Celtic 2 - Rangers 1 (SPL, April 16, 2008) (Longer highlights here.) Celtic took the lead in the Old Firm derby when Nakamura pulled out a goal to remember, smashing a swerving dipping strike past McGregor for a cracking opener. Naylor denied Darcheville an equaliser with a solid block just before the break. Rangers equalised in the second half, Nacho Novo scoring a lovely goal from an acute angle to shoot down Celtic’s title hopes. The match exploded in the 70th minute, Cuellar saved Nakamura’s shot with a deliberate hand-ball, but after receiving his marching orders McGregor tipped Scott McDonald’s penalty onto the post, gathering the rebound. But the drama got even more sensational when in injury time Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink headed the winner for Celtic. The two sides confronted each other at the final whistle. Stealing the championship will still be a tall order for Strachan, but his team are now just one point adrift of the Gers having played two games more.

***

Manchester City 3 - Chelsea 1 (Agg. 4-2) (FA Youth Cup Final, April 16, 2008) Chelsea took an early lead when Jacob Mellis’s shot was saved by City keeper Greg Hartley, but the ball bounced in off Ryan McGivern for an own goal. But skipper Ben Mee’s header and Vladimir Weiss’ perfect free-kick soon put City 2-1 up at the interval. After Weiss was fouled, a late David Ball penalty helped City lift the Cup for the second time in their history. (Post-match celebrations can be seen here.)

York 0 - Oxford 1 (Conference, April 15, 2008)

***

Juventus 3 - Parma 0 (Serie A, April 16, 2008) Juventus continued their excellent recent form to storm into the lead against Parma, Trezeguet tapping home from on the line after Bucci came and flapped at a cross. Juve then added a second with a fine solo effort from Palladino. Parma were lucky to have 11 men on the field when Fernando Couto slyly punched Chiellini in the face. The Bianconeri sealed the three points when the unfortunately named Morrone’s freak header looped over the goalkeeper from the edge of the D.

Roma 1 - Catania 0 (Coppa Italia, April 16, 2008) (Longer highlights here.) A stunning goal from returning captain Francesco Totti just after the restart proved the decisive moment in the first leg of the Italian cup semi-final.

Inter Milan 0 - Lazio 0 (Coppa Italia, April 16, 2008) In a bright opening at the San Siro, Maniche fizzed a shot which was comfortably parried before Rocchi was denied for Lazio by a wonderful sliding challenge. Lazio then threatened again from a free-kick, Crespo replied by forcing Ballotta into making a smart stop.

***

Valencia 3 - Getafe 1 (Copa Del Rey, April 16, 2008) (Longer highlights here.) The Spanish cup final got off to a blistering start, Mata put Valencia ahead after four minutes and poor marking from Getafe allowed an unmarked Alexis to claim a second in the 11th minute. Granero pulled a goal back for Getafe from the spot on the stroke of half-time. Valencia held strong throughout the second half and Morientes added the gloss scoring six minutes from time. Getafe’s Celestini saw red at the death leaving Ronald Koeman with finally something to smile about in a generally shocking first season with Valencia. (Post-match celebrations can be seen here and here.)

***

Carquefou 0 - PSG 1 (Coupe de France, April 16, 2008) Fifth division Carquefou should have had Zebidi sent off in the first half when the midfielder intentionally clothes-lined PSG’s Arnaud, leaving his victim with a bloody nose. The part-times Carquefou finally had the dream ended by Pauleta’s far-post header.

Bordeaux 0 - Sedan 0* (Pens 3-4) (Coupe de France, April 16, 2008) Ligue 2 side Sedan beat second placed Bordeaux in a penalty shoot-out to progress to the semi-finals of the French Cup. After a goalless 120 minutes, Cavenaghi and Jurietti missed Bordeaux’s first two spot-kicks in the shoot-out. Amalfitano was then off target for Sedan but Abdoun scored their winning kick to dump out Les Girondins.

