Milan Grab Second, Title Race in France and Germany Continues – Sunday Soccer Across Europe 19/04


Filippo Inzaghi

A new day and a new hat trick hero. After Mario Gomez doing it for Stuttgart it was Inzaghi’s turn to do it for AC Milan as they grabbed second place in the Serie A.

Serie A

We’ll start our tour today in Italy and we’ll begin with Milan who mauled Torino 5-1. Inzaghi scored three, Kaka scored one from the penalty spot and Ambrosini added the last one in the final minute. Milan are now tied at second with Juventus, both teams with 64 points, 6 games to go in the season. Remember – May 10th, Juventus come to Milan to play the Rossoneri.

Fiorentina who had a chance to climb to fourth after Genoa’s loss yesterday didn’t capitalize on the opportunity and were defeated 3-1 by unpredictable Udinese 3-1. D’agostino with two and Kwadwo Asamoha scored for the winners, Dario Dainelli grabbed one for the losers.

AS Roma who are also still in the chase for that coveted fourth place were able to beat Lecce 3-2 in the Stadio Olimpico. Roma led 2-0 with goals from Totti and Brighi, but Lecce were able to even the score by the 55th minute with goals from Gianni Munari and Dimitrios Papadopoulos. Totti grabbed the winner for Roma minutes later from the penalty spot.

Genoa still hold the fourth spot with 57 points, leading Fiorentina (5th) by 2 points and Roma (6th) by 5.

English Premiership / FA Cup Semi Final

After Chelsea secured their place in Wembley for the FA Cup final, Everton did the same by beating Manchester United after Penalty kicks. The match went goalless for 120 minutes in a very disappointing match. Alex Ferguson will probably draw a lot of criticism for fielding mostly second lineup players, who eventually got knocked out and their dreams of a quintuple over. Everton will play in the Finals for the first time since 1995, when they won it by beating Manchester United 1-0.

In League Play Tottenham made things much worst for Newcastle by beating them 1-0 with Darren Bent scoring the goal. Manchester City Practically finished their season by beating WBA 4-2 and drifting away from the relegation zone for good. Robinho, Onuha, Elano and Daniel Sturridge scored for City while Chris Brunt scored the two for WBA who can start getting ready for Championship play next year.

As for Newcastle, they are buried at 19, 4 points from safety. We warned Shearer not to take this job.

French Ligue 1

The biggest game of the night in Europe was played in Bordeaux, who hosted the seemingly eternal champions Lyon.

Alou Diarra’s goal gave Bordeaux their first win against Lyon in 10 years but more importantly puts them at second place, 2 points behind Marseille. The same Marseille that went to Lorient a few hours earlier, went behind early in the first half (Kevin Gameiro, 8th minute) and the same Marseille that put together a second half comeback. Renato Civelli tied things up at the 60th minute and Brandao brought the win to Marseille 10 minutes from time.

PSG grabbed an impressive 3-0 victory over last placed Le Havre with goals from Giuly, Rothen and Horaru. They rose to fourth with 59 points, 5 points behind leaders Marseille and only a point behind Lyon. Things are certainly hot and steamy in France, 6 games to go till the finish line.

German Bundesliga

Hamburg went level with Bayern Munich at second with 54 points after beating Hannover 2-1 highlighted by Mladen Petric scoring both goals. Like Bayern they are now 3 points behind leaders Wolfsburg with 6 games to go.

Hertha Berlin were another to team to grab a come from behind victory, beating Werder Bremen 2-1. Mertesacker put the visitors ahead just before the half but Simunic and Rafael were able to keep the 3 points in Berlin who are now back at fourth, 5 points behind Wolfsburg and still dreaming of a championship.

Our final word comes from Holland, were PSV destroyed Ajax 6-2 in a game that instead of helping them win a championship like in a normal year actually clinched the title for AZ, their first since 1981.

Ajax are still in a battle with Twente for the second place, the last spot leading to the Champions League and are only one point behind them, but this defeat to PSV might shatter their confidence for the remaining 3 games. Van Gaal can send flowers to Edson Mendez, Ibrahim Afellay, Nordim Amrabat, Jason Culina, Balazs Dzsudzsak and Otman Bakkal for both giving him his first title with AZ and for sticking it to Ajax. I’m sure he enjoyed it.


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