Chelsea Book Their Place in the FA Cup Semis with Win at Coventry

Kieron Richardson fired the Black Cats into a third minute lead over Tottenham after picking up a loose ball just outside the Spurs box, bursting through and slotting his shot past Gomes.

Coventry 0 - Chelsea 2 (FA Cup, Mar. 7, 2009) Chelsea looked the more threatening early on at the Ricoh Arena, Drogba went close in the second minute and just after the quarter hour, the revitalised Didier Drogba opened the scoring, rounding Westwood and finishing past two defenders on the line.

With just under 20 minutes to go, Alex sealed Chelsea’s place in the semifinals, finishing off a flowing counter attack and a cracking cross from Quaresma.

St. Mirren 1 - Celtic 0 (Scottish Cup, Mar. 7, 2009) Billy Mehmet put St Mirren in front minutes after half-time from the penalty spot after McManus had fouled Dargo. The victory was sweet revenge for St. Mirren who had been stuff 7-0 by Celtic just seven days ago in the SPL.

Bayern Munich 5 - Hannover 1 (Bundesliga, Mar. 7, 2009) Bayern’s domestic crisis continued early doors against Hannover as the visitors took the lead with a brilliant goal from Jiri Stajner as his first touch, wide on the left, left Lucio flat on his backside before curling a beauty past Rensing.

Bayern drew level soon after when Daniel van Buyten’s recent goalscoring exploits continued with a header from a Ribery free-kick. And the comeback was complete four minutes later when Miroslav Klose converted a second Ribery set-play.

Hamit Altintop then stroked home the third as Bayern looked to run riot. (First half highlights here.) After the break Lukas Podolski got in on the act bagged a header from Ze Roberto’s cross, with Martin Demichelis bagging a late fifth as Bayern toyed with their opponents.

Stuttgart 2 - Borussia Dortmund 1 (Bundesliga, Mar. 7, 2009) Elson fired Stuttgart into a 10th minute lead over Borussia Dortmund with a free-kick that ghosted into the far corner.

Nelson Valdez pulled Dortmund level in the 52nd minute but the parity was only short-lived as Mario Gomez fired Stuttgart back into the lead.

Energie Cottbus 1 - Hertha Berlin 3 (Bundesliga, Mar. 7, 2009) Hertha keeper Jaroslav Drobny was left with egg smeared over his face when he allowed Cagdas Atan’s 20-yard free-kick to squeeze through his legs and over the line.

But Hertha had a secret goalscoring weapon, Andriy Voronin, and the on-loan Liverpool chalked up yet another goal with a 33rd minute header. Voronin bagged his second with a tap-in on the stroke of halftime to complete the turnaround.

In the final minutes Andriy Voronin netted his hat-trick, weaving past two defenders and his way to goal, to clam yet another impressive win for the unlikely pace-setters.

Monchengladbach 4 - Hamburg 1 (Bundesliga, Mar. 7, 2009) Rob Friend’s back post volley put Gladbach ahead over Hamburg but the visitors levelled through Mladen Petric.

But Glabdach went into the break 2-1 up after Tobias Levels scored a rare goal after playing an inadvertent one-two with Hamburg’s centre-half Joris Mathijsen. Roel Brouwers added the hosts’ third early in the second half and then battering was further by Marko Marin’s fourth from the spot.

Wolfburg 1 - Karlsruhe 0 (Bundesliga, Mar. 7, 2009) Wolfburg’s goalscoring machine Edin Dzeko (six goals in his last five games) put the dark horses in the title race into a 38th minute lead against Karlsruhe.

Rubin Kazan 1 - CSKA Moscow 2 (AET) (Russian Super Cup, Mar. 7, 2009) CSKA Moscow took the lead through a terrific strike from Lithuanian Deividas Semberas. Just after the hour mark Roman Sharonov equalised from close range for the Russian champions.

In extra time, Rubin Kazan’s Karadeniz saw red for two bookable offences before Tomas Necid found the winner with seven minutes to go.

Trabzonspor 0 - Konyaspor 1 (Super Lig, Mar. 7, 2009) Trabzonspor’s title hopes suffered what may prove to be a critical setback after they went down to an 84th minute winner from Kratochvil.

Anastasios Agritis got the final touch to put Iraklis in the lead against Panionios.

Aris should have fallen behind at Asteras when they conceded a penalty had had their keeper sent off, but Marcelao saw the resulting spot kick saved. Down to 10-men though the goal soon came, Bastia scoring with a neat volley from the edge of the box.

Shakhtar Donetsk 1 - Dnepr D’petrovsk 0 (Vyscha Liga, Mar. 7, 2009) Fernandinho’s first half penalty was enough for Shakhtar.

Kashima Antlers 2 - Urawa Red Diamonds 0 (J-League, Mar. 7, 2009) Defending champions Kashima opened their season with three points courtesy of goals from Nozawa and Marquinhos in each half.

FC Tokyo 1 - Albirex Niigata 4 (J-League, March 7, 2009)