matchday, image by nic jience

matchday, image by nic jience

Sunday 23 August 2015

Real madrid draws against Sporting while Barca wins 1-0



The Rafa Benitez reign is up and running with a draw against newly promoted site Sporting Gijon while Barcelona wins 1-0 against Athletic Bilbao

Even though main strikers messi and Ronaldo have no goals yet.

Borussia Dortmund wins 4-0 to top league Table



Borussia Dortmund's perfect start to the season wenton  on Sunday as their 4-0 win at new-bIngolstadt saw them leapfrog Bayern Munich to top the Bundesliga table on goal difference.

Dortmund claimed their sixth win in all competitions under new manager Thomas Tuchel as defender Matthias Ginter, Marco Reus, Shinji Kagawa and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored second-half goals.

"I knew we'd go top of the table after we went 3-0 up, but what especially pleased me was the performance," said Tuchel.

"I'm proud that the team kept the performance up for 90 minutes and never waned.

"I'd hoped in the halftime break that they would be rewarded for playing well."

Dogged Ingolstadt defending meant Dortmund only went ahead when right-back Ginter fired home Henrikh Mkhitaryan's final pass on 55 minutes.

Germany winger Reus doubled the lead by converting a penalty on the hour after left-back Marcel Schmelzer was fouled.

Kagawa added the third with a superb shot off his left foot after beating two defenders on 84 minutes before Aubameyang claimed his sixth goal in six games in stoppage time.

Later Borussia Moenchengladbach, who will discover their Champions League group stage opponents on Thursday, dropped to bottom of the table on goal difference after losing 2-1 to Mainz.

Leaky defence let them down again having lost 4-0 to Dortmund last Saturday.

Suarez gives Barcelone a 1-0 win after Messi missed a penalty against Bilbao



After a 4-0 lose to Bilbao at the Spanish Super Cup, Barcelona exacted revenge to Athletic Bilbao to get off to a winning start in La Liga thanks to Luis Suarez's solitary second-half strike.

Lionel Messi's troubles from the penalty spot continued as he saw a first-half spot-kick saved by Gorka Iraizoz.

However, his strike partner ensured that miss didn't prove costly as Suarez volleyed home early in the second-half to hand the champions all three points.

Luis Enrique's men were returning to the ground where they were thrashed 4-0 in the first leg of the Super Cup just nine days ago and were without the suspended Gerard Pique, while Neymar wasn't fit to take part after just returning to training following a bout of the mumps.

Athletic were also missing a number of first-team regulars, though, and struggled to match their high-energy performances in the two Super Cup matches after also playing in the Europa League on Thursday.

After a quiet start the game burst into life when referee Carlos del Cerro Grande controversially pointed to the spot when Suarez went down under a challenge from Gorka Elustondo.

However, Messi failed to open the scoring from the resulting spot-kick as Iraizoz flew to his right to make a brilliant save.

The Argentine has now missed five penalties for club and country in the past year and failed to find the net in 14 of the 63 penalties he has taken for Barca.

Iraizoz produced an even better stop moments later to prevent Suarez sweeping home Sergi Roberto's cross to ensure Athletic went in level at the break.

The Uruguayan wasn't to be denied just eight minutes into the second-half, though, as he connected sweetly on his left-foot with Jordi Alba's cross.

Roberto was deputising in an unusual position at right-back after replacing the injured Dani Alves midway through the first-half, but his impressive showing continued as he smashed a shot off the bar from a narrow angle as Barca threatened to double their advantage.

However, the visitors suffered another injury blow when Sergio Busquets was stretchered off with an ankle problem and were left hanging on with a makeshift back four.

Ibai Gomez had the Basques' best chance to equalise 10 minutes from time, but he blasted over when the ball fell invitingly inside the Barca box.

Manchester City Top of league Table with a 2-0 victory over Everton



Manchester City went on top of the Premier League table on Sunday with a 2-0 win at Everton, where Aleksandar Kolarov and Samir Nasri scored to extend the Citizens' winning start to the season.

