It’s been a quiet-ish week for the main Argentine contingent in Europe, but there have been one or two scorers. In Mexico, meanwhile, the new year’s championship is already underway, and there were five goals from Argentines as well as a couple of other decent contributions there. Step this way…
In Italy, Serie A leaders Internazionale had their title hopes dented by a 3-1 loss to Atalanta. The champions fielded Nicolás Burdisso, Esteban Cambiasso, Javier Zanetti and Hernán Crespo from the start, and for once had to make do with just a late consolation – Zlatan Ibrahimovic got their goal in the 90th minute, to pull it back to 3-1. Elsewhere Ezequiel Lavezzi scored in vain, equalising for Napoli on their way to a 2-1 loss away to Chievo Verona, and Cristian Ledesma put Lazio 1-0 up against Juventus, who equalised five minutes later in a 1-1 draw.
In France, Alejandro Alonso scored to put Monaco 2-0 up away to Caen after 24 minutes, but they eventually threw that away to draw 2-2 after conceding a 90th minute equaliser. ‘Chelito‘ Delgado scored the second as Lyon won 2-0 away to Grenoble. Fernando Cavenaghi played but didn’t score for Bordeaux as they won 2-1 away to Nantes, but a piece of advice all the same: do a YouTube search for Yoann Gourcuff’s goal (which put Bordeaux 1-0 up). Trust me you won’t be disappointed.
In Spain Gonzalo Higuaín scored Real Madrid’s second after some nice link-up play with Arjen Robben on the way to a 3-1 win for the defending champions at home to Osasuna. Ever Banega and Sergio Agüero both played for Atlético de Madrid, who drew 1-1 away to Almería in a performance El Kun admitted afterwards hadn’t been good enough. Pablo Piatti came on with twelve minutes to go for the hosts.
Oh and Lionel Messi scored a brilliant goal to set Barcelona on the way to steamrollering another set of opponents. This week the lucky recipients were Deportivo de La Coruña, who managed to keep the hosts down to just the five goals.
Goals elsewhere in Europe: In Greece, Matías Iglesias got a late equaliser for Larissa away to Xanthi, to draw 1-1, Ismael Blanco got the game’s only goal for AEK Athens away to Iraklis, and Lucio Filomeno struck twice as Asteras Tripoli won 3-0 at home to Thrasivoulos. In England, Pablo Zabaleta scored a superb volley for Manchester City as Kaká’s future team-mates strengthened their standing in the relegation struggle with a 1-0 win at home to Wigan Athletic. And Carlos Tevez wriggled free of the attentions of Bolton Wanderers’ backline to set up Dimitar Berbatov’s late, late winner for Manchester United to move them top of the Premier League for the first time this season.
In Mexico, as the 2009 Torneo Clausura kicked off, there were five Argentine goalscorers in the first weekend. Ezequiel Maggiolo scored for Indios de Juárez, beating Tecos 2-1; Bruno Marioni got Atlas’s only goal in a 2-1 defeat to Jaguares de Chiapas; Alfredo ‘Chango‘ Moreno scored a penalty for Necaxa (which had been won by Eduardo Coudet) as they lost 2-1 to Pumas, and Gabriel Pereyra scored twice for Atlante as they drew 3-3 with 2008 Apertura champions Toluca. Both goalkeepers were Argentine, and Atlante’s Federico Vilar at least saved a bit of face at the end by stopping a late penalty that would have won it for Toluca. Tigres lost 4-1 to Pachuca, but Lucas Lobos set up their only goal, for Kikin Fonseca.
Thanks as ever to Tom Clark, Our Man In Mexico, for the lowdown on that league
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