***

Groningen 1 - Ajax 2 (Eredivisie, April 16, 2008) In the rescheduled fixture following Sunday’s fire, Ajax took the lead against Groningen when Lindgren headed home Davids’ cross. But the sides went in level at the break when Cahais headed home a free-kick seconds before the whistle. Ajax found the winner when Dennis Rommendahl burst down the right and Suarez converted the low cross.

***

Eintracht Frankfurt 1 - Bayern Munich 3 (Bundesliga, April 16, 2008) Frankfurt worked a quick to free-kick to send the play out wide, the right wing cross found Kohler at the back-post and he headed the hosts one-up. But Bayern showed their comebackability at Getafe, and the once again produced the goods in a stellar second half performance. Daniel van Buyten drew the champions elect level, and goal machine Luca Toni gave Munich the lead after some calamitous defending. Toni killed the game off with a classic centre forwards goal from three yards out.

Hansa Rostock 1 - Werder Bremen 2 (Bundesliga, April 15, 2008) Bremen picked up their third straight victory to gain ground on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich. Torsten Frings opened the scoring with a beauty from distance. Hahnge drew Rostock level, but Ivan Klasnic snatched the winner eight minutes from time after Wachter had kept out Naldo’s penalty.

Duisburg 0 - Karlsruhe 1 (Bundesliga, April 16, 2008) The game looked set to end in deadlock until an error from Starke gifted Tamas Hajnal a late goal, consigning the side with the worst home record in the Bundesliga to defeat in front of their own fans. Defeat for Duisburg leaves them in the second relegation place, three points from safety with an inferior goal difference.

Borussia Dortmund 1 - Hannover 3 (Bundesliga, April 16, 2008) Dortmund crashed to a home defeat against Hannover to deny them a confidence boost ahead of this weekend’s DFB-Pokal final showdown with Bayern Munich. Hannover pulled ahead 2-0 in the first half after goals from Arnold Jan Bruggink and Frank Fahrenhorst. Alexander Frei pulled one back for the hosts in the 65th minute, but Szabolcs Huszti confirmed the victory when he netted 13 minutes later.

Stuttgart 3 - Nurnberg 0 (Bundesliga, April 16, 2008) First-half goals from Cacau, Antonio da Silva and Fernando Meira settled the match in the hosts’ favour, to record their seventh in nine games, to move them just three points from a Champions League place.

Carl Zeiss Jena 2 - Monchengladbach 2 (Bundesliga II, April 16, 2008)

St. Pauli 3 - Hoffenheim 1 (Bundesliga II, April 16, 2008)

Koblenz 3 - Freiburg 2 (Bundesliga II, April 16, 2008)

Kaiserslautern 2 - Augsburg 0 (Bundesliga II, April 15, 2008)

***

Sporting Lisbon 5 - Benfica 3 (Taca de Portugal, April 16, 2008) (Longer highlights here.) Rui Costa started and finished the move that gave Benfica the lead away at Sporting Lisbon. It got better for the visitors when Nuno Gomes headed home a second. Sporting came out fighting after the break and Yannick Djalo pulled a goal back, volleying home at the near post. Liedson then brought the scores all square with a hard shot from a cut-back, only for Sporting to send their fans wild when Derlei tucked home the third. Back came Benfica, Rodriguez making the score 3-3. But Sporting could not be stopped, and two goals in the last five minutes from Pupo (brilliant strike) and Vukcevic (class volley) ended a breathtaking comeback.

***

Germinal Beerschot 1 - Anderlecht 1 (Agg. 1-2) (Beker van Belgie, April 16, 2008) Anderlecht remain on course for a historic domestic double. Colman put the hosts one-up at the break, chipping the goalkeeper after a wayward throw. But Vlcek’s far post volley proved decisive for the visitors.

***

Hajduk Split 2 - Slaven Belupo 0 (Croatian Bundesliga, April 16, 2008) Ante scored a brilliant opener, showing off incredible control to pluck the ball out of the air, before beating his marker to score. Gabric hit a bullet in injury time to make it 2-0.

