Goodbye QPR and Reading. These two teams have been officially relegated from English Premier League this weekend. Reading was just promoted to EPL last season, while Queens Park Rangers barely avoided being relegated. Most people had a feeling that QPR would get relegated, even in the first half of the season. The team has many talented players, but for some reason, they just weren’t able to get the results to stay in England’s top league.

Who else will join QPR and Reading? The three clubs fighting to stay in EPL are Wigan Athletic, Sunderland and Newcastle United. Personally, I hope Newcastle stays in EPL for another season. They have a lot of talent on that team and they can play some great football.

What else happened this weekend? Well, Liverpool won against Newcastle 6-0. Yes, you read that right. Liverpool won 6-0. Newcastle had an off day. This was Liverpool’s first match without Luis Suarez, who will be banned for 10 matches after biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic last weekend. Most people might have expected Liverpool to struggle, but that wasn’t the case.

While both Manchester clubs have qualified for Champions League next season, there are still two spots up for grabs. The three clubs fighting for those two spots are three London based clubs- Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. I would love to see Chelsea and Spurs qualify. Juan Mata, David Luiz, Ivanovic and Gareth Bale are some footballers that I think are very talented and would like to see them playing in Champions League. Spurs missed out this season, due to Chelsea winning Champions League.

This weekend, the one match everyone will be watching is Manchester United v. Chelsea. Don’t miss out; that match will be on May 5th at 11 a.m. EST.

It’s the Champions League, baby!

Needless to say, this match up was anything but brilliant as Real Madrid hosted Manchester United, both clubs winning their league titles respectively.

Ronaldo’s first half goal. Just look at his hang time!

I guess to sum up the match for those who couldn’t watch, both Real and United both got a ‘head’ of each other, only to draw at 1-1. In the 20′ United’s Danny Welbeck scored a header that his defender, Sergio Ramos would be proud of. And as the jokes flooded twitter, it almost looked as if Danny boy scored using just his hair.

Ten minutes later, golden boy Ronaldo also headed the ball in which it seemed he stopped time as it appeared he was just hanging in the air.

Both clubs had great chances throughout the match as both Real’s Angel Di Maria and Fabio Coentrao almost put the club up two more goals. A wasted goal opportunity from Robin Van Pursie kept United equalized until the final whistle.

Defensively, Real was on their best performance, barely letting United’s dangerous forwards a way to sneak past the backline. With the absence of captain Iker Casillas, Diego Lopez really stepped up tending the goal while David de Gea, the young keeper for United, played a fantastic match and kept focused, which saved Real from scoring more goals.

Ronaldo talks to old manager Sir Alex Ferguson

It was a special moment for one player specifically, Cristiano Ronaldo, who faced his former club for the first time since leaving back in 2009. Ronnie began his lustrous career as a Red Devil where he further developed his style and perfected his fancy footwork. Before signing with Real, Ronaldo won 3 league titles, 1 FA Cup as well as other numerous trophies.

It was highly anticipated as to how Ronaldo would celebrate had he scored a goal. By far the best moment of the match was when he did, in fact, score that goal. He kept it classy, nodding and raising two fingers up in the air before being pummeled by his teammates.

The second leg of this intense match up will be on March 5th at Old Trafford. This match is one you want to mark on your calendar. Even as an Arsenal supporter, the reaction I’ll have seeing Ronaldo walk onto Old Trafford’s pitch, his old stomping grounds, will be a pivotal moment. And just imagine if he’d score yet another goal. Till then, we have to wait another 3 weeks.

I’ll just leave this here for you’re viewing pleasure. #TeamRonaldo

Stay tuned to Aerys Soccer for all your Champions League updates and more!

Photo courtesy of Real Madrid C.F.

Frank Lampard handed Chelsea the 2-0 win over Everton with a double.

