Clint Dempsey scored a hat trick for Fulham in a 5-2 win at home against Newcastle. He becomes the first American to score three goals in a Premier League game, having just hit the treble in an FA Cup match against Charlton Athletic on January 7. That makes 15 goals across all competitions for Deuce this season.
Manchester beat London Sunday. Mario Balotelli's penalty kick gave City the victory 3-2 over Tottenham. I tried to watch this match after staying up all night. I was actually headed to bed and happened to notice it was just starting (no way I could resist), but fell asleep about 25 minutes in. I didn't get to see much and it was hard to focus I was so tired. United also beat Arsenal 1-2, putting the Gunners 5 points short of 4th place Chelsea.
Liverpool also lost to 17th place Bolton 3-1, with manager Kenny Dalglish calling out his players after the match. Making this win more impressive for Bolton is the recent sale of captain Gary Cahill to Cheslea.
Barcelona and Real Madrid kept pace atop the Spanish top division, while the season's revelation Levante were held at home to last place Real Zaragoza.
Borussia Monchengladbach won 3-1 at home against Bayern Munich, and the loss puts the table in Germany in a very interesting position. Bayern still lead on goal differential, but Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 won their games this weekend to create a three way tie at 37 points after 18 games. 'Gladbach pulls six points clear in fourth place and only one point off the lead with 36 points after the win.
Internazionale (i.e. Inter Milan) continues their climb back up the table in Italy, leaping Lazio into fourth place with a victory at home to said team. Udinese in third, AC Milan in second, and Juventus in first all kept pace with wins. Lecce climbed out of the cellar with a draw at home to Michael Bradley's Chievo, but is still six points clear of safety from relegation.
In France they played the round of 32 in the Coupe de France. I honestly don't know too much about the French league, but it looks like the only Ligue 1 teams to suffer upsets were Ajaccio losing to fourth division FC Broug-Peronnas and Auxerre's defeat to second division side Chateauroux.
Jozy Altitdore's AZ Alkmaar maintained their lead atop the Eredivisie with a draw at home to Ajax, a team they recently defeated away in front of children in the domestic cup. This must have come as a margin of payback for that loss. PSV Eindoven missed out on their chance to go top, drawing FC Utrecht away. Twente Enschede jumped Ajax into fourth with a 5-0 thrashing of RKC Waalwijk at home.
Celtic increased their lead atop the Scottish Premier League, with a win away to St. Mirren, as Carlos Bocanegra and Maurice Edu's Rangers were held 1-1 by Aberdeen at home. Motherwell drew their game away to Dundee United, leaving the SPL with a three way tie for third as St. Johnstone beat Hibernian on the road to move up the table, Hearts lost to Inverness on the road, and Motherwell drew Dundee United.
Those are six popular European leagues. Anyone want me to cover anything else specific?
Talk more basketball.
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