Lionel Messi scored one goal and set up another as Barcelona stayed seven points behind Real Madrid with victory over Real Sociedad at the Nou Camp - but Pep Guardiola's men were made to work hard for their triumph.
Leaders Real Madrid did just enough to earn a sixth consecutive Primera Liga win, as defender Sergio Ramos returned from injury to secure a 1-0 victory at city rivals Getafe.
AC Milan are averaging over two goals per match as they host 7th place Napoli in the Italian Serie A. The match will take place at San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy on Sunday, February 5, 2012. Kickoff is scheduled for 09:00 EST (USA Eastern), 14:00 GMT (UK time), and 15:00 CET (Central Europe).
AC Milan v Napoli TV Listings
The match will be televised on ESPN (UK), Fox Soccer Plus (USA), Digi Sport (Romania/Slovakia/Czech Republic/Hungray), C+ (Finland/Spain/Poland/Norway), Sky Sport (Italy), Canal 9 (Denmark), SuperSport (Africa), Sport TV4 (Portugal), Sport 2 (Israel), TV4 Sport (Sweden), and Al Jazeera Sport (Middle East).
AC Milan v Napoli Preview
AC Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri
“In the five games played, we played them well and except for the match in Bergamo, we won them all quite easily. In the two games we lost we paid a high price for the mistakes made. The team is in the semi-final of the Italian Cup, the last 16 of the Champions League and has one point less than this time last year.”
“They’ve done all they can to get the pitch ready at the San Siro ahead of the game. Necessity is the mother of invention and we’ll try and play a big game to get back winning because we’ll be up against a team that has important qualities both individually and collectively. There’s a possible gap of more than 15 points between Napoli and the top spot so they could get back into the top spots. It’ll be harder for them this year because they’re in three competitions and maybe they’re not used to that but they’re having a good year and they played well on Wednesday.
“I’m not worried about the criticism. It’s normal that when a team loses, the first man in the cross hairs is the coach, but we’ve been through worse moments. We have a few absences that don’t allow me to change the team from game to game but we have players who know how to play well when they’re called upon. I’m satisfied with how we’re doing but in football everyone has an opinion and they can change from day to day. A team doesn’t become bad after one loss. We need balance now that we’re coming from a loss but we need that even if we had won 10 in a row.
“Football is not basketball. Changing for the sake of it is not a good idea and also I believe that I’m able to get the best out of this team’s characteristics from the players I have available. The team is used to playing like this, the only change is a trequartista.”
I definitely don’t feel like Antonio Conte is making fun of me. I just look at my house and not the others. In any case, I believe he underestimates his team by continuing to say that we’re the favourites and I don’t think it’s good to underestimate your players.”
“It’s impossible to work on the players’ fitness as we have a game every three days. We have to stay calm and anyway, there’s no reason to be alarmed. There’s still a lot of points up for grabs. We need to understand our mistakes and learn from them. We’re a team that fighting on all fronts and that makes me happy.”
The team is fine and they’re working well. At the moment, we have certain players with certain characteristics available. The three up front in Novara played a good game in the second half and they played well in Rome as well. From the players I have available I’ll obviously be asking for different things than I would from Boateng.”
Ibra plays well with Robinho and El Shaarway and I think he’ll play well with Maxi Lopez. We’re waiting for Pato to come back and he’s making progress. In any case, Ibra can play well with anyone.”
“The ref are doing their job well and obviously there will be mistakes made in your favour or against you. But if you look back at the end of the season, they even themselves out.”
“At the moment, the injury situation is not clear. No one has come back yet and It’s hard to see anyone back for the game against Arsenal. It’s not good to build up expectations if the players won’t be available. They’re all working together to get back as soon as they can and I hope it’ll be sooner rather than later.”
“Tomorrow I’ll have 4 midfielders available and I’ll have to decide which one doesn’t play. There’ll be two strikers as well.”
“Going back to Wednesday’s game, I subbed Ambrosini and El Shaarawy because I thought that with Emanuelson and Seedorf we could have got back in the game but the changes didn’t work.”
“We don’t have any problems but we definitely need to improve, as always, because this is a team that has potential to do better. Maybe we weren’t competitive enough in the last few games, even those we won. Sometimes without realising it you try a bit less if you know that you can win the game in any moment but then things can change and you concede. You have to keep the attention level high always.”