Raheem Sterling set Kolarov up for the game's opener after 60 minutes before the battling Toffees were dealt a killer blow by Nasri in the 88th minute to rule out any chance of clinching a draw.

Roberto Martinez's men were defiant in the face of their oppressors and responded well to the opening strike with their own share of attempts on Joe Hart's goal, but a lack of finishing flair proved fatal in the end.

As OptaJoe stats showed, Goodison Park has proved to be a difficult venue for title contenders City in recent years, as they'd won just three of their 18 visits prior to Sunday's collision:

Manager Manuel Pellegrini was hoping summer signing Sterling would be able to finally hit his stride against former derby rivals, with Sergio Aguero returning to Goodison Park having last scored here in May 2014.

Sterling's presence was noticeable for all the wrong reasons, too, not due to making any great on-pitch impact, but more so down to the chorus of jeers that accompanied him, according to the Guardian's Sachin Nakrani:

Everton were full of confidence after beating Southampton 3-0 at St. Mary's last Saturday, and it showed in their approach, as they went toe-to-toe with City in the opening passages, matching their guests by and large.

David Silva and Yaya Toure predictably proved the most poignant string-pullers for Pellegrini's side, but Martinez had his own set of stars impressing, with Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku among them.

The former came to Goodison Park on Sunday having scored for Everton in their first two games of the season, and Barkley was just shy of making it a third after stinging the palms of City No. 1 Joe Hart from long range.

Just minutes later, he and Lukaku combined to go one step further, as the Belgium international found the back of the net, but former Manchester City midfielder Dietmar Hamann agreed he was rightly ruled offside:

It was the travelling outfit who enjoyed a greater share of the first-half opportunities, but Fernandinho conceded a free-kick on the stroke of half-time to gift the Toffees a superb opportunity to go ahead.

Lukaku came within centimetres of opening the scoring, thundering his left-footed attempt off Hart's crossbar to ensure the two sides went in scoreless at the break. BBC Sport's Phil McNulty highlighted Everton's burgeoning threat:

The Citizens returned for the second period with more intent about their play, and Pellegrini was given reason to applaud after it came Silva's turn to hit Tim Howard's frame after 47 minutes.

His link-up with Sterling led to a brilliant effort thudding off the post, and Bleacher Report's Rob Pollard picked the Spanish technician out as the heartbeat of Manchester City's bid for success:

The push in tempo paid dividends for City, too, after Sterling was again involved in the probing, setting up Kolarov for the game's opener following a well-timed overlapping run from the Serbian.

Kolarov fired past Howard at the near-post in what could have been pulled up as poor goalkeeping, but writer Samuel Jay C was correct in asserting City's left flank as a particularly powerful aspect of their play:
 
The Toffees wouldn't relent in their bid to earn an equaliser, however, and Steven Naismith came close to setting Barkley up for a quick response before a timely deflection saw the effort drawn

Chelsea Wins West Brow 3-2



Chelsea’s  £21.2 million signing from Barcelona earlier this week, reportedly snatched from beneath Manchester United's noses, Pedro scored Chelsea's opener and created a goal for Diego Costa as Jose Mourinho's side went 2-0 up at The Hawthorns.

James Morrison who missed a penalty in the first half, scored twice in response, but could not atleast get a draw against Chelsea despite captain John Terry's red card for a last-man foul

Mourinho told Sky Sports: "I prefer to have no views. I prefer to try to keep quiet. He said this when asked for his thoughts on Terry’s red card.

"I know many people are disappointed with this result. People love Chelsea to lose again. I'm so happy the players got what they deserve.

"Four points in three matches is not enough. The feeling is we are fighting against a lot. But today we won."
Chelsea finished the weekend in ninth place, 5 points below Manchester City, who replaced Leicester City at the top after second-half goals by Aleksandar Kolarov and Samir Nasri.