Chelsea Edge City in the Clash of the Cash

Chelsea 1 - Manchester City 0 (Premier League, March 15, 2009) Frank Lampard had the ball in the City net inside two minutes but the linesman ruled the effort out for offside. Chelsea moved ahead from a brilliant free-kick that exploited City’s non-existent marking, Lampard spotted Michael Essien totally unmarked on the edge of the box and, fizzing a pass into his feet, the Ghanaian hooked a first-time shot past Given. Chelsea were in total control but without the cushion of a second, Didier Drogba was squeezed out of a one-on-one chance at the start of the second half. And Julio Belletti came even closer as his daisycutter bounced out off the inside of the post.

Leeds 1 - Swindon 0 (League One, March 14, 2009) Jermaine Beckford had a day of mixed fortune for Leeds, grabbing the decisive winner with a late header before receiving his marching orders for a petulant outburst against an offside decision.

Siena 1 - AC Milan 5 (Serie A, March 15, 2009) After just three minutes at Siena, AC Milan were ahead thanks to Andrea Pirlo’s penalty. In injury time at the end of the half the Rossoneri bagged a killer second, Super Pippo once again getting amongst the goals for Milan. After the break Alexandre Pato claimed the third with an incredible strike from 25-yards out, Massimo Maccarone pulled a goal back for Siena, before Pippo Inzaghi claimed his 300th goal in Serie A to send Milan 4-1 up. A fabulous result for Milan was sealed through Pato’s second.

Lazio 0 - Chievo 3 (Serie A, March 15, 2009) Relegation threatened Chievo belied their lowly position with a superb first half at Lazio, Erjon Bogdani’s well directed header gave the Flying Donkeys the lead which they increased thanks to Sergio Pellisier excellent solo second. Sergio Pellisier added a third for Chievo after the break as the side from Verona recorded their result of the season.

All the goals from the first halves in Serie A can be seen here.

Feyenoord 1 - PSV 0 (Eredivisie, March 15, 2009) A second half header from Leroy Fer gave Feyenoord the victory over PSV.

Ajax 3 - De Graafschap 0 (Eredivisie, March 15, 2009) De Graafschap held out for 23 minutes at Ajax until Luis Suarez crashed home a superb free-kick. Ajax doubled their lead before the break, Dario Cvitanich collected the ball at the near post, skipped round the keeper and fired high into the net. Rumoured Barcelona target Luis Suarez wrapped up the match with a third from the spot.

Spartak Moscow 1 - Zenit St. Petersburg 1 (Russian Premier League, March 15, 2009) In the first major clash of the Russian season, Spartak moved ahead of Zenit inside sixty seconds when Ivan Saenko was on hand to sweep home a rebound. The setback was only temporary for Zenit who soon levelled through Pavel Pogrebnyak’s thunderous free-kick.

Saturn 0 - CSKA Moscow 3 (Russian Premier League, March 15, 2009) A fine second half performance gave CSKA an opening day win, strikes from Dagoev and a Ignashevich brace doing the damage.

AEK Larnaca 1 - Anorthosis 3 (Cypriot First Division, March 14, 2009)

Gimnasia La Plata 0 - Tigre 1 (Clausura, March 14, 2009) Morel’s last-gasp free-kick gave Tigre the points.

San Martin 1 - Estudiantes 0 (Clausura, March 14, 2009) Matias Villavicencio was the match-winner with a header from a corner at the start of the second half.

San Lorenzo 3 - Banfield 1 (Clausura, March 14, 2009)