Chelsea make winning start

Second half goals from David Luiz and Juan Mata were enough for Chelsea to overcome a decent Bayern Leverkusen side in their Champions League opener.

For large spells of the game Chelsea were average and Leverkusen can feel slightly unfortunate not to leave Stamford Bridge with a point. Until Luiz opened the scoring the game was cagey and a drab affair, and with Manchester United up next in the league for  beaten 2008 Champions League finalists, Andre Villas-Boas's side will have to improve.

Both sides had early questionable goals disallowed, with Leverkusen the team with more reason to feel aggrieved as Omer Toprak's header was cancelled out for an apparent push on Chelsea's Florent Malouda. Whilst a combination of Fernando Torres's backheeled flick towards goals and Raul Merelies's attempt at guiding the ball home was disallowed as the latter's contribution was deemed to have interfered with play.

The only real other chances of note in a quiet first half saw Torres and Daniel Sturridge both thwarted by Leno in the Leverkusen goal.

After the break Leverkusen attacked with more threat and on his return to Stamford Bridge Michael Ballack nearly gave the 2002 finalists a surprise lead, however his one on one chance was saved well by Petr Cech, who otherwise had little to do.

With his side struggling to break down Leverkusen, Villas-Boas brought on Nicolas Anelka and Frank Lampard, and despite neither have a part in the opener, the goal arrived shortly after the duo's entry.

Luiz started and ended the move of the match to give his side the lead. After a surge into the German's half, Luiz found Ashley Cole who fed the ball into Torres whose first time lay-off was superbly curled in from the Brazilian centre half giving Leno no chance.

Moments later Mata nearly doubled the hosts lead, however he didn't have to wait long to register his second Chelsea goal. Torres did well to escape the challenge of Luiz Castro, and when he bore down on Reno in the Leverkusen goal, the Torres unselfishly squared for his Spanish compatriot who had the simplest of tasks to finish off with the goal gaping.

Elsewhere in Group E, the Belgain side Genk held Valencia to a goalless draw, meaning Chelsea topped the table after the opening round of games.

Luiz's curling effort opened the scoring for Chelsea.

Preview to Serie A and review of 1st La Liga week

Serie A

Champions AC Milan start the defence of their title tonight against a strong Lazio side. AC Milan had a strong transfer window bringing in the likes of Philpe Mexes, Taye Tawio and Alberto Aquliani aswell as completing permanent deals for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Kevin Prince Boateng. Lazio brought in expierenced forward Miroslav Klose as well as  Djibril Cisse, and the duo are both expected to start tonight in a new look strikeforce having lost the former Birmingham City striker Mauro Zarate to Inter Milan.

The league's big spenders Juventus and Roma both start the new season with new managers and new optimism. Despite Italy only having three Champions League participants for the 2012/13 season, these two will be confident of challenging the likes of Napoli for the key third spot. Juve have brought in the likes of Mirko Vucinic, Eljero Elia, Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal in an attempt to force their way back into Europe's elite competition, however for me I don't think they will have enough about them to do so.

The other big spenders in Roma however have a better chance, with not just exicting additions but clever and needed ones. The obvious loss of Mexes and Vucinic to their rivals will be huge, but new manager Luis Enrique has brought in no less then 17 players, and if the team can gel quickly then I can see them challenging Inter Milan for a second place birth. Fernando Gago, Bojan Krkic, Miralem Pjanic, Simon Kjaer, Pablo Osvaldo, Erik Lamela and Gabriel Heinze were all added in an highly exiciting window for the Rome side.

Inter Milan for me this year will struggle to really live with AC Milan at the top of the league with the choice of manager a suprising one. Gian Piero Gasperini's failed at Genoa despite big name signings, and the move is in similar fashion to AC Milan's move for Massimiliano Allegri, which was an obvious success. The loss of Samuel Eto'o is a huge one with Diego Milito really struggling to find the form of the treble winning season. Giampaolo Pazzini and Mauro Zarate are very hit and miss players, and much pressure will be placed on new signing Diego Forlan to replace Eto'o's goals.

My top 7 prediction
1) AC Milan
2) Roma/Juventus
3) Inter Milan / Napoli
4) Napoli / Inter Milan
5) Juventus/Roma
6) Udinese
7) Lazio

La Liga

The La Liga kicked off a week before the recent international's and somewhat unsuprisingly the dominant duo of Real Madrid and Barcelona won 6-0 and 5-0 respectively and already take their position at the top of La Liga.

