Arsenal forward Robin van Persie struck twice to earn his side bragging rights in north London and put a question mark over whether rivals Tottenham can sustain a top-four challenge in the Premier League. Spurs have not won a league game against Arsenal since 1999, and they fell away after Van Persie opened the scoring at the Emirates Stadium and Cesc Fabregas added the second after winning possession straight from the kick-off.
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Borussia Dortmund went up just one place to ninth in the Bundesliga after tonight’s 2-0 win at home to bottom club Hertha Berlin. Nuri Sahin’s penalty on the hour and Lucas Barrios’ unstoppable strike in injury time sentenced Hertha to their sixth away defeat in six so far this season. The nearest the visitors came was in the 75th minute when Lukasz Piszczek was within inches of an equaliser, his stinging right-foot shot hitting the post from the edge of the penalty area. (more…)

Outstanding atmosphere, high intensity (ehem…Pat Onstad), and end to end action.  But the veteran Dynamo get the tie going back to Houston for a Sunday afternoon battle.

Inter Milan moved four points clear at the top of Serie A after winning an eight-goal thriller against Palermo tonight. The game seemed to be all wrapped up when two goals each from Samuel Eto’o and Mario Balotelli gave Inter a 4-0 lead at the interval, but Palermo fought their way back to put the Nerazzurri under pressure.

Fabrizio Miccoli scored twice, and Mathias Hernandez was on target as Palermo threatened to make an amazing comeback. But Diego Milito added a fifth for Inter in the 83rd minute to seal a win which moves them clear of Juventus at the top of the table.
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Teenager Fran Merida netted his first Arsenal goal as Arsene Wenger’s young Gunners beat Liverpool 2-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup. Just back from the Under-20 World Cup with Spain, the 19-year-old former Barcelona trainee drilled in a fine first-half strike as Wenger’s faith in youth was once again justified.
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That’s an incredible amount of money on the field for Real Madrid to get mopped up 4 - 0.

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