Frank Lampard took responsibility for Chelsea’s fourth win in a row by scoring twice to win 2-1 at Everton today.  The 34-year -old England midfielder has been with the club since 2001 and has yet to be offered an extension to his contract ending in June.

Today’s win helps to keep the Blues in contention for the Premier League title race and also might give some hope the club will hold onto the seasoned Lampard.

On Saturday, Manchester United took their seventh win in eight matches thanks to star striker Robin van Persie.  His 90-minute shot, his League-leading 14th goal of the season, made the score 2-0 over West Brom.  United now have a seven-point lead in the standings going into 2013.

Arsenal dominated Newcastle 7-3 with help from a Theo Walcott hat trick.  The England national has refused to re-sign with the Gunners and there is speculation he will be sold in January.  In an attempt to change his mind, for the last few games, Arsene Wenger has allowed the winger to start as center striker, his requested position for many years.  He has been very effective, but is it too little too late will remain to be seen.

Manchester City squeaked out a 4-3 win over Norwich Saturday no thanks to Samir Nasri’s first half send off.  The thrilling match was a fight to the finish, but Edin Dzeko replaced the ill Carlos Tevez up front to score two plus the usual quality from Sergio Aguero helped City hold on to the lead.

Even after Sunderland beat Manchester City 1-0 last Wednesday, Tottenham managed a come-from-behind win over Sunderland in the 52nd minute thanks to a fine strike by England winger Aaron Lennon.

Other matches played over the weekend:

Stoke City 3 – 3 Southampton

Fulham 1 – 2 Swansea

Reading 1 – 0 West Ham United

Aston Villa 0 – 3 Wigan

QPR 0 – 3 Liverpool

A Manchester Derby in the English Premier League is never typical. You can’t count on anything or which team will come out on top. What you can bet your money on, however, is that it’s gonna be one hell of a ride. The derby that took place today between Manchester United and Manchester City did not disappoint in that regard.

Was it ugly? Hell yes it was. I mean, these two are the biggest rivals in the world. Everyone tunes in to a Manchester Derby.

It was intense. A brace from Wayne Rooney in the first half, and Manchester City roaring back to tie it up in the second, with goals from Yaya Toure in the 60th minute and Pablo Zabaleta with five minutes to spare in the game.

But it would be the final goal of the match that had me grinning the brightest – and no, not just because I’m a United fan and it was the goal that won the match. No, it was how the goal went in that made me smile.

United’s Rafael was fouled just outside the box about two minutes into stoppage time for the game, giving United a dying chance with a free kick. Of course, new man Robin Van Persie stepped up to take the shot. As the ball barreled toward goal, it nicked off City’s Samir Nasri before lodging in the back of the net.

And this is why I grinned, because the second player I dislike in the league is Nasri (behind Tevez, of course). So to see United’s winning goal get a little flick off of Nasri was definitely worth the agony of being tied 2-2 with City.

However, not all the drama in the match was game related, unfortunately. Most of it came right at the end thanks to some unruly fans and a few words between United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and City’s Tevez. It all started when United were celebrating Van Persie’s goal. As the  players celebrated, a fan threw an object on to the field, which hit MUFC defender Rio Ferdinand right above the eye and of course drew blood.

Then it was if the flood gates banged open. A fan rushed the pitch and City keeper Joe Hart had to restrain him so that security officers could remove the fan from the pitch.

Then the heated words between SAF and Tevez, which I’m sure were interesting. I would have actually loved to have heard what the gaffer said to his former player. That was about the time the ref decided he might want to end the match.

Overall, another incredibly intense derby took place today. I swear, this get more and more crazy with every meeting. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next one!

Check out all the goals from today’s match here, and even the moment when Ferdinand gets nicked. You can’t see the object, but you can definitely tell it was something that ticked him off!

http://youtu.be/IJd-5-xUMp4

He might not like being called a super sub, but Edin Dzeko helped Manchester City complete yet another comeback. This time against Tottenham Spurs. The visitors scored first in the 21st minute and the fact that City had more possession than Spurs didn’t really matter. Spurs had the lead until the 65th min when Kun Aguero equalized for City! Bot teams had chances to score, but it wasn’t until the 88th minute, when who else but Edin Dzeko, scored for Manchester City, completing their comeback. With this 2-1 win over Spurs, City is still undefeated in EPL. 

