Spanning the Globe: Weekend Wrap-up

By: Bob | March 5th, 2007

It was another busy football weekend in leagues around the world. While teams like Inter Milan and Celtic continued their march towards titles, the races in some other leagues tightened. Here is the quick and the dirty news from a few randomly selected leagues.

Spain - It was number one versus number two with number two coming out on top. Playing with 10 men, Sevilla rallied to defeat Barcelona 2-1 and to claim the top spot in La Liga. Ronaldinho scored a goal for Barca but missed a crucial penalty. Barca finished the match with 9 men. Valencia beat Celta 1-0 at home, while Real Madrid slipped up with a 1-1 draw at home against Getafe. David Beckham left the match after injuring his knee on an advertising board. Oh the irony…

Top 4: Sevilla 50 pts, Barcelona 49, Valencia 46, Real Madrid 44

Germany - Things are starting to heat up in the Bundesliga after a weekend in which leaders Schalke 04 lost their second match in a row. Schalke 04 fell to Hamburg SV 2-0, while second place VfB Stuttgart slipped up against Bayer Leverkusen, losing 3-1. That means the new second place team is Werder Bremen who spanked VfL Bochum 3-0. Don’t look now but Bayern Munich, who were 12 points back two weeks ago and deader than a doorknob, are now just 6 points off the top thanks to a 3-2 win against Hertha Berlin. The hottest team in the league, Mainz, saw their 6-match unbeaten streak ended by Alemannia Aachen.

Top 4: Schalke 04 49 pts, Werder Bremen 46, Stuttgart 45, Bayern Munich 43

Bulgaria - The ass whipping of the weekend award goes to Levski Sofia, who put the boot in against Chernomorets Burgas and came away with a 10-0 win. Hopefully the scoreboard operator was paid extra for his efforts. The win, combined with CSKA Sofia’s surprise draw at home against Cherno More Varna, increased Levski’s lead atop the table to 4 points.

Greece - It is always fun when they play the Athens derby and this weekend’s version was no different. A goal in penalty time gave Panathinaikos a 1-0 victory over league leaders Olympiakos Piraeus and moved them into second place, eight points behind their rivals with six rounds to go. At the bottom of the table is Ionikos who have just four points from 24 matches. I think it is fair to say they suck donkey’s balls.

Top 3: Olympiakos 59 pts, Panathinaikos 51, AEK Athens 49

Turkey - It is a jumbled, mixed up mess at the top of the table with eight points separating the top five teams. Fenerbahce still is on top of the table despite drawing 2-2 at home against Sivasspor. Your new second place team is Besiktas thanks to their 2-1 win against now third place Galatasaray, who are level with Kayserispor and a heartbeat ahead of Genclerbirligi.

Top 4: Fenerbahce 45 pts, Besiktas 39, Galatasaray 38, Kayserispor 38

Argentina - Don’t look now but Arsenal leads the Argentine Clausura championship. The small club that could beat Velez Sarsfield 3-1 to remain perfect through four games. Meanwhile, perennial powers River Plate and Boca Juniors both showed chinks in their armor by losing. River lost to Argentinos Juniors 2-1 in a game that featured a half hour delay because the floodlights didn’t work. Boca got thumped 3-0 by San Lorenzo at home. This could be an interesting campaign in Argentina.

Top 4: Arsenal 12 pts, San Lorenzo 10, Argentinos Juniors 9, River Plate 9

Fan Violence - It wouldn’t be a football weekend without reports of fan unrest. Hundreds were arrested in a riot in Argentina, 15 were hurt and 40 arrested in Serbia, and there was trouble at the Lyon derby in France.