NBA News - Manu's Spurs Overcomes Mavs In 2OT

The Washington Wizards overcame a poor first half to defeat Detroit Pistons 107-924. Walter HERRMANN had 3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block shot.

A win for the Chicago Bulls as they defeated the New York Knicks 105-100 in front of new elected Vice-President Joe BIDEN. Andres NOCIONI did manage to post 10 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists from the bench.

Houston Rockets almost blew a comfortable lead but did manage to overcome the Atlanta Hawks 92-84 with all starters from both teams posting double digit. It was double delight for Luis SCOLA in which he posted 12 points and 10 rebounds, not to forget 2 assists and 2 steals in the process.

But the match of the night, came from the Texas derby between the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks. Spurs overcame the Mavs in second over time, 133-126. Wow! Unbelievable.

Another superb performance from the big three, from which Manu GINOBILI posted 18 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists. Also he had a block shot and steal as well.

Fabricio OBERTO was on the bench again, only limited time play (around 7 minutes plus) but was 100% on his shot attempt. He had 6 points and 2 rebounds. Small but equally important contribution from him.

UCL - Group Stage, Round 6 Thread

Alright, its time for the final round in the Champions League group stage. This is time the fate of every clubs survival will be sealed by the end of the week. Lets hope we get another goals galore from the Albiceleste contingent.

Bordeaux will need more than just the goals from Fernando CAVENAGHI in their must win away trip to Rome to face Roma. Confidence must running high at Inter and their Albiceleste army after their win over Lazio during the weekend. They will be looking to capitalize on that against Werder Bremen.

There is also that tightly contested Group D between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid. So is it Javier MASCHERANO or Kun AGUERO (alongside Maxi RODRIGUEZ and the rest) that end up as the group’s winner?

Then there is Lionel MESSI as I will be hoping to see him increasing his goal tally when Barcelona takes on Shaktar.

In Day 2, would Sir Alex give Carlos TEVEZ another mid week run when Manchester United take on Danish side Aalborg? I hope he does.

Not many other significant matches involved (apart from the Lyon/Bayern) but I would love to see Lucho & Gang putting a dagger on Arsenal and top Group G.

Here are the rest of the fixtures.

Day 1 - 9th December 2008

Chelsea vs. CFR Cluj
Panathinaikos vs. Anorthosis
Basel vs. Sporting
PSV vs. Liverpool
Marseille vs. Atletico

Day 2- 10th December 2008

Celtic vs. Villareal
Steaua vs. Fiorentina
Dynamo Kyiv vs. Fenerbahce
Juventus vs. BATE
Real Madrid vs. Zenit

PIPITA & GAGO Can't Save Real

Wow! I guess Diego was spot on when he mentioned that Spain’s La Liga was the best in the world. When Real Madrid took on Sevilla FC, it was another goal fest. A little earlier, Valladolid followed the footstep of Villareal by staging a dramatic comeback from three goals against Osasuna.

Okay, now back to Real against Sevilla as the future of their boss, Bernd SCHUSTER looks to be more uncertain then ever. At one point the visitor were 3-1 up. But two quick goals from Gonzalo HIGUAIN and Fernando GAGO level the score to 3-3. However RENATO’s 85th minute broke all the All-White hope as Sevilla took away the three points.

Meanwhile Napoli maintain their position at fourth place in Serie A with a 2-0 win over Siena. German DENIS strike in the 72nd minute ensure that the Naples side return back to winning ways.

Serie A top scorer Diego MILITO was the hero in the Derby of Genoa between as his scored the sole goal against the neighbour Sampdoria.

In the Greek Super League, there were goals from Fernando BELLUSCHI and Ismael BLANCO. Not only that, they both their respective teams winning goal in the 28th minute (according to Soccernet that is.)

BELLUSCHI was on target for Olympiakos against Levadiakos.

While BLANCO provided the winner for AEK Athens against Panthrakikos.

NBA News….

The Detroit Pistons crashed at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks 92-104. Walter HERRMANN had 4 points, 2 rebounds & 1 block shot.

NBA News - Oberto Gets His Season High

The old Spurs are back. What I meant was in terms how they dominate their opponent and win games. The Golden State Warriors were routed by 123-88 by the Big Three & Co.

Both Manu GINOBILI and Fabricio OBERTO both had excellent performance from a different perspective. No doubt about that.

Manu may have scored as low as 9 points but he was responsible in dishing out 7 assists plus 3 rebounds and 2 steals.

“We’ve had two great games, and hopefully we can keep this going,” said Manu, who led the Spurs with nine assists. “We just tried to move the ball. It’s the things we always try to do, but sometimes it doesn’t work.”

OBERTO came from the bench to contribute a season high performance. He posted 12 points plus 6 rebounds and 2 assists. A rare moment to see him getting the better of his fellow Albiceleste. Well I’m happy to see that he does gives something for the team though he may no longer be their starting center.

The Chicago Bulls ended their two games losing streak by defeating the Washington Wizards 117-110 with a little help from the reserves. Andres NOCIONI made some huge basket alongside Larry HUGHES from the bench. Chapu posted 19 points (it’s been a while since he had a big night like this) and he was had 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal to his credit.

An Overhead Magic from Kun

What a day in La Liga! In three fixtures we had no less than 17 goals in total.

I wonder what might have been going through in Pato ABBONDANZIERI, Daniel DIAZ and Lucas LICHT minds. Getafe blew away a 3-0 lead at half time against Villareal, only to see the Yellow Submarine pull back to level the score 3-3 in the second half.

