Monday 1 September 2014

Best Of The Rest.. Review Of All The European Top Leagues

With the International break coming right before our eyes *12days of Boring Boring International games*(eyes rolling)... Sportunes brings to you a recap of exciting soccer thrilling moments around
Europe's top leagues  to wet your appetite in anticipation of the resumption of league football games...

LA LIGA

Real Sociedad 4-2 Real Madrid

The Real Sociedad players celebrate a David Zurutuza goal

It appeared European and UEFA Super Cup champions Real Madrid had emphatically put worries over a poor start to the season behind them when they flew out of the blocks, Gareth Bale's neat finish adding to Sergio Ramos' header to secure a 2-0 lead after 11 minutes, making bookmakers feel at ease about their stakes on the Galaticos; but things turned sour as Sociedad's Inigo Martinez pulled a goal back punishing the men in white for ruing their chances; and later the host taking control as David Zurutuza's double added to ex-arsenal forward's goal Carlos Vela to secure an incredible home victory.

It left Real Madrid on three points after two league games,making manager Carlo Ancelloti apologetic to everyone affected; "The match wasn't easy. It was like two matches. The first
half-hour was easy. We thought the match was over. We did not have a good defensive system to maintain our two-goal advantage. We defended very badly. We are very sorry. I am sorry. I don't like seeing the team play like this. We must change our attitudes as well as our concentration. the squad";
while the win was Sociedad's first of. 2014/15 campaign.

Villareal 0-1 Barcelona

Barcelona's Sandro Ramirez (left) celebrates next to team mate Xavi Hernandez

Debutant Sandro Ramirez was the unlikely hero as Barcelona left it late to snatch a 1-0 victory at Villarreal and be the only team in the league with a perfect record.

Barca toiled on a poor El Madrigal pitch and against a stubborn home defence until 19-year-old Sandro came off the bench to score a scrappy 82nd-minute winner in his first La Liga appearance,making the home team feel aggrieved for ending up as the losing side.


Atletico Madrid 2-1 Eibar



Defending League champions Atletico continued their decent start to the season as they picked up the 3points in front of their fans at the Vincente Calderon.

Goals from Miranda and summer signing Mario Manzudkic who's goal on the night marked his second goal on home turf put the home side ahead without the guardiance of manager Diego Simeone who is serving an 8game touch-line ban for his poor match conduct in Atletico's super cup triumph over city rivals Real.

Newly promoted Eibar dint let the game look like an Atletico affair as they pulled one back through Abraham Mineiro Fernandez; but no goal was further added to all first half goals; as the second half turned out to be a boring affair. *yawns*

In Other Games



Three goals from Aritz Aduriz, Itturaspe, and Spanish sensation Iker Munain gave Atletico Bilbao all 3points,and also their first league win this season against Nigerian forward Obafemi Martins former club Levante UD. 

Cordoba ended up picking up a solitary point at home after going down by a goal from Celta Vigo's Fabian Orellana,through Federico Cartabia.

Sevilla picked up their first 3 points away from home after defeating Espanyol in a three goal affair which had visitors Sevilla having two for themselves through one time bus conductor;Colombia's Carlos Bacca and Vincente Iborra, as the home team pulled one back via Christian Stuani.



A goal-fest was played out at Estadio Riazor, where Deportivo La Coruna and visiting Rayo Vallecano drew 2-2 thanks to Isaac Cuenca's last-gasp penalty for the hosts. Jose Rodriguez fired Deportivo into a seventh-minute lead, yet they were pegged back as Alberto Bueno headed home an equaliser before producing a close-range 73rd-minute goal to put his side in front. It appeared his efforts would prove decisive until Abdoulaye Ba handled in the area,which paved way for former Barca rookie Cuenca to secure a share of the spoils.

David Lomban scored a dramatic late equaliser to see Elche play out a 1-1 draw at home to Granada,
Valencia had a 3-0 victory over 2012/13 Uefa Champions league Quarter finalist Malaga courtesy of goals from Paco Alcacer, Dani Parejo and Pablo Piatti, with Getafe sealing maximum points thanks to an Alvaro Vazquez goal against Almeria who had Nigeria's Ramon Azeez Warm the bench through out the game's duration.

SERIE A

Chievo 0-1 Juventus

Chievo 0-1 Juventus: Own goal gives champions slim win

Three times consecutive league champions Juventus started out their title defence under Former Milan Manager Massimiliano Allegri on a decent note as they won by a lone goal courtesy of an own goal by Christiano Biraghi; Although a good start for the former SerieA winner,,Allegri still needs
his forwards to work on their finishing; early days as it's been said.

AS Roma 2-0 ACF Fiorentina

Return to form: Gervinho (left) has helped to transform Roma into Serie A title contenders

The biggest game in the opening weekend of the SerieA, AS Roma came out firing on hot cylinders to make a statement that last season's early unbeaten run were not flukes as goals from Radja Nainggolan and Ex-Arsenal forward Gervinho impressed coach Rudi Garcia with a
good start this season; leaving Fiorentina's gaffer Vincenzo Montella going home with sour grapes as his team failed to beat Roma's defence.