You don't have to be a football genius to realise that these two will top the table come June and their infatic start to the season only goes to show the dominance the duo have over the rest of the Spanish League.

Athletico Madrid began life with Sergio Aguero, Diego Forlan and David De Gea in uninspiring fashion with a 0-0 draw at home to Osasuna. The amount of transfers in and out of the club obviously have dictated their start and it will take them a while to gel properly, with Falcao and Arda Turan good additions to the club.

Malaga the huge spenders in La Liga started life with a 2-1 defeat away to Sevilla. Manuel Pellegrini's side were poor in the first half and Alvaro Negrando exposed Malaga's centre half uncertainty for the first goal before a lovely finish doubled their lead. Despite a good second half showing, they only had new signing Santi Cazorla's wonderful free kick to show for it. The club were scheduled to play Barcelona on the first week of the season, meaning they would've had a doubly as hard start, however with Granada and Real Mallorca up next, expect to see them improve in not only performance but points. Sevilla in comparison to their opponents have had a relatively quiet transfer window with Manu del Moral and Martin Caceras their two big deals.

AC rescue point in lively opener

First half goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Antonio Cassano rescued a point for the Italian Champions in a enthralling start to the Serie A season.

Early strikes from both of Lazio's new look centre forward pairing Miroslav Klose and Djibril Ciise looked to have given Lazio a shock victory at the San Siro, however a Ibrahimovic tap in and a Cassano header earned a share of the spoils for the Serie A champions.

Alberto Aquliani making his debut for the Rossenari should have given his new side the lead when well placed early on, however it was the Rome side who grabbed the early incentive via the German Klose.

Stefen Mauri did superbly to get a ball into the box under pressure from Luca Antonini, and Klose, with a superb first touch took the ball away from Alessandro Nesta, engineered some space in the Milan box to finish past Christian Abbiati. The finish was by no means world class, but the Italian keeper couldn't keep it out, and the goal gave Lazio a lead against the run of play.

The goal spurred Lazio on, and for 10 minutes AC Milan were all over the place, and Ciise, who was a consistent threat could have doubled Milan's trouble, only to put wide.

However Ciise's goal wasn't long in waiting as he headed home brilliantly to give Abbiati no chance whatsoever in the Milan goal.

An injury to Gennaro Gattuso saw Mark Van Bommel enter the fray and be it the change or the position Milan found them in, the Rossoneri responded brilliantly with two quick fire goals.

Their first goal was one of real quality, as Cassano, who had a quiet time with AC last year, played a superb one-two with Aquilani, before squaring the ball for the Swede Ibrahimovic who had the simplest of tasks to tap home from within the six yard box.

Kevin Prince Boateng, who on the whole had a quiet game for Milan, saw his shot from the edge of the area well saved by Albano Bizzarri, however from the resulting corner AC drew level. Aquilani's corner wasn't the best and Cassano at the near post headed past Bizzarri into the far corner. With neither post being marked by a Lazio player, the flicked header saw Cassano score his fifth league goal in the red and black of AC Milan.

The fourth goal of the match was the end of the chances in a brilliant first half in which neither side covered themselves in glory defensively, especially Milan who at times were very poor in allowing Lazio so frequent chances.

The second half failed to live up to the drama of the first half, with AC Milan dominating, however failing to have the cutting threat needed to get the winner.

Infact it was nearly Lazio that stole the points mid way through the half when the former Liverpool forward Ciise used his pace to get beyond the Milan defence and knock the ball past Abbiati only for Alessandro Nesta to somehow prevent the French striker from his second and Lazio's third.

Nesta prevents Ciise from giving Lazio all three points

Both Ibrahimovic and Boateng saw tame long range efforts easily saved by the impressive Bizzarri. The draw represented a fair result and both sides will probably be happy with a point.

Milan will need to improve defensively with two hard away games in both Europa and domestically up next in the form of the European Champions Barcelona and the Edison Cavani spearheaded Napoli, who will be boosted by the addition of Inter striker Goran Pandev for the visit of AC. Lazio themselves have Europe to contend with the visit of FC Vaslui, however a more difficult challenge awaits in Genoa who were very active in the Summer transfer window.

Both Cassano and Aquilani were key in Milans two goals

 

New Zealand start with comfortable win

New Zealand opened the 2011 World Cup with a dominant 41-10 with over Tonga


Two tries alike from Israel Dagg and Richard Kahui gave the All Blacks a comprehensive 29-3 half time score. The expected second half onslaught however never happened and until Ma'a Nonu's late try it was Tonga in fact who lead the second half score line.


