It was a remarkable weekend in the sporting world with some huge results in the EPL and La Liga, a controversial disqualification in the Formula 1, a veteran winning in the women’s tennis and some crazy upsets in the NRL and AFL.
We’ll start in England where Liverpool proved they are the real deal this season and heaped more pressure on besieged Manchester United manager David Moyes with a dominant 3-0 win at Old Trafford. Two penalties to Steven Gerrard and a late goal to Luis Suarez proved the difference and it could have been more with Gerrard missing a third penalty and United lucky not to concede a fourth. The Reds fans were quick to rub it in, too, unveiling a sign in the stands which read “David Moyes is a football genius”. Arsenal downed Tottenham 1-0 thanks to a cracking Tomas Rosicky goal, but league leaders Chelsea slipped up with a 1-0 loss at Aston Villa to leave the title race wide open heading into the home stretch.
Likewise there is plenty to play for in Spain. Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid both scraped home 1-0 over the weekend while Barcelona put some scratchy form behind them with a thumping 7-0 win over Osasuna. Lionel Messi was at it again with a hattrick, becoming the club’s greatest ever goal scorer with 371 goals for the club.
The F1 season began with the Australian Grand Prix as Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg claimed his first win in nine months, however all the talk afterwards was about local driver Daniel Ricciardo’s sensational disqualification for excessive fuel consumption. Ricciardo had completed the best ever finish by an Australian driver at their home grand prix when he finished second but his joy was short lived with officials ruling he had used more than the 100kg limit. It’s fair to say he won’t be thrilled with his new Red Bull team this week. McLaren were the big winners from his disqualification with Kevin Magnusson bumped up to second and Jenson Button to third.
Flavia Pennetta claimed the biggest title of her 14-year career when she downed Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets to win the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. It was the 32-year-old’s first tournament win since 2010 and will see her move up to a career high No.12 in the rankings. Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will contest the men’s final later today.
St George Illawarra made it two from two against the Warriors on Saturday
And it was a crazy opening round in the AFL with GWS causing a huge upset against cross-town rivals the Sydney Swans, while the Gold Coast downed Richmond, Port Adelaide defeated Carlton and Fremantle belted an underwhelming Collingwood. In the NRL, there were plenty of form reversals with the Sydney Roosters thrashing Parramatta 56-4, Wests Tigers downing the Gold Coast 42-12 and Manly coming from behind to beat Souths 14-12. After two rounds, Melbourne, Brisbane and St George Illawarra are the three undefeated teams.