Some other matches this weekend included Chelsea v. Liverpool and Manchester United v. Aston Villa. Just like City, United also had to come back in order to win all 3 points. However, they came back from a two-goal deficit. Villa shocked the visitors (and everyone that was watching) by scoring seconds before half time. They doubled their lead just minutes into the second half. It looked like United was headed for a defeat, but they brought on Mexican forward Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez at the beginning of the second half and he helped United’s comeback. At first it looked like he had earned a hat trick, but the second goal was later ruled an own goal. Either way, United was able to come back yet again from an early goal deficit.

Chelsea players and fans will be disappointed that they weren’t able to get all 3 points  Sunday, especially when they had more chances and played better overall than Liverpool. Chelsea captain John Terry scored first for the home team in the 20th minute. His goal came off a corner kick, when he was left unmarked. He later collided with Luis Suarez of Liverpool and had to be stretchered off. Suarez equalized in the second half and with this draw, Chelsea and United’s gap at the top of the table widened a little bit more.

Here are the rest of the scores from EPL (Saturday and Sunday)

Two of the weekend’s biggest matches were Arsenal-Chelsea and Manchester United-Spurs. Neither of which involved my team, but I’ve got your recaps for you anyway.

First up, Arsenal v. Chelsea. I know there were a lot of people (Gunners mostly) who woke up early to watch this match. Since I’m not a Gunner or a Chelsea supporter, there was no way I was waking up at 4:45 a.m. to watch the match. Besides, the last time I woke up early to watch, Arsenal won and I didn’t really want to see that again. Then again, that was back when they had Robin Van Persie.

Anyway, this match was at home for Arsenal, most people probably thought Arsenal would win because Chelsea hadn’t been scoring as much as they should be. Well, that didn’t seem to be the case today. Fernando Torres scored first for Chelsea, but Arsenal was allowed to equalized just minutes before half time.

Yesterday, I had been talking to someone about the game and they asked me who I was rooting for. I told them Chelsea and I also said that it was because of Juan Mata. Who was it that scored the game winner for Chelsea? That’s right, none other than Mata! Of course I was happy; after all, both Chelsea goal scorers were Spanish and many of you know how I feel about Spanish footballers ( I love them). So the match ended 2-1 Chelsea and Arsenal’s unbeaten streak was finally broken.

Speaking of streaks being broken, Spurs also broke a streak of their own. They had a losing streak against Manchester United at Old Trafford. In fact, the last time they won was way back in 1989. Today, the Spurs got off to a great start. In less than 5 minutes, they managed to scored against United. My fave Spurs player – Gareth Bale – then doubled Spurs lead before half time. However, this is United we’re talking about; they weren’t going to go away without a fight.

Nani was able to cut the lead in half, but Clint Dempsey came along and scored Spurs’ third goal of the match and his first for his new club. But, a minute later United scored again. Even with “Fergie” time, though, it wasn’t enough. Dempsey’s first goal for Spurs would be the game winner. It was a great match (and victory) not only for Spurs, but also for AVB. I’ve always said that possession isn’t the most important thing in a match. Manchester United had 74-percent possession and they still couldn’t pull off a win.

In another match today, Fulham surprised Manchester City and their fans when they took the lead early on. They were awarded what many people thought shouldn’t have been a penalty, but the ref thought otherwise. Fulham scored and for most of the first half, led the match 1-0. Lucky for us City fans, Sergio Aguero was able to equalize before half time. Both teams kept trying to get another goal, but it looked like it was going to end in a 1-1 draw. However, Mancini out in Edin Dzeko and in less than a minute, he scored City’s second and winning goal.