“I think that last year when Ibra was suspended, Pato and Robinho filled the gap. This year Pato has never been available and Robinho has been out for two months. Until now the midfield has picked up the slack. We just need to be more careful and not concede a goal from the first mistake we make.”
I hope that next Wednesday it’ll be less cold. An emergency situation like this only lasts for a week and not for a month and they’ve moved all kick offs to the afternoon which is the right thing to do.”
“I’m calm and aware of what we’ve done and where we’ve slipped up and where we can improve as well as the importance of the match on 26 February.”
“It seems to me that the important thing is not the number of points we have but our position in the table on 13 May, whether we ahead of or behind Juventus. The head to head will be big but what counts is the end result. This year we’ve picked up more points against the small teams and less against the big, last year it was the opposite. I don’t know if we’ll be back on top if we win the next three games. We have to take it one game at a time.”
Team Serie A Stats
AC Milan
Napoli
Matches Played
21
21
Table Position
2
7
Points
43
30
Goal Difference
24
12
Goals for *
2.4
1.5
Goals against *
0.5
1.1
Last 5
L-W-W-L-W
D-L-D-D-W
Last 5 home
W-L-W-W-W
D-D-W-L-W
Last 5 away
L-W-W-W-D
L-D-W-D-D
* Goals per match – home matches for home club and away matches for away club
The Red Devils have won their last three league matches as they travel to face Chelsea in the English Premier League . The match will take place at Stamford Bridge in London, England on Sunday, February 5, 2012. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:00 EST (USA Eastern), 16:00 GMT (UK time), and 17:00 CET (Central Europe).
Chelsea v Manchester United TV Listings
The match will be televised on Fox (USA), Rogers Sportsnet (Canada), Sky Sports 1 (UK), C+ (France/Poland/Finland/Spain), LIG TV (Turkey), Digi Sport (Hungary/Romania/Slovakia/Czech Republic), SportKlub (Croatia/Serbia/Slovenia), SuperSport (Africa), Sport TV1 (Portugal), Sport 1 (Israel/Russia), Sky Sport (Italy/Germany), TV2 Sport PL (Denmark), and Viasat (Sweden).
Chelsea v Manchester United Preview
Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas
‘The future has to be continuity. A win on Sunday would have extra importance only if you find continuity after it.
‘The leader in mid-December, Man City, was undisputed but they lost against us,’ he adds, ‘and continued to lose games and continued to drop points. Man United in the last five games have three wins and two defeats surprisingly, and that is the situation of the league and we can never tell.
‘Newcastle have come back strong, Arsenal have had their strong period and a difficult phase again, so the same as us, everybody has better moments and everybody struggles at certain points and the thought is to be more competent in what we do.’
‘Full confidence led to a team that played excellent football that day,’ he recalls. ‘It was completely open and positive and it left us with a sense of pride.
‘We have sorted out defensive weaknesses since and we are nearer to the numbers of the best defences in the country but we have lost a little bit of that edge in terms of attacking, we have still created a lot of opportunities but we have not had that efficiency that would propel us to better results.’
Man Utd manager Alex Ferguson
“We’ve done very well away from home this season and we need to be good from now on.”
“We’ve got some really important away games in the run-in – Chelsea, Tottenham and Man City. They’re going to be crucial games.
“Games at Chelsea in the last few years have been tough and we’ve had terrible luck there which has caused us disappointing results.
“The players know what they need to do.”
“They know their responsibilities and the standard and expectation at the club, and they have to carry those things with them when they go into games.”
Team EPL Stats
Chelsea
Manchester United
Matches Played
23
23
Table Position
4
2
Points
42
54
Goal Difference
15
35
Goals for *
2.2
1.9
Goals against *
1.5
0.6
Last 5
D-D-W-W-L
W-W-W-L-L
Last 5 home
W-L-D-W-W
W-W-L-W-W
Last 5 away
D-D-W-D-D
W-L-W-W-W
* Goals per match – home matches for home club and away matches for away club
Below are brief recaps for all the La Liga matches on Saturday, February 4, 2012.
