Champions League Matchday 4 continued with some big, big clashes this morning.
The most high profile matches were in the so-called Pool of Death with high-flying Manchester City travelling to Villarreal looking to get another win to push their claims for a spot in the 2nd round while Bayern Munich hosted delightful Napoli in the Allianz Arena.
Yaya Toure: Man City's Man
In the end, the teams' respective league positions reflected on the pitch in Spain this morning - Villarreal struggling in La Liga, Manchester City at the top of the Premier League. City dominated and won deservedly 3-0 to lift them to 2nd behind Bayern Munich in their pool and with a spot in the 2nd round firmly in their control. The Germans were imperious at home beating Napoli 3-2 and should clinch a 2nd round spot next weekend against Villarreal at home if current form is anything to go by.
Man United were also back at home for the first time since their 6-1 mauling to Man City, hosting Romanian champions, Otelul Galati. Again United put on a mixed performance against the Romanians although Rooney was in fine form scoring one of United's goals in their 2-0 win. Benfica's draw at home with Basel meant Man United overtook the Portuguese at the top of their pool.
Ronaldo: Still a dick in my book but a very good one.
In other news, Real Madrid joined arch rivals Barcelona in booking their spot in the 2nd round after Cristiano Ronaldo's 100th and 101st goals for the Meringues clinched a 2-0 win in Lyon. Ajax and Lyon will now battle it out for the other spot behind Real Madrid in the group.
Inter appear to have bounced back from their shock loss to Trabzonspor earlier in the season and now convincingly lead their pool.
Shelvey: Liverpool reject, no more?
The late Brian Clough's former clubs were at home tonight in the Championship - Leeds and Derby County that is. However, it wasn't to be their night - that statement in itself is an understatement. Leeds were thrashed 5-0 by Iain Holloway's Blackpool. Liverpool loanee, Jonjo Shelvey scored a hat-trick while Derby County lost 3-0 to a resurgent Cardiff City.
Halloween came a bit late for Leeds and Derby - mind you every day in those cities is one in the house of horrors to be honest.
Don't forget to catch all the Touch action involving the Street City Church with me and Scotty Donaldson tonight.
Chris and Rebecca McDonald nee Dunn led the Street Superstars to a tight 4-3 win at the new Wakefield Park while the aptly named Kaos defaulted to Razzle Dazzle resulting in an automatic 5-0 win to my team.
2 from 2 for the Street City Church. All the best to the Thursday teams!
More midweek club football this morning - this time the Champions League returned for Matchday 4 with some key clashes.
Sadly though for Arsenal and Chelsea fans, they didn't quite get the results they were after.
Arsenal appeared to suffer from the hangover of their thrilling victory on the weekend at Stamford Bridge only drawing 0-0 with Marseille at home - Marseille actually dominated the game and van Persie only came off the bench. It means Marseille and Bundesliga champions, Borussia Dortmund are right back in the hunt for a top 16 spot and Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund in a few weeks time will be key now.
Chelsea also got stumbled to a 1-1 draw in Belgium against Genk. However, they owe Valencia a big thank you as they stopped the Germans Bayer Leverkusen from taking top spot in the group. Chelsea v Valencia in a few weeks time will be key now.
In other fixtures, Barcelona thrashed Viktoria Plzen 4-0 to move up to top spot in their group ahead of Milan who could only draw 1-1 an hour before the Barca game in Belarus. APOEL Nicosia pulled off the result of the night with a 2-1 win over occassional European giants, Porto to lead the group ahead of Russian champions, Zenit St Petersburg.
I remember watching APOEL play Kobenhavn a few seasons ago in a Champions League qualifying game. They've got some wild fans including this very hot blonde girl in the crowd whom they showed a shot of in stoppage time. Anyway, great to see the Cypriots doing quite well with more fancied sides and now it looks like they have a glorious chance of continuing their European odyssey into the new year.
Back in England, Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest and Leicester got their seasons back on track with wins. Middlesbrough beat Doncaster Rovers at the Keepmoat Stadium (glorious name isn't it) 3-1; Donnie's 1 goal came from lead scorer, Billy Sharp who showed tremendous courage to come back to the side just days after the tragic loss of his 2 day old daughter.
Thoughts and prayers with the Sharps during this difficult time.
The Saints from the South Coast continued to march on while the Hammers could only muster a draw against lowly Bristol City. Some long-term concerns with Kiwi defender, Winston Reid limping off with a shoulder injury - shame for him as he had been establishing himself in the starting lineup after a disastrous debut season last year.
More Champions League football tomorrow including a tasty encounter in Spain between English league leaders, Man City and Villarreal.
Anyway here are some highlights from this morning's games:
As you know the Blackcaps are touring Zimbabwe. Not surprisingly, there have been the usual protests about the tour given that Robert Mugabe is still in power in Zimbabwe - just as there have been in the last 10 years since Mugabe began his controversial sweeping moves through this once prosperous African country.
I am going to be one of those people who say that the Blackcaps have done the right thing to tour Zimbabwe - even if they didn't have their hands tied by the ICC.
Why?
1. Robert Mugabe may still be President but he is now in a coalition with Morgan Tsvangirai under the Unity government and has been since 2009 - so Mugabe doesn't quite have the influence he may have had before. Yes, Mugabe's controversial schemes are very much in motion sadly but they have been for the last 5 years when the ICC suspended their test status and teams weren't allowed to tour Zimbabwe. In fact the bans have probably strengthened Mugabe's reputation and fueled the propaganda that the West is out to get him. I'm not a Political Studies/History student so shan't comment on the details further but will just mention what I've observed.
However, I'm 100% confident that Ross Taylor is not endorsing Robert Mugabe by coming to Zimbabwe.
2. Zimbabwe is one of the most impoverished nations in the world. Surely, backing out of further tours would be bad for the people - financially and emotionally. By having international cricket teams come to Zimbabwe, surely that would give a boost to the people to watch their own side take on the best in the world especially when their own side is actually reasonably competitive - a decent lower tier cricket nation at most.
Furthermore, this Zimbabwe team does feature several white players, including the captain, Brendan Taylor himself, Ray Price and Shane Bond-lookalike, Kyle Jarvis. The White Zimbabweans, few as they may be now due to mass migration to Australia, South Africa, England and New Zealand due to Mugabe's regime, may be slowly inching their way back into the national team.
FYI Zimbabwe's economy may have tanked in the middle of the last decade - the hyperinflation of the nation's currency probably was the crux of Zimbabwe's rapid decline - but is starting to show signs of growth - with rising GDP growth courtesy of the country's well-known abundance in natural resources. Yes many are still poor but Zimbabwe is slowly emerging from the basket and international cricket in Zimbabwe will only help lift Zimbabweans who have seen their nation become a pariah in the eyes of the world.
So perhaps it is time for journalists to update their information and change their stance on Zimbabwe? Furthermore, there's always been that age-old cliche: sport and politics don't mix. Zimbabweans needs the world to see that they're coming back and need a hand with it too.
FULL SQUAD:
Kurt Baker, Josh Bekhuis, Jimmy Cowan, Nick Crosswell, Elliot Dixon,
Tamati Ellison, Ma'afu Fia, Hosea Gear, John Hardie, James Haskell,
Jarrad Hoeata, Andrew Hore, Chris King, Kendrick Lynn, Jamie Mackintosh,
Nasi Manu, Bronson Murray, Chris Noakes, Siale Piutau, Kade Poki, Culum
Retallick, Jason Rutledge, Colin Slade, Aaron Smith, Ben Smith, Lima
Sopoaga, Adam Thomson, Doug Tietjens, Shaun Treeby, Telusa Veainu.
