Fuller adds to FA Cup tally

FA Cup review

Chelsea cruised to a comfortable 4-1 win over 2008 finalists Cardiff City. Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack, Daniel Sturridge and Salamon Kalou all got their names on the score-sheet for the Mighty Blues. Aruna Dindane, Jamie O’Hara, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie and Nadir Belhadj scored to give EPL cell dwellers Portsmouth a 4-1 victory over Southampton.

Bobby Zamora and Damien Duff were among the scorers for Fulham as they whipped Notts County 4-0. Ricardo Fuller kept Stoke City in the race for progression to the next round as his second half goal gave them a 1-1 draw with Manchester City after Shaun Wright-Phillips opened the scoring.

Birmingham City moved into the nest round with a hard-fought 2-1 away win over Derby County. Jermain Defoe scored in the 60th minute to give Tottenham Hotspurs a 1-1 draw against Bolton Wanderers who got their goal through Kevin Davies.

Madrid’s double whammy success

La Liga: The city of Madrid erupted over the weekend as both Real and Atletico claimed impressive victories. Real Madrid ran out 3-0 victors over Xerez. Alvaro Arbeloa opened the scoring before Cristiano Ronaldo contributed with a brace.

Atletico Madrid handed their city counterparts a huge boost as they handed Barcelona their first loss of the season. Diego Forlan and Simao handed Atletico a two goal lead but Zlatan Ibrahimovic pulled one back for Barca in the 27th minute which proved not enough. Luis Fabiano scored to hand Sevilla a much needed 1-0 win over Osasuna.

Villareal defeated Athletic Bilbao with goals from Joan Capdevila and Nilmar. Malaga crushed Racing Santander 3-0 through goals from Wellington, Felipe Caicedo and Victor Obinna. Espanyol did good to their quest to stay in top flight as they crushed European hopeful Deportivo La Coruna 2-0. Callejon and Verdu got the goals for Espanyol.

Juve scrape though

Serie A: Juventus moved back into European contention with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Genoa. After falling behind after a Marco Rossi goal Juve equalised through Amauri. Club legend steered home the rocky ship with a late brace despite another goal from Marco Rossi. AS Roma moved within seven points of the league leaders Inter Milan following their 4-1 hammering of Palermo.

Matteo Brighi scored a brace while Julio Baptista and John Arne Riise provided the other goals. AC Milan stayed close behind thanks to a 3-2 win over Udinese. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored a brace while the returning Alexandre Pato marked his return to the starting line-up with a well-taken goal.

Antonio Floro Flores and Antonio Di Natale scored for Udinese but it was not enough. Exiled players came back to haunt Fiorentina as outcasts Giampaolo Pazzini and Fabricio Semioli scored to give Sampdoria a 2-0 win.

Bayern power on

Bundesliga: Bayern Munich’s impeccable form continued as they crushed Borussia Dortmund 3-1. Arjen Robben, Mark van Bommel and Mario Gomez were the scorers for Bayern. Ruud Van Nistelrooy got into the act of scoring seamlessly as his brace helped Hamburg SV cruise 3-1 away to VfB Stuggart. Werder Bremen recorded the biggest margin of victory of the round after thumping Hannover 96 5-1.

Claudio Pizzaro and Aaron Hunt were among the goal scorers for Bremen. Bayer Leverkusen continued their impressive unbeaten campaign with a 2-1 win over last season’s league champions VfL Wolfsburg. Goals from Jefferson Farfan and Joel Matip helped Schalke 04 claimed a 2-0 win over FC Koln.

Eintracht Frankfurt and Monchengladbach recorded 2-1 victories over SC Freiburg and FC Nurnberg respectively.