Decisive Saturday in Europe's top leagues

This Saturday, April 2, 2011 could have decided the titles in a number of top European football leagues for the 2010/11 season. And interestingly it all went in favour of the league leaders - Manchester United (England), FC Barcelona (Spain), AC Milan (Italy) and Borussia Dortmund (Germany).


English Premier League
English league leaders Manchester United had a tough away game in London against West Ham United and the first half just proved that as United were two goals down at the break with both goals coming of penalties from Mark Noble. West Ham even had chances to make it three, but it remained 2-0 at half time and still left United with a chance to comeback.
And they just did that in style with Wayne Rooney scoring a brilliant hattrick in 14 minutes to allowed Manchester United to turn things around with a late Xavier Hernandez goal ensuring a 4-2 victory. As closest rivals Arsenal (0-0 against Blackburn Rovers) and Chelsea (1-1 at Stoke City) drew, Manchester United now have a seven point advantage over Arsenal and 11 on Chelsea. United are closing in their next Premier League title.


Spanish Primera Division
It was supposed to be the weekend that Spanish clubs are on strike, but a court disallowed such a move so clubs were forced to play. And Real Madrid afterwards would have hoped the strike had been on, then Real Madrid were beaten 1-0 at home by Sporting Gijon through a 79th minute goal from Miguel de la Cuevas, while bitter rivals FC Barcelona won 1-0 against FC Villarreal through a 67th minute goal from Piqué. This now leaves Barca eight points clear of Real Madrid in the La Liga title race, while for Mourinho it was the first home loss in over nine years. His last defeat had been while at FC Porto, a 2-3 against Beira Mar on February 23, 2002.


Italian Serie A
AC Milan took a giant step towards regaining the Serie A title after a 3-0 win against city rivals and current holders Internationale Milan. The hero of the day was Brazilian youngster Alexandre Pato who scored in the 1st and 62nd minute, while substitute Antonio Cassano added a third in the 90th minute to seal a memorable victory. It opened up a crucial five point gap for Milan at the top of the Serie A table after Inter had been closing in on them over the last few weeks.


German Bundesliga
League leaders Borussia Dortmund hosted third placed Hannover 96 in a crucial Bundesliga game. Dropping more points would have given a chance to Bayer 04 Leverkusen to close the gap further to the top, but Dortmund won 4-1 to maintain the seven point lead at the top. Dortmund were given a scare by Hannover when Mohammed Abdellaoue scored a shock lead in the 57th minute, but a brilliant solo from teenager Mario Goetze gave Dortmund the equaliser only a couple of minutes later and suddenly their got their game together as Hannover fell apart. Two goals from Lucas Barrios and a fourth from Kevin Großkreutz ensured in the end a clear 4-1 win.