Liverpool also took to the pitch today and won 5-2 against Norwich. No, that’s not a typo or a joke, that really happened! Sure, some might say it’s “only” Norwich, but it’s Liverpool’s first win of the season. Luis Suarez had a hat trick in this match, former Real Madrid player Nuri Sahin scored, and so did Liverpool’s captain, Steven Gerrard.   Not only that, but they have been playing much better this past week. If they continue playing like this, who knows, they might just end up in the top 6 this season.

Other EPL scores

Everton 3- Southhampton 1

Reading 2 – Newcastle United 2

Sunderland 1 – Wigan

Stoke City 2- Swansea City 0

On Sunday, West Brom will visit Aston Villa, while on Monday, Esteban Granero’s QPR will take on West Ham. That match will be on ESPN 2 at 3 p.m. EST.

The two biggest EPL games were both on Sunday- Liverpool v Manchester United and Manchester City v Arsenal.

I guess I can write about City-Arsenal game first. As a City fan, it was a disappointing game. It ended 1-1 and I’m sure Arsenal fans will be very happy with that 1 point. After the 3-2 loss in Champions League against Real Madrid, I was hoping City would turn things around and win their next match. This should’ve been an easy match for them; it was at home and they finally had Sergio “Kun” Aguero back in the starting line up.

City went ahead when they scored just minutes before HT.  Joleon Lescott scored in the 40th minute after a corner kick. Unfortunately, City wasn’t able to hold on to their lead and Arsenal equalized with less than 10 minutes to go. City hasn’t had such a problem scoring, what they need to work on is their defense. They let in 3 goals against Madrid and 1 today against Arsenal.

The other match, Liverpool-United, ended 2-1 in United’s favor. However, most people are saying Liverpool was very unlucky and that united shouldn’t have been awarded the penalty (which turned out to be the game winner).

Sunday’s matches and scores

Saturday’s matches and scores

If you expected today to be as interesting as yesterday, then you might have been disappointed. None of today’s matches could compare to the drama of yesterday’s Real Madrid-Manchester City game. That’s not to say that the games were boring or anything.

In fact, if you watched today, you would’ve seen an amazing goal from a young Brazilian and a not so great goal from another Brazilian.

As expected, Barcelona, Manchester United, and Bayern Munich all won their respective matches. Chelsea was another team that should’ve won, but ended up getting a draw. They were up 2-0 by the 35th min, thanks to Oscar who scored both of Chelsea’s goals. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to stop Juventus from scoring and they were able to equalize.

This is yet another disappointing match from Chelsea, who earlier this weekend, had drawn against QPR 0-0. Luckily for Chelsea, Juventus is their toughest opponent in this group. They should be able to win against the other two teams with no problem.

Here’s that amazing goal I was talking about earlier. It came from Chelsea Brazilian Oscar. http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/video/champions-league/?vid=ef202789-51d9-4f7a-a5c1-1b4400046b5f

While Oscar was making Brazil proud of him, they were hoping Dani Alves doesn’t do this while playing for their national team. Barcelona was up 1-0, when Alves scored a goal. Unfortunately for him, it was in his own net. Oops. Here is Alves’ own goal. http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/dani-alves-own-goal-barcelona-v-spartak-moscow/

Here are all the scores

Group E
Chelsea 2 – Juventus 2
Shakhtar Donetsk 2 – FC Nordsjaelland 0

Group F
Bayern Munich 2 – Valencia 1
Lille 1 – BATE Borisov 3

Group G
Barcelona 3 – Spartak Moscow 2
Celtic 0 – Benfica 0

Group H
Braga 0 – CFR Cluj-Napoca 2
Manchester United 1 – Calatasaray 0

Photo courtesy of SportingLife.com

MCFC wallpaper design via scometix.com.

