UEFA Cup Rd of 32 first leg round up

Shakhtar Donetsk scored a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspurs in the UEFA Cup round of 32 first leg with Yevgen Seleznov’s and Jadson’s two second-half goals helped them do so.

It was a historic moment for the Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu’s as it was his first win over an English club in as many as 10 attempts.

Shakhtar dominated the first half of the football match but they did not run riot. Their dominance did not materialize into goals as Tottenham managed to contain the Shakhtar attacks, as the buildups were slow.

For Shakhtar, striker Gladkiy shot blanks in the 26th and Mariusz Lewandowski failed to score from point blank range just sixty seconds later.

It took a substitute to break the deadlock that lasted till the 78^th minute when Seleznov replaced Olexandr Gladkiy and immediately headed in a curling free kick from the right.

Ten minutes later Jadson dribbled through past the Tottenham defense to beat the Tottenham Goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes with a shot into the bottom right corner of the net.

There was not much that Tottenham could take home with apart from the fact that David Bentley had two efforts down the right flank and Giovani Dos Santos hit the post. Jermaine Jenas had the best chance of the match for Tottenham when he missed an open goal in the 52^nd minute of the game.

Elsewhere, Manchester City brought about their own demise as they drew 2-2 with FC Copenhagen away from home in the last 32 stage.

City went into the lead just half an hour into the game when a goalkeeping error saw Nedum Onuoha score for City. City went into the break with the lead but soon after the break Ailton Almeida Scored to punish City’s Poor defence.

Stephen Ireland Scored the second for City and it looked to be the winner but was not to be. Deep in injury time a Martin Vingaard header saw Copenhagen come out of the match with a draw.

Previous Post :  Scolari Sacked as Manager of Chelsea

Scolari Sacked as Manager of Chelsea

Luis Filipe Scolari was sacked as the Manger of the English club Chelsea following the Londoner’s poor form off late. Only seven months into his two year contract, Scolari was shown the door after a meeting with the club boss Roman Abramovich. The sack might have come as a shock to Scolari who would not have seen it coming when he was called for a meeting.
The two parties parted on amicable terms as Chelsea acknowledged whatever Scolari had done for the club during his tenure. He was told that they had seen a lot of deterioration in the team’s performance over the month and the final nail in the coffin was the 0-0 draw at home against Hull City this weekend. Scolari replaced Avram Grant who was also fired because of the team’s poor performance. But unlike Grant’s Predecessor Jose Mourinho, Scolari’s contract termination happened on much more amicable terms. the London club have offered to pay off the remaining of Scolari’s 24 month contract.
The Chelsea players were surprised and shocked to hear the news as it was all of a sudden and unexpected at this point in time. The news was broken out to them over the phone as they were training with the England Squad.
Meanwhile, Chelsea is already holding talks with Russia Coach Guus Hiddink to replace Scolari. The good news for Chelsea is that Hiddink has shown his keenness to accept the job. He showed no worries of even combining the Russian job with the new one.
Abramovich is confident of convincing the Russian FA to allow the former PSV and Australia Coach to Lead the Londoners.
Also in the fray is AC Milan Coach Carlo Ancelotti who is a favourite with the Chelsea owner. But Ancelotti has made it clear that he is not available till the end of this season.
As it might work out, Hiddink’s short-term appointment can leave the door open for Chelsea to get Ancelotti on board in the summer.

Previous Post : Man Utd Ease into round 6 of FA Cup

Man Utd Ease into round 6 of FA Cup

Manchester United defeated Derby County 4-1 in the fourth round of their FA Cup tie. Even though United won comfortably and booked their place in the next round, it was the most talked about match over the weekend. Why you may ask? The reason, being that United conceded a goal.

United’s long run of clean sheets came to an end yesterday with Miles Addison’s header as Derby can boast of scoring a goal against United. A feat no other team has managed to achive in the recent past.