Athletic Bilbao 3-3 Espanyol
It was a high scoring match with Espanyol scoring a late goal to share the points. Both teams remain in one of the Europa League spot as Espanyol has 32 points and Athletic Bilbao has 30.
Levante 1-1 Racing Santander
Levante took a 1-0 lead before Racing equalized in the second half. The point puts Racing up a spot but they are only two points above the bottom three. Levante are in 4th place but only on goal difference.
Mallorca 1-0 Real Betis
A 24th minute Gonzalo Castro goal was the difference as Mallorca moved up to 12th place. Real Betis drop to 14th and in three points above the bottom three.
Getafe 0-1 Real Madrid
An 18th minute Sergio Ramos goal was enough to give Real Madrid a narrow victory. Madrid hold onto their seven point lead at the top of the table while Getafe are in 9th place.
Barcelona 2-1 Real Sociedad
Barcelona kept pace with Real Madrid on goals from Cristian Tello and Lionel Messi. Sociedad did make it interesting with a Carlos Vela goal but ultimately came up short. Barca have conceded only 13 goals through 21 matches.
Below are brief recaps for all the EPL matches played on February 4, 2012.
Arsenal 7-1 Blackburn
The Gunners move up to 5th place with a dominating win. Robin van Persie led the way with a hat trick while Thierry Henry added one in the 90th minute.
Norwich 2-0 Bolton
Two goals in the final 20 minutes give Norwich their 8th win of the EPL season. Bolton drops into 18th place with the loss while Norwich are now in 9th place.
QPR 1-2 Wolverhampton
A much needed win for Wolves which moves them out of the relegation zone. QPR had an early lead but two unanswered second half goals were the difference.
West Brom 1-2 Swansea
All three goals were scored within a five minute span. West Brom made it 1-0 in the 54th minute but Swansea countered with goals in the 55th and 59th minute. Swansea are up to 11th in the table.
Wigan 1-1 Everton
A goalkeeper mistake from Everton’s Tim Howard nearly cost the Toffees a result. He fumbled a deflected cross that went on goal but Everton salvaged a point with a late goal. Wigan remain in last place while Everton are in the middle of the table.
Stoke 0-1 Sunderland
Sunderland’s resurgence under Martin O’Neil continues as they get their 9th win of the season. Stoke have only scored 23 goals in 24 matches.
Man City 3-0 Fulham
Man City were in control of the match from the start as they move three points clear at the top of the table. Fulham are not safe from relegation yet as they are seven points from 18th place.
Below are brief recaps for all the Bundesliga matches played on February 4, 2012.
Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Stuttgart
An 89th minute Martin Harnik goal gave Stuttgart the draw. Leverkusen has a lead two different times but a 63rd minute red card allowed Stuttgart back into the match.
Hertha Berlin 0-1 Hannover 96
A 68th minute goal gives Hannover their second away win of the season. They are in 7th place and only one point from a Europa League spot while Hertha Berlin are just above the bottom three.
Schalke 1-1 Mainz
A bit of a surprise result as Schalke have been dominant at home. Mainz had a 1-0 lead at halftime but Schalke scored in the 59th minute to make it 1-1. Schalke are just two points back of leaders Borussia Dortmund.
Hoffenheim 2-2 Augsburg
It was a back and forth match with Augsburg taking a 1-0 lead in the fist half but Hoffenheim replying. Both teams traded second half goals to split the points. Augsburg are in 17th place while Hoffenheim are in 8th.
Wolfsburg 0-0 Monchengladbach
A match with few great chances as the teams have two shots on goal combined. Monchengladbach is in 4th place in the table while Wolfsburg are in 9th with 24 points.
Hamburg 1-1 Bayern Munich
Hamburg scored a first half goal but couldn’t hold onto the lead as Bayern equalized in the second half. Bayern Munich are two points behind 1st place while Hamburg are five points clear from the bottom three.
Lionel Messi scored one goal and set up another as Barcelona stayed seven points behind Real Madrid with victory over Real Sociedad at the Nou Camp - but Pep Guardiola's men were made to work hard for their triumph.
Leaders Real Madrid did just enough to earn a sixth consecutive Primera Liga win, as defender Sergio Ramos returned from injury to secure a 1-0 victory at city rivals Getafe.