Milan 3-1 Lazio

AC Milan 3-1 Lazio: Inzaghi era starts with a bang

My O My; who would think a starting 11 of Milan which arguably worth less than €10million would prove bookmakers all wrong;especially with a poor pre-season behind them? Well, Milan legend and present manager Filipo Inzaghi started his SerieA managerial journey on a good note as a Keisunke Honda, summer signing Jeremy Menez penalty kick and Suley Muntari goals gave the hosts good confidence to score goals when it matters; although an Own Goal from former Chelsea and PSG centre back Alex brings defensive caution for the Rossoneri's, but solace can still be taken in as ex-Galatico Diego Lopez saved a spot kick against visitors Lazio.

Genoa 1 - 2 Napoli

Genoa 1-2 Napoli: Dramatic De Guzman strike seals victory

Summer signing Jonathan de Guzman enjoyed a dream SerieA debut for Napoli, helping them to a 2-1 win at Genoa. The Dutch International popped up deep into stoppage time to latch onto a Juan Camilo Zuniga ball over the top, finishing from point-blank range to secure the win for Rafael Benitez's men, after Mauricio Pinilla had cancelled out Jose Callejon's early opener. Some relief to the Spanish manager Benitez whose team lost out of Champions League qualification last week to Spain's Atletico Bilbao.

Torino 0 0 Inter Milan

Torino 0-0 Inter: Vidic sees red as Mazzarri's men are held

A Night to remember it was for former Man United Skipper Nemanja Vidic who after giving away a spot-kick; 20mins into his SerieA debut, was later sent off in the closing minutes of the game as Inter battled to a goalless draw against host Torino who threw away two points thanks to Inter's Samir Handanovic who saved the resulting penalty caused by Vidic.

Serie A New comers Empoli, whose first game in the top flight for six years ended in a 2-0 defeat to Udinese, courtesy of a second-half brace from Italian old war horse Antonio Di Natale.

In contrast, Cesena began their return to Serie A with a bang, beating Parma 1-0 thanks to a solitary goal from Alejandro Rodriguez.

Elsewhere, Palermo were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Sampdoria, Cagliari drew by the same scoreline at Sassoulo and Atalanta drew 0-0 with Verona.

Paris St-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic

In the French Ligue; it was a Zlantanated filled weekend,as PSG had fully fit Swedish international Ibrahimovich return from injury ,banging in a hat-trick against visitors St Etienne who had their
goalie Ruffier start the 5-0 mauling after not controlling a back pass given to him by his team mate. Uruguay international Edinson Cavani dint fail also to get a feel of the spoils as he also got a goal on the night.

The win lifts defending champions PSG to second in the table, two points behind former Bayern Munich right back Willy Sagnol's Bordeaux who dropped points for the first time this season in a 1-1 draw at home to the Claude Makalele led Bastia.

A Radamel Falcaoless AS Monaco got a point for themselves courtesy of a Dimitar Berbatov equaliser after Nolan Roux's goal gave the lead to Nigeria's Vincent Enyeama's Lille of France. 

Olympique Marseille enjoyed their second win of the season under coach Marcelo Bielsa as they won by 4 goals to nil against visitors Nice.

Lyon's poor start to the season continued as they were the victims of a late comeback as Metz won the seven time Ligue 1 champions 2-1, for their first success of the season.

Other Leagues:




Nigeria's Emmanuel Emenike was on the score sheet for defending Turkish super lig champions Fernaberche as the Turkish giants started their defence of the league title with a 3-2 win over Karabukspor; with all three goalscorers from mother-land Africa (i.e Pierre Achille
Webo and Moussa Sow with the remaining two goals).

Last season's runners-up Galatasaray also got off to a winning start prevailing 2-0 at Bursaspor, with Burak Yilmaz opening the scoring after 52 minutes and Olcan Adin sealing it in the closing
stages,giving former italian manager Ceseare Prandelli a good start to the season.

Ex-Super eagles of Nigeria goalie Ike Shorunmu's former club Besiktas bounced back from narrowly missing out on a place in the Champions League group stage where they went 1-0 down to Arsenal by beating Mersin by the same scoreline, as Cenk Tosun hit the back of the net just before the
break.



In Holland, Nigeria's 2002 world cup star forward Bartholomew Ogbeche's Camburr FC defeated Ado Den Hag 3-2 in a 5 goal thriller which had the Nigerian give the assist to his team's first goal on the night,making them occupy the fourth spot in the Eredivise log before the international break.

PSV continued their strong dominance in the league defeating Vitesse Arhnem by 2-0 as defending champions Ajax Amsterdam continued their stuttering start to the season losing 2-0 away to Groningen.

In Portugal, SL Benfica were made to drop points at home against Man United Loanee Luis Nani's Sporting Lisbon as the defending Portuguese Primera Lig Champions drew one-all. With bitter rivals FC Porto winning 3-0 at home against Moriense, maintaining a 100% record for the former league
Champions.

What a soccer filled weekend I would say...But,it doesn't end there! The closing stages of the Transfer market is on...follow @Sportunes90 on Twitter as we give you breaking deadline day transfer deals!

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