In the Barclays Premier League, there were no big surprises on Saturday as most of the fancied teams went on to record victories. Arsenal started the evening with a 2-1 away win over Norwich as Robin van Persie continued his fine form with a brace.
Manchester City in the meanwhile ended Newcastle United’s unbeaten streak this season by winning 3-1 at the Etihad stadium where Newcastle has never won a match in their history. City won convincingly as Mario Balotelli and Sergio Aguero converted two penalties either side of a stunning goal from full back Micah Richards. Newcastle grabbed a consolation late in the game after Dan Gosling scored his first goal for the club since moving from Everton.
Manchester United went on to record another 1-0 shaky victory over Swansea City with Javier Hernandez netting the winner after some good work from Ryan Giggs, who now becomes the Barclays Premier League player with the highest assists in the league with 101 career assists in the league.
In other games, QPR won 3-2 away at Stoke while Everton and West Bromposted 2-1 victories over Wolves and Bolton respectively. However, the match of the evening was at the DW stadium in Wigan as Blackburn Rovers returned from behind to secure a 3-3 draw in a hotly contested game. David Dunn saw red in the 47th minute and Yakubu secured the draw deep into injury time.
Over in the Bundes Liga, league leaders Bayern Munich were cut down to size as the defending champions Borussia Dortmund defeated the German giants 1-0 at the Allianz Arena. German teen sensation Mario Gomez was on target for the men in yellow. Munich still leaf the league table by 2 points with Dortmund in second place alongside Gladbach.
In La Liga, Barcelona recorded a fantastic 4-0 win at the Nou Camp against Real Zaragoza while Real Madrid stayed on top of the charts with a 3-2 win at Valencia at the Mestalla. Gerard Pique, Lionel Messi, Carles Puyol, and David Villa were all on target after Pep Guardiola sent out a strong team for the match contrary to popular belief with most pundits predicting that he would rest his key players with the Champions League fixture against Milan in midweek.
Real Madrid fought well to earn a result in Valencia as Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, and Cristiano Ronaldo scored for the los blancos cancelling out the two goals scored by Real discard Roberto Soldado.
Benzema’s goal in the first half should easily qualify as the goal of the day. It was a brilliant effort from the Frenchman to control the lofted ball and then volley past the approaching Valencia keeper with his weaker left-foot.