• Written by: admin
• Comments: N/A
• Views: 384

Lukas Podolski’s late goal secured Cologne an entertaining victory over Freiburg for their fifth home win in a row.

Podolski scored in the 88th minute for his sixth goal of the second half of the season.

Cologne are undefeated in their last four games and have just one loss in the last seven for 29 points and 11th place – five points from the relegation zone.

Freiburg suffered just their second loss in 10 games to remain on 37 points for seventh place.

Cologne had the first scoring chance of the game after 14 minutes with Milivoje Novakovic striking over from eight yards.

The hosts remained dominant as Christian Clemens volleyed just wide left from 18 yards four minutes later.

Novakovic again was unable to find the back of the net with Freiburg keeper Oliver Baumann stopping him from a tight angle in the 21st minute.

The Slovenian international striker was unlucky yet again six minutes later as Baumann fended away Mato Jajalo’s shot to Novakovic, who could only find the left post from five yards.

Cologne remained the better side in the second half with Baumann stopping Podolski in the 50th minute and the German international forward blasted just wide left a minute later.

The ball was in the goal for Freiburg with 15 minutes left but Papiss Demba Cisse was ruled to have fouled Cologne keeper Michael Rensing.

Novakovic’s bad day continued four minutes later as he headed wide from eight yards.

But Novakovic set up the game-winning goal in the 88th minute, passing down the left wing where Podolski ran onto the ball and looped it just over Baumann.

Freiburg had one final chance to score but Cisse headed wide from six yards out a minute into injury time.

Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

• Written by: admin
• Comments: N/A
• Views: 492

Kaiserslautern held on for a draw at home to Hamburg to move out of the Bundesliga relegation zone.

Adam Hlousek gave the hosts the lead in the 18th minute but Marcell Jansen equalised nine minutes after the break.

Kaiserslautern had collected just two points since the winter break going into the game, but this draw lifted them up to 15th place.

Hamburg, who had won five of their previous seven games, moved up to sixth.

The first chance of the game gave Kaiserslautern the lead after 18 minutes as Jan Movarek played the ball into the area where Hlousek fired a first-time shot in off the post.

The hosts had a chance to double their lead four minutes later but Srdjan Lakic headed wide from seven yards out.

Hamburg missed an opportunity to equalise after 24 minutes when Piotr Trochowski’s free-kick found Paolo Guerrero, whose header from four yards was stopped superbly by goalkeeper Tobias Sippel.

Sippel was beaten early in the second half, though, as Ze Roberto played a pass into space on the edge of the area for Jensen to run on to and strike a shot under the keeper.

Lautern pressed again as they looked for a second goal and Movarek nearly found one, but he could not beat Hamburg keeper Frank Rost.

Instead, Sippel was forced to make two more saves, from Ruud van Nistelrooy in the 82nd minute and Mladen Petric in the 85th minute, to ensure a share of the spoils.

Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

• Written by: admin
• Comments: N/A
• Views: 550

Dortmund edge closer to title

Borussia Dortmund took another giant stride towards their first Bundesliga title in nine years with victory over Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena which all but ended the hosts’ hopes of defending their crown.

Dortmund’s first win in Munich since 1991 gave them a 13-point lead over second-placed Bayern Leverkusen, who play tomorrow, and moved them 16 clear of Bayern.

Lucas Barrios put Jurgen Klopp’s side ahead in the ninth minute before Luis Gustavo brought Bayern level in the 16th minute.

Nuri Sahin put Dortmund back in front within two minutes and Mats Hummels sealed the three points after an hour to leave Bayern languishing in fourth.

Roman Weidenfeller failed a late fitness test, meaning Mitchell Langerak made his debut in the Dortmund goal.

He did not have much to do early on, though, as the league leaders started brightly with Robert Lewandowski volleying just over from 11 yards after Bastian Schweinsteiger had left him in space at the far post.

It was not Schweinsteiger’s evening and his error in the midfield gifted possession to Kevin Grosskreutz, who slid the ball into the path of Barrios, who needed just one touch to beat Thomas Kraft.

Bayern levelled in the 16th minute with Gustavo netting his first goal for the club with a coolly-taken volley from eight yards following a corner.

However, Dortmund were back in front within two minutes following the sort of counter-attacking goal which has become their trademark.

Barrios broke clear and held off Arjen Robben before Mario Gotze took over.

The 18-year-old pulled the ball back to Sahin, who looked up and picked his spot, curling the ball into the top corner from 20 yards.

Mario Gomez saw his goal correctly disallowed for offside in the 26th minute before Thomas Muller’s shot was deflected over the crossbar.

Another mistake by Schweinsteiger, who struck his clearance against Anatoliy Tymoschuk, nearly gifted Barrios his second, but he somehow lifted the ball over an open goal from close range.

Kraft then denied Gotze as Dortmund continued to play confident football, and from the resultant corner, they scored a third to seal the points.

Former Bayern defender Hummels met Sahin’s ball in with his head from seven yards and sent the ball into the top left-hand corner.

Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

• Written by: admin
• Comments: N/A
• Views: 360

Wasteful Gijon pay the price

Sporting Gijon were left to rue a host of missed chances as they were held to a goalless draw by fellow Primera Division strugglers Real Zaragoza.

Carmelo had a goal disallowed late on but Sporting only had themselves to blame after spurning a host of decent opportunities in registering their third straight draw.

Real Zaragoza offered little after a promising opening but did at least get a point after suffering back-to-back defeats.

Zaragoza were on top in the opening exchanges but were restricted in the main to long-range strikes.

Leonardo Ponzio, Ander Herrera and Nicolas Bertolo all tried their luck without success in the opening 10 minutes, failing even to test home goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar.

Herrera fired over from the edge of the box after 25 minutes, before Sporting started to come into the game more.

David Barral’s close-range strike was parried by Antonio Doblas, who had an easier job holding onto a shot from Diego Castro a minute later.

It was Barral who was looking the real danger, though, with two efforts sandwiching a wayward strike from Zaragoza captain Gabi as the half drew to a close.

The first was wide from the edge of the box, but the second, a left-foot strike from 12 yards, drew a brilliant stop from Doblas.

Sporting continued where they left off after the break and they again came close when Miguel de las Cuevas got on the end of a corner from Jose Angel Valdes, but his shot was cleared by Gabi.

Two minutes later Valdes saw his 20-yard effort turned behind by Doblas.

Just after the hour mark Valdes crossed for Barral, but his close-range header did not trouble Doblas.

Sporting thought they had broken the deadlock in the 78th minute when Carmelo had the ball in the back of the net, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

• Written by: admin
• Comments: N/A
• Views: 373

Reyes to the rescue for Atletico

Jose Antonio Reyes netted a late equaliser against former club Sevilla to earn Atletico Madrid a share of the spoils from a 2-2 draw in a hugely entertaining clash between two of La Liga’s struggling big guns at the Vicente Calderon.

Sevilla, who this week were knocked out of the Europa League, twice took the lead through goals from Alvaro Negredo and Ivan Rakitic but Atletico hit back both times to deservedly claim a point.

Teenager Jorge Koke cancelled out Negredo’s strike with his first league goal for the club, while Reyes, who came up through the youth ranks at Sevilla, netted Atletico’s second equaliser with 14 minutes to go.

Both clubs will be pleased to have avoided defeat against one of their main rivals for a Europa League place, but they could find themselves even further adrift of the top six if Athletic Bilbao beat Valencia on Sunday.

Atletico started the better but, after Reyes, Sergio Aguero and Raul Garcia had all tested visiting goalkeeper Javi Varas, it was Sevilla who took the lead four minutes before half-time.

Mouhamadou Dabo’s deep cross was chested down by Diego Perotti to the edge of the area, where former Real Madrid striker Negredo struck an unstoppable left-foot shot past David De Gea.

Atletico will have been bitterly disappointed to have gone behind after looking on top, but they almost drew level in first-half injury-time when Koke poked Diego Forlan’s low cross goalward, and it needed an outstretched foot from Varas to deny the youngster.

Varas was left helpless by Koke two minutes into the second half however as the 19-year-old got on the end of another Forlan cross to cushion a header just inside the far post.

That was the perfect start to the second period for Atletico, but they were fortunate to still be on level terms soon after as Negredo missed a great chance for Sevilla before Luis Fabiano saw a powerful header saved by De Gea.

As the game swept from one end to another, Atletico went close themselves in the 58th minute but Varas denied Aguero before Koke’s follow-up was also blocked.

Atletico once again looked to be gaining the upper hand, but they fell behind for a second time in the 65th minute as Sevilla scored a superbly-worked breakaway goal.

Aguero was muscled off the ball in the Sevilla area by Julien Escude, and Gary Medel and Fernando Navarro combined to set Perotti away down the left. Perotti then cut inside Tomas Ujfalusi before picking out Jesus Navas, who promptly laid the ball back to the edge of the box where Rakitic side-footed into the far corner of the net.

Sevilla again could not hold onto their lead, however, as Atletico drew level with 14 minutes to go when Reyes was put through by Antonio Lopez and he slotted a low shot past Varas.

That was the end of the scoring, but it was not the end of the chances and both sides came close to snatching all three points in the closing stages.

Aguero had three good attempts, the final of which was a magnificent opening with 10 minutes to go after Varas had picked up a back-pass from team-mate Sergio Sanchez.

Atletico midfielder Tiago quickly grabbed the ball off the bemused Sevilla custodian and immediately passed to Aguero, but with a goal looking a certainty, Varas redeemed himself by throwing himself at the Argentinian’s shot and managing to deflect it for a corner.

That was a huge let-off for Sevilla, but Atletico were also left breathing a sigh of relief in the 87th minute when Negredo’s superb 25-yard effort came back off the underside of the crossbar with De Gea beaten.

Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com