In another match Atletico Madrid came away with 5-2 win at Sporting Gijon. Kun AGUERO scored twice, the first one being a sublime overhead kick. He was also own target again and then had an assist for Maxi RODRIGUEZ. Most certainly he is choice for Mundo’s Albiceleste of the Night.
Inter Milan overran Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico 3-0 to stay nine points clear on top of Serie A. Walter SAMUEL struck a perfect header in the second minute courtesy pass the Juan Pablo CARIZZO. A total of eight Albiceleste players were involved in the match.
In Portugal, Lucho GONZALEZ scored FC Porto’s third goal in their 3-0 win over Vitoria Setubal.
Nicolas Alejandro FRUTOS scored for Anderlecht in their 5-1 mauling over AFC Tubize in the Belgian Jupiter League.

Meanwhile on Friday, Fernando CAVENAGHI was on target for Bordeaux in their Ligue 1 encounter Valenciennes. He scored their second goal as the home side won 2-1.

Finally, on behalf of Mundo Albiceleste, thank you very much to our reader Mohammad ALI from Jordan for creating this wonderful picture as a tribute to Kun’s first goal against Gijon.

Diego Arrives In India And.....

They love him there.

He was greatly touched by the frenzy over his here and promised to come back to India again in future. Not a surprise considering that we had many passionate Albiceleste readers from India on our blog.

"It has been beyond my imagination," a visibly moved Diego told reporters through an interpreter. "I did not know that I had so many fans in India and people of the country loved football so much," he said after laying the foundation stone for a football academy on the outskirts of the city.

"India lacks the infrastructure for football but the players should also work hard for their success."

This is Diego first-ever visit to the country and he was already looking forward to visiting India again.

"I have a contract with Argentina's national football team and once it's over I will think of coming to India."

Diego arrived in this football-mad eastern Indian city early on Saturday to a rousing welcome by some 50,000 fans, desperate to catch a glimpse of the legend. The fans jostled and almost ran over the barricades at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose airport as the 5,000-strong security team tried to control the surging crowd.

"Long Live India! We want you to play in the World Cup," Diego, flanked by his girlfriend Veronica, shouted back to the delirious fans.

Doubts were cast over his visit following the recent devastating Mumbai attacks that killed 163 people including 26 foreigners.

"It's barbaric. We can't event think of something like this in a civilized society," he said of the Mumbai carnage.

Diego is also slated to visit the global headquarters of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity order here on Sunday during his two-day trip.

NBA News - Season High From Manu

One moment they didn't look like a three time NBA champions despite having all their Big Three back together on court. But today against the Denver Nuggets they once again gave people an instant reminder about what three of them are capable of. They brushed the Nuggets off in Colorado 108-91.

All of them posted double digit. Manu GINOBILI was named as a starter and gave a memorable performance, a reminisced of those times before he got injured. His performance has also kind of been poor in the last two games (11 and 13 points respectively) despite the lengthy minutes of action.

In tonight's game it was a huge comeback for him, as he produces a season high performance. He posted 21 points from which four of those shots came from the three point line. He was also 100% from the free throws. Not to forget he had 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal in the process.

Fabricio OBERTO had to content with a place on the bench as he relinquish in starting position to the much improve Matt BONNER. But don't take away anything from him as he had 3 rebounds and 4 assists to go along with the 2 points that he posted.

As always in the past, this game goes on to show that when Manu gets into his rhythm, Spurs will never loose.

Watch Carlitos Four Star Performance

Manchester United vs Blackburn Full Match Highlight
Uploaded by juzhighlight

Here is the video on Mauro ZARATE against AC Milan

Carlitos shines for United but still needs more minutes

The rumour had it Carlitos TEVEZ was a lock to go to Real Madrid in January, but the replacement for the injured Ruud VAN NISTELROY came from his own country as the Whites from the Spanish capital bought striker Klaas Jan HUNTELAAR and now Carlitos looks set to stay at Old Trafford.

Will he?

Well...based on his display this Wednesday in one of the Carling Cup (League Cup) quarterfinals, Alex FERGUSON would be unwise to let him go.

TEVEZ took advantage of the minutes he got and scored a hat-trick (and half a goal) to help Manchester United reach the semifinals. He was the lone scorer in the previous round when the Red Devils defeated Queens Park Rangers thanks to a penalty kick by the Apache.

Carlitos opened the scoring for United on 36 minutes (but some are saying it was an Aaron MOKOENA's own-goal) . TEVEZ added a second from the penalty spot on 51, then scored another one on 54 and clear the doubts and signed his hat-trick on injury time.

Manchester United won 5-3 and now look as strong favourites to win a tournament in which Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have all crashed out (the Blues and the Gunners both at Burnley's expense).

But the main question remains:

Will Carlitos wait forever on the bench for United and be limited to be a fringe player in the Premiership?

Or will he ask FERGUSON to sell him in January?

Watch Goals from Sunday's Fixtures & More

Highlights from Sunday’s fixtures…

Ariel IBAGAZA superb free kick against Recreativo Huelve

Wonderful finish from Kun AGUERO against Racing Santander


Terrific move from Napoli in setting up Ezequile LAVEZZI against Inter Milan


Fernando BELLUSCHI doing his stuff for Olympiacos in Greece

Some NBA News…

The Detroit Pistons fell to the Portland Trail Blazers 85-96 with Walter HERRMANN posting 2 points, 2 rebounds and just 1 assist. Luis SCOLA posted 7 points, 5 rebounds and an assist as the Houston Rockets lost to the Denver Nuggets 94-104. The Chicago Bulls defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 103-92 with Andres NOCIONI posting 4 points.