For the first Euroscore round up of 2009 we travel to Madrid to check up on Real’s progress under new manager Juande Ramos. Many Euro leagues are taking the sensible approach and enjoying a winter break. Even the Premiership was out of action this weekend as it was FA Cup 3rd round time.
Scotland
After their win at Rangers last weekend Celtic had the chance to pull even further ahead of their Glasgow rivals with a home game against third placed Dundee United. Despite going 2-0 up with both goals coming from Samaras the visitors clawed their way back to justly earn a 2-2 draw.
By the time Rangers kicked off away at Inverness Caledonian Thistle they knew that a win would cut the gap behind Celtic from eight points to five. However the first half was as exciting as watching repeat’s of a Conservative Party Conference and both teams trudged in at half time 0-0.
Whatever Rangers manager Walter Smith said at half-time clearly worked wonders. Within seconds Nacho Novo took off like a man possessed on the left wing before setting up midfielder Pedro Mendes whose perfectly placed shot gave Rangers a 1-0 lead. It was all one-way traffic after that with Kris Boyd adding two more as Rangers’ class began to tell. Inverness meanwhile remain rooted to the bottom and in deep relegation trouble on 17 points, a point behind Falkirk.
Elsewhere St. Mirren waved an emotional farewell to their Love Street home since 1894. The occasion proved more exciting than the match itself which ended in a dire 0-0 draw against Motherwell.
Hamilton Academicals climbed to a lofty 10th place by beating 5th placed Aberdeen 2-0. Meanwhile the big Edinburgh derby ended in stalemate, 0-0, as Hearts entertained Hibs.
Northern Ireland
It’s tight at the top. Glentoran ended the weekend in 2nd spot having dispatched bottom club Glenavon 2-0. Linfield stayed top by winning 2-1 at Cliftonville. Coleraine won 4-0 at Newry.
Linfield are on 46 points, one ahead of Glentoran, with Crusaders in 3rd on 39.
Portugal
Surprise package Leixoes who have led for most of the season were held to a 0-0 draw at Academia and slipped to 4th. Porto secured top spot by winning 4-2 at Nacional.
Benfica slipped up on a huge Portuguese banana skin, surprisingly losing
2-0 at Trofense. Lisbon rivals Sporting duly won by the same score away at Vitorio Setubal to secure top spot.
Porto are top on 27, Benfica 2nd on 26 the same total as 3rd placed Sporting with Leixoes 4th on 25.
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