Bayern Munich and Chelsea Reign Surpreme in an Epic Day of Football

Saturday, April 3, 2010. The biggest day in World Football to date in the calendar year 2010.

Today, we have seen two incredible matches conclude that will determine the Bundesliga and Premier League title races.

First, in England at Old Trafford, Chelsea were able to get goals from Joe Cole and Didier Drogba to beat the three-time defending Premier League champion Manchester United by a 2-1 score to take over first place in the Premier League table by two points with just five matches remaining.

And just as the match at Old Trafford ended, Schalke took on Bayern Munich at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, a match that ended in a result of 2-1 in favor of Bayern Munich.

Here is a look back at the two major matchups.

Manchester United v Chelsea

In what was the biggest Premier League match of the season at Old Trafford, Chelsea have proven that they are now the club to beat in the Premier League by beating Manchester United 2-1.

With goals from Joe Cole and Didier Drogba, Chelsea were able to take over first place in the table as the Premier League is now in their grasp.

Throughout the first half of the match, it was Chelsea that were in complete control, as they continued to attack the United goal, and got their goal in the 20th minute after a run-in from Florent Malouda found Joe Cole, who was able to flick the ball past Edwin van der Sar to give Chelsea a 1-0 advantage.

In the second half, Man United started to attack the goal, and after several good chances went wide, Chelsea started their own counter-attack.

In the 79th minute, substitute Didier Drogba (who was at least two yards offsides) lifted the ball over van der Sar to give Chelsea a 2-0 lead, and it appeared that the match was clearly going to end in Chelsea's favor.

But as usual, Manchester United did not give in, and on their own counter-attack just two minutes later, Nani's pass redirected off Petr Cech and off the chest area of 18-year-old Italian striker Federico Macheda, and landed past the line to give Manchester United a goal to make it 2-1.

But Chelsea showed the mark of champions as they won 2-1. United were not able to put together another good attack, and now Chelsea are in first place in the Premier League table with 74 points, two more than United's 72. And now, with just five matches remaining for both sides, the Premier League title is in Chelsea's grasp.

Schalke 04 v Bayern Munich

In what was the biggest match of the Bundesliga season to date, Bayern Munich traveled to the Veltins Arena to take on Schalke, who were in first place in the Bundesliga by two points and in position to win their first Bundesliga since 1958.

Early on, the match was pretty even, as both Schalke and Bayern had great chances to score.

But shortly after an injury to Bayern's center back Daniel Van Buyten, Bayern started to really go all-out on their attack and got two goals within five minutes of the injury.

First it was French winger Franck Ribéry who was able to score, as he got a pass from Bastian Schweinsteiger off a set piece and deposited it home to make it 1-0 in the 25th minute.

And just one minute later, off a pass from Ivica Olić, it was Thomas Müller who was able to score from nearly the exact same spot as Ribéry to make it 2-0.

But Schalke came right back in the 31st minute, as Kevin Kuranyi scored on a header to make it 2-1 in favor of Bayern.

And Schalke got a major break in the 40th minute, as Hamit Altıntop got his second yellow for a tackle on Rafinha, which gave Schalke a man advantage. But there was no more scoring in the first half.

As the second half begun, both sides continued to attack and generated several more great chances, but Bayern did not concede again or score again and the match ended with Bayern winning 2-1.

With the win, Bayern are once again in first place in the Bundesliga with 59 points while Schalke have 58. With only five matches in the Bundesliga remaining for both sides, Bayern are in the drivers seat to win the Bundesliga.

Now that these two fantastic matches are over, we have the second leg of all four Champions League quarterfinals matches on Tuesday, April 6 and Wednesday, April 7 before El Clásico on Saturday, April 10 as the title race between Real Madrid and Barcelona will be determined at the Bernabeu.