Portuguese midfielder Nani’s booming sixth goal of the season and perfect volley from youngster Darron Gibson put the Red Devils in total power at half time, before Cristiano Ronaldo’s bullet header made it three. Substitute Danny Welbeck netted an exquisite fourth to put the game beyond the Championships side’s reach.

going in to the match United boss Alex Ferguson had made a total revamp of his playing eleven with as many as Seven changes in the side that played at West Ham last weekend. With these changes, the 4-1 victory was even more credible and commendable.

Another talking point that emerged at the end of the match was the spitting incident involving Ronaldo and Derby’s Robbie Savage. Pictures showing Ronaldo spitting towards Savage were printed and released soon after the match. But both the players denied the incident

The duo collided during the first half of the match leaving Ronaldo in a tussle which left him on his knees. The pictures in question show Ronaldo spitting in Savage’s direction as the former United midfielder tries to help him to his feet.

This is not the first time Ronaldo has reacted in such an aggressive manner to being challenged on the pitch this season.

Manager Alex Ferguson has meanwhile maintained that if the Portuguese wants to cement his position as the world’s best player he must accept being more of a target on the pitch.

Previous Post : Hiddink the man for Chelsea!

Hiddink the man for Chelsea!

English Premier league side Chelsea have announced Russia’s coach Guus Hiddink as their stand in manager till the end of the season. Hiddink will replace Luis Filipe Scolari at the helm after the Brazilian was dismissed after Chelsea hit a rough patch in their bid to regain the BPL title.

Hiddink, who is already coaching Russia on a long term contract will combine this new role with it. It is not something new for Hiddink who has previously coached Australia and PSV Eindhoven simultaneously.

Chelsea did not waste any time in finding a replacement after Scolari’s exit for they were in talks with Hiddink soon after Scolari’s departure. Carlo Ancelotti was also one of the contenders but he ruled himself out till the end of the season.

The only thing that could have prevented Hiddink from taking up the Chelsea job was his contract with Russia Football Association but that did not prove to be a problem as Roman Abramovich’s close links with them came in handy for Chelsea.

This is the first time Hiddink would be coaching an English side and he last coached at club side three years ago. Hiddink will kick off his new role against Aston Villa this weekend.

Regardless of approving to the job, Hiddink has not signed a contract with Chelsea yet and he insists he does not intend to. He said its not about the money and was clear enough that he is not going to sign one. It will be interesting to see at the end of the season if Hiddink will continue to be the manager of Chelsea or not.

Related Post : Andrei Arshavin to make his debut on Saturday.

Cheliver

Chelsea doesn’t seem to scare anyone these days. Newly promoted side Hull City traveled to Stamford Bridge and held on to take home a point. Chelsea is no more the undefeatable side they were at home a couple of years ago. After their run of being undefeated for more than two seasons came to an end, the team looks fragile under the new coach Phil Scolari.

Their bid to win the Barclays Premier Football League took a hit when they came against a resilient Hull City side that showed great determination to last the whole game without conceding, and themselves coming close to scoring. Their performance was even better considering they were missing some of their key players.

The London side has now dropped 16 points from all their home games, which would surely prove instrumental at the end of the season when the race for the title hots up. At present Chelsea are four points behind leaders Manchester United who have two games in hand.

Chelsea started ff the game strongly. It was maybe Chelsea best performance in the first half an hour in this whole season; they had nothing to show for it. Hull hung on until half time. After the break it was the other way around. Hull came out all guns blazing and surprised the Chelsea defense, forcing the John Terry led defense to make some mistakes. For Hull Geovanni, Kevin Kilbane and Dean Marney came close to scoring but it was not to be. Hull City goalkeeper was hardly made to work hard, this showed the kind of strong defense tactics Hull employed.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the premiership Fernando Torres saved Liverpool with a last gasp winner that sent Liverpool to the top of the table. Liverpool defeated Portsmouth 3-2.

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez had rested Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt and Xabi Alonso on the bench and he could have been humiliated if these players had not come on as substitutes to help Liverpool come on top of Pompey

Previous Post : LAST DAY TRANSFERS

Next Post : Hiddink the man for Chelsea!