After failures at both the 2003 and 2007 World Cup the pressure is on the host nation to put right the wrongs of the two prior tournaments, and with they key group game against the side that defeated them so memorably in 2007 France, there are bigger games to come.


Carter's lovely hand off saw Sonny Bill Williams burst through the Tongaian defense, and with men over, a try was inevitable for the All Blacks, and the World Cup debutant Dagg touched down with ease for the first try of the Rugby World Cup.

Beautiful handling from Sonny Williams set Isaia Toeava away who released Kahui, who was left with the simple task of touching down for the second try of the match.

Dagg again touched down not long after, to ensure New Zealand romped into an early 22-0 lead. The try was created by a typically strong Nonu run with the ball down the Tongan right and Williams's superb offload to Dagg gave the All Black the third try.Kahui's superb one handed catch from Dagg created a solo try for the New Zealander. After collecting the ball Kahui's strength and pace was too much Vungakoto Lilo, and once the full back was dispatched of, a simple touch down gave New Zealand their fourth try.On the stroke of half time Tonga got their first points on the board as Kurt Morath's well struck penalty meant the first half score was 29-3.
 The second half took 10 minutes to get going, as New Zealand were slow coming out of the traps, however their first attack of the half was brilliantly reppelled by Tonga who showed superb last ditch defending which had eluded them in the first half.

It took New Zealand 18 minutes to get the break through in the second half after Jerome Kaino touched down. The work for the try was all done by Kahui who did superbly to collect his own kick forward before offloading superbly to Kaino who had the simplest of tasks to score the All Blacks fifth try.

A Tonga spell in the New Zealand 22, clearly frustrated the home support, and Tonga got the try their second half performance deserved. Alisona Taumalolo, the second half replacements, scored after New Zealand failed to stop the Tonga pressure.

Tonga's second half lead didn't last long though as Ma'a Nonu scored his first try of the match after an incisive break from New Zealand lead superbly by the try scorer.

The result was never in doubt however New Zealand's second half showing cleared frustrated an agitated looking Graham Henry.

New Zealand's victory kept their unbelievable run of winning every Rugby group game, stretching the run to 23 games. And with their next group A game against Japan, the chance of them extending their run is surely inevitable.

Despite the incredible stat, New Zealand players and fans alike would rather they saved their victories for the later stages of the competition, and finally live up to their tag of favourites for the first time since 1987.

Kahui touching down for the first of his two tries

Djokovic books Semi final spot

Novak Djokovic book his US open semi final spot after Janko Tipsarevic was forced to retire in the later stages of their quarter final.

With Djokovic two sets to one and 3-0 up in the fourth set, when Tipsarevic, who was clearly struggling towards the end of the match, called it a day, meaning Djokovic progressed.

The world number one often wasn't at his best and frequently let his fellow Serb of the hook with unforced errors, which proved costly in the second set. However Djokovic still had enough in his locker to assert his dominance on the match before Tipsarevic's retirement at 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (3-7), 6-0, 3-0.

In an entertaining first set which lasted 84 minutes, both players broke the others serve three times, with both Djokovic and Tipseravic failing to hold their serve when serving for the set. And so it went to a tie break, something the level and closeness of the tennis it deserved. However the world number one was simply to strong in a one sided finale to the opening set and eased to a comprehensive 7-2 tie break win.

Tipsarevic will no doubt looked to the failure to hold his serve when 6-5 ahead, gifting the Australian and Wimbledon champion three points in the game when he was well placed in the rally.

Tipsarevic certainly put the disappointment of failing to see out the first set however and came out of the traps quickest and flew into a 3-0 lead in the second, and had his chances to gain a double break 4-0 lead, however Djokovic defied his fellow Serb and stayed in the set. And with a certain sense of inevitability about it Djokovic broke back the very next game to bring the second set back to serve. The set followed serve all the way to a second successive tie break. This time Tipsarevic's threat didn't distinguish in the important game of the set, and at 3-2 to the lower ranked Serb, a clearly frustrated Djokovic gifted his opponent the first mini break of the tie break. A fired up Tipsarevic served brilliantly to engineer three set points, and Djokovic continued his error stricken game by hitting a simple chance long, to level the scores.

Despite his monumental effort to bring the game level, Tipsarevic was facing down the barrel in the third when Djokovic broke twice early on to take a dominant 4-0 lead. With Tipsarevic needing help from the physio, it was clear the set was over and Djokovic brought up three set points with a beautiful forehand down the line, however the dogid Tipsarevic prevented two of the three, only to double fault to gift Djokovic the third set 6-0.