Very disappointing from the defending champions. They played against Stoke City today and drew 1-1. The lone goal came from City’s newest player, and former Real Madrid player, Javi Garcia. Many people might be wondering, should Stoke’s goal have counted? Of course not! Peter Crouch used his hand to help control the ball and score the goal. Unfortunately the referee missed that.

Maybe other people would be happy with that (I’m sure Stoke City players and fans were happy) but us City fans expect more from our team. Okay, so City didn’t start with David Silva today and they didn’t have Sergio Aguero, ever since he was injured in City’s first game of the season. But that’s no excuse! City should be able to play well even without these two,they should be out there scoring goals and getting as many points as possible, not drawing with teams like Stoke. I mean, what’s going to happen when we play a big team like Chelsea? Playing like this, City will most likely lose. City needs to step it up big time if they want to repeat last season.

I mentioned Chelsea as a big club earlier. Well they also had a disappointing game today, against their London neighbors, Queen Parks Rangers.  It ended in a scoreless draw. This is the first time this season that Chelsea dropped points. Of course, most people weren’t talking about what happened during the game, but what happened before. Most people have heard about Anton Ferdinand accusing John Terry of racial abuse. Everyone was wondering if these two would shake hands, but Ferdinand went out of his way to snub both Terry and Ashley Cole and refused to shake hands with them. » Continue reading “Manchester City and Chelsea Held to Disappointing Draws”

Hey footy fans and welcome to Thursday! As international breaks start, countries are preparing for the first of their World Cup qualifying matches. We’ve got news on the USMNT front, plus some headlines from MLS, EPL and … is Nicklas Bendtner too fat to play in Serie A? It’s your Thursday Daily Kick Around!

Serie A

It’s interesting to hear how some players adjust when moving to different leagues. They talk about learning languages and getting around local towns. But rarely do you hear about weight concerns! Apparently that’s what ex-Arsenal not-so-darling Nicklas Bendtner is dealing with at his new club, Juventus. He missed summer pre-season to look for a new club and apparently forgot he needed to stay in shape. Now Juventus coaches are pointing out his waist line is a little out of sorts. That’s the breaks.

Dimitar Berbatov may be getting settled in at Fulham after his trek around Europe, but not everyone is letting go the fact he teased so many clubs. Fiorentina are demanding Berba pay back the club for the plane tickets used by the player and agent Emil Dantchevto take them to Florence for a medical. Only … Berba didn’t go to the medical. Instead he landed in England to meet up with Fulham manager Martin Jol. Whoopsies.

Major League Soccer

It was a crazy night in MLS last night. The Colorado Rapids suddenly showed up and stomped on the Timbers, handing Portland a 3-0 loss. The New England Revolution found their form as well, breaking the Columbus Crew’s winning streak and nabbing three points of their own with a 2-0 win.

The 2012 season might not be over, but that doesn’t mean current league powerhouse San Jose Earthquakes are planning for the future. They currently have out-of-contract EPL left back Jordan Stewart  training with them for a 10-day stint. It seems Stewart might be a replacement for 36-year-old captain Ramiro Corrales.

U.S. Men’s National Team

Who’s excited about the USMNT games against Jamaica coming up? I can’t wait! While the team is now in Jamaica for the first match set for Friday, Columbus is getting prepped for the teams arrival this weekend for the second match. If you’re in the area, hit up Crew Stadium Sunday for an open and free practice session!

If you don’t know much about USMNT call-up Terrence Boyd, you need to check out this ESPN article. Deciding to play for the US wasn’t one of Boyd’s easiest decisions and getting the necessary paperwork to do it proved to be quite the challenge for him. It’s a great read and you should check it out!

English Premier League

Zenit St. Petersburg are still busy attempting to pull players in. And apparently Manchester United’s Nani isn’t immune to getting some calls. It seems the Portuguese winger isn’t too happy with how things are going in the beginning of the session and the Russian club’s general manager confirmed today they are in negotiations with Nani for a move.