***

Metalurg Donetsk 0 - Dynamo Kiev 1 (Kubok, April 16, 2008) Horrible defending from the hosts gifted Ghioane with the chance to score, which he took with both hands for the only goal of the game.

Shakhtar Donetsk 3 - Chernomorets Odessa 0 (Kubok, April 16, 2008) After taking a fourh minute lead through Adriano, Shakhtar sealed the win with two quick fire goals in the second half. Kravchenko notched the second with a wonderful left foot curler which went in off the bar, and Duljaj added the third with a neat finish.

***

Anorthosis 2 - Aris 1 (Cypriot Cup, April 16, 2008)

***

Olympiakos 3 - Thrasivoulos 1 (Agg. 6-3) (Greek Cup, April 16, 2008) Nuniez scored one goal and set up another to help Olympiakos beat second-division club Thrassivoulas to reach the Greek cup final. Darko Kovacevic and Mihalis Konstantinou were the other scorers for the Greek league leader, while Ilias Manikas scored for the visitors, who also saw a penalty cannon off the crossbar.

***

Santos 2 - Cucuta 1 (Copa Libertadores, April 16, 2008) Cucuta, surprise semi-finalists last year, stunned Santos when Lin Carlos Henry curled in a free-kick in the 23rd minute. Pereira equalised for the Brazilians in the 69th minute but tempers flared shortly afterwards with an ugly clash which led to red cards for Henry and Domingos. Facing elimination in the dying minutes, Santos were rescued when Pereira’s cross hit the bar and Tripodi volleyed in the rebound.

San Jose 0 - Chivas 3 (Copa Libertadores, April 16, 2008) (Longer highlights here.) Avila opened the scoring in the 29th minute and he made it two just before the break. Pineda capped the scoring in the 55th with a delightful free-kick.

Real Potosi 5 - Cruzeiro 1 (Copa Libertadores, April 16, 2008) Potosi bowed out of the Copa in style. Loayza opened the scoring in the fourth minute taking advantage of a Cruzeiro defensive mistake. Pintos added two more for the Bolivians in the 13th and 52nd minutes, both from crosses from Gallegos. Candia fired a cross into the net in the 67th minute, and Gatty wrapped up the rout with final goal three minutes from time. Martins scored Cruzeiro’s lone goal from the penalty spot in the first half.

Libertad 1 - Arsenal Sarandi 2 (Copa Libertadores, April 16, 2008) Bottaro opened the scoring for Arsenal after capitalising on poor defending from the hosts. Cuevas levelled with a low shot, with Bottaro netting the winner from a deflected free-kick.

San Lorenzo 3 - Caracas 0 (Copa Libertadores, April 16, 2008) (Longer highlights here.) San Lorenzo eased into the last 16. Bergessio got the first goal in the 16th minute, Rosales scored an own-goal in the 36th, and Silvera completed the scoring in the 80th.

***

Vasco da Gama 1 - Criciuma 0 (Copa do Brasil, April 17, 2008)

Goias 3 - Corinthians 1 (Copa do Brasil, April 17, 2008)

Parana 2 - Internacional 0 (Copa do Brasil, April 17, 2008) Goals from Angelo and Luis.

Portuguesa 1 - Botafogo 1 (Copa do Brasil, April 17, 2008)

Sao Caetano 2 - Goianiense 1 (Copa do Brasil, April 17, 2008)

***

Audax Italiano 3 - Colo Colo 2 (Apertura, April 17, 2008) After falling behind to Barrios’ goal, Audax responded with a sublime solo goal from Villanueva. Ramos’ header made it 2-1 after the break, before a suspicious penalty allowed Orellana to score a penalty. Rubio hit a tremendous shot at the end of the game, but it was too little too late for Colo Colo.

***

Mexico 1 - China 0 (International friendly, April 17, 2008) A solitary goal from Villaluz was enough for the Mexicans.

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