After somehow managing to chase down a Tipsarevic drop shot and engineer a winner, the world number one recovered from a tricky position in the opening game of the fourth set, and went on to break Tipsarevic for a 2-0 lead. Djokovic followed Tipsarevic's suit by calling for a trainer early in the final set, however Tipsarevic was forced to retire just one game later, ensuring Djokovic continued his incredible run in 2011.

Djokovic will now face either of his last two grand slam semi finalists, in either Jo Wilfred Tsonga who he defeated on road to his Wimbledon crown, or Roger Federer who defeated the Serb in the French Open.

Ricardo Carvalho retires from international duty under cloud of controversy.

In a move that has gone under the radar in the last week, the Real Madrid centre half Ricardo Carvalho has retired from international football with immediate affect.

The reason behind the former Chelsea players actions are believed to be behind Paulo Bento's decision to leave the 32 year old defender out of the starting XI in Portugal's Euro 2012 qualifier with Cyprus on Friday.

The move comes as a huge shock, with Carvalho a key part of the Portugal set up. The defenders form for Real Madrid has been impressive and forged a strong partnership with fellow Portugese star Pepe, something that the former Sporting Lisbon manager Bento, felt the need to break up, with Bruno Alves starting ahead of Carvalho.

Carvalho didn't take the decision to not select him well stating "Never before have I felt as disrespected or my dignity so hurt, the only option was to leave.” And despite the dramatic scenes surrounding the game, Portugal eased to a 4-0 victory with Cristiano Ronaldo again grabbing the headlines with another two goals.

One thing for sure is that Portugal have a fine array of centre halves avaliable to them, with Porto's Rolando completing the four centre halves Bento choose for the doubled headed qualifiers, and with the decision to not play Carvalho a tactical one, it is clear Bento believes the likes of Alves and Rolando are able to step into the gapping hole left by Carvalho.

Despite turning Portugal's Euro 2012 campaign around, winning all four of his qualifiers in charge, after they had only managed one point from their opening two games when Carlos Querioz was in charge, Bento's time in charge of Portugal has been a tempermental one, falling out with Jose Boswinga, again for failing to select the defender, as well as Carvalho.

Scotland keep faint Euro 2012 hopes alive

A Steven Naismith second half winner was just about enough as Scotland edged past a tricky Lithuania side, who had chances late on to level the game.



The win keeps Craig Levein's sides qualification chances intact, with group minnows Liechtenstein up next for the Tartan Army.

After Scotland's controversial 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic on Saturday, anything bar three points would've all but mathematically ended their hopes of progressing to Poland and Ukraine in 2012. And in a first half performance that continued the trend of their performance on the weekend they were dominate, and only a lack of composure prevented them from scoring early.

The first real chance of note fell to Christophe Berra who blazed over from four yards after a dangerous Barry Bannan cross wasn't cleared properly. Despite the chance falling onto his least favoured right foot, the Wolves centre half really should've opened the scoring.

Don Cowie joined Berra on the guilty list when the Cardiff midfielder blazed his well presented chance over the bar. However it was captain Darren Fletcher who spurned the Scots best opening in on the stroke of half time.

Inexplicably Lithuania's Tadas Labukas handled the ball from Bannan's free kick, gifting Scotland the chance to open the scoring. Unfortunately for Scotland though, their penalty misfortune continued as Fletcher saw his tame effort easily saved by in the Lithuanian goal.

Despite the penalty miss and the half time whistle the Hampden Park faithful didn't have to wait long for their sides opener, in what proved to be the crucial move of the match. The impressive Bannan, received the ball from David Goodwille, and the Villa man found Naismith all alone in the Lithuanian penalty box, and the forward finished brilliantly with a first time shot.

The relief was palpable around the ground, and with the sides only prior victory a last minute one against bottom side Liechtenstein, the emotion due to the breakthrough was understandable.

The goal scorer Naismith twice in quick succession missed the chance to kill the game off, and the Scottish match winner was nearly made to pay as Lithuania threatened an unlikely leveler as Tomas Danilevicius saw his well connected header go marginally wide of Alan McGregor's far post.

However that was to be Lithuania's best chance and snatching a point and shortly after the Icelandic referee blew a close to the action, in doing so ensuring Scotland secured a massive three points, which means they now trail Czech Republic by two points in Group I.