualification & the Spanish victory.

Lyon had some occasions later on via Gomis to pull a consolation goal but Casillas & the Real Madrid defence kept the opponents score-sheet clean.

Special mention to Marcelo, Carvalho, Ozil , Xabi & Benzema for their excellent play for Real Madrid & goalie Lloris & Gomis for Lyon who both were outstanding for the French side.

In conclusion, a great night for Spanish Football & for Real Madrid which manages to break the last 16 barrier & at least get back into the Top 8 European Clubs. Now its up to them to continue forward on the Champions League road & onto the Final at Wembley (London) with fellow Spanish Football Club FC Barcelona.



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GETAFE 2 ATHLETIC DE BILBAO 2 | ROUND 28 SPANISH FOOTBALL MONDAY GAME RESULT

SPANISH FOOTBALL action this Monday night with the closing of the Round 28 clash of LA LIGA under some terrible weather conditions here in Madrid. Here is a brief run down of tonights events, the result & scorers.

Young Muniain for At Bilbao against Getafe

GETAFE played host to ATHLETIC DE BILBAO in a final 2 - 2 draw result game that went crazy in the last half hour when all four goals appeared, plus a "hat-trick" from Getafe player MANU DEL MORAL that included an own goal.

Manu del Moral for Getafe

Lets jump straight into the 68th min when Getafe scored first & got ahead via MANU DEL MORAL. One minute later MANU DE MORAL scores again but in his own goal equalizing for Bilbao. The man was on a "mission" to make up for his mistake & MANU DE MORAL scored a second for Getafe in the 84th min. Everyone was happy at Getafe until in the very last moment Bilbao equalized with a goal from URKO VERA.

Getafe Coach Michel is not happy at all as Getafe played better overall & allowed Bilbao to get back. Getafe need wins if they are to avoid the "relegation syndrome" & this is not the way to go about things.




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EUROPA LEAGUE | BAYERN LEVERKUSEN 2 VILLAREAL 3 | 1st LEG RESULT

We saw a great match of European Football in tonights EUROPA LEAGUE 1ºst leg clash between German Club BAYERN LAVERKUSEN & Spanish Football Team VILLAREAL. The final result 2 - 3 is a marvellous victory for the Spaniards that puts them totally in the drivers seat with the 2º leg at Villareal

Nilmar scores for Villareal : reuters

The Germans started strong & dominated the game & it was a matter of time before they opened the score line & RADLEC scored in the 32nd min. This woke Villareal into action & they managed to equalize via ROSSI with an excellent executed goal in the 41st min.

The Germans were not willing to give the Spanish team the advantage & continued attacking during the 2º half until a defensive mistake allowed the dangerous & always alert NILMAR to put Villareal ahead in the 69th min. However this game was true to its early signs of being memorable & Bayern equalized again in the 72nd min via CASTRO

Villareal celebrate their third goal : reuters

From here is was end to end stuff & Villareal goalie Lopez had to do some hard work, when in the last minutes of extra-time NILMAR controlled a lovely placed pass in front of him to scored the third & the winner for the Spanish side & thus giving them valuable away goals to make the 2º leg easier to contemplate.

Villareal are now much, much closer to the Europa League quarter-finals stage, but I am sure Bayern Leverkusen will do everything to make things difficult in the return match.

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