The main casualty of the fast-approaching and mandatory holiday season is the various European Leagues on Joy Sports and Adom-TV on Multi-TV. The Bundesliga and the Serie A as well as the two-pronged bouquet of the Europa and Champions League now enter a dormant period for two weeks at least. Normal service will be restored in early January, 2011.
The German Bundesliga ended on a positive note for Mainz 05 following a 4-2 drubbing away to St Pauli. Andre Schurrle scored twice for the visitors as did Matthias Lehmann for St Pauli, albeit in a losing effort.
Borussia Dortmund conceded a late goal to Theofanis Gekas to lose 1-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt and miss the chance to set a Bundesliga record. Gekas scored on 87 minutes as Dortmund suffered their first league loss in 15 games and had their seven-game winning streak ended. A draw also would have given Dortmund 44 points and a new record for the first half of the season. Frankfurt coach Michael Skibbe has only lost one of nine matches against Dortmund with six victories.
Raul collected his second hat-trick of the season as Schalke eased past Cologne 3-0 to continue their march up the table. The Spanish star, who also scored three goals against Werder Bremen, struck in the 30th, 50th and 87th minutes to run his season tally to nine goals in the Bundesliga along with two in the Champions League. Schalke have five victories and just one loss in their last seven games to jump to 22 points and 10th place in the league. Cologne, who have not won at Schalke in 10 years, remained on 15 points in 16th place.
Edin Dzeko scored in stoppage time as Wolfsburg fought back from a two-goal half-time deficit to salvage a 2-2 home draw against Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim went 2-0 up after goals, late in the first half, by Luiz Gustavo in the 35th minute and Gylfi Thor Sigurdsson in the 40th minute. Diego pulled a goal back after 75 minutes and Dzeko restored parity a minute into stoppage time.
Srdjan Lakic scored twice as Kaiserslautern finished the first half of the season in fine fashion with a 2-1 victory at Werder Bremen as both sides finished with 10 men. Lakic scored the quickest goal of the season after just 23.6 seconds to give the visitors the lead. Aaron Hunt equalised from the penalty spot after 34 minutes before Lakic struck again early in the second half. Kaiserslautern were reduced to 10 men after 78 minutes with Alexander Bugera shown a second yellow card, but Bremen's Sandro Wagner was also dismissed six minutes later.
Nurnberg ended a run of five matches without a win with a 3-1 win over Hannover at the Frankenstadion. Nurnberg went ahead on 28 minutes when Steve Cherundolo turned an Ilkay Gundogan shot into his own net. Three minutes later Nurnberg struck again. Julian Schieber latched onto a Jens Hegeler corner and set up Andreas Wolf for a strong finish past Fromolwotz. Hannover hit back after the break and Pinto and Manuel Schmeidebach went close for the visitors as they pushed for the goal that would give them a way back into the contest.
Hannover's pressure eventually paid off 15 minutes from time when they were awarded a penalty for handball. Sergio Pinto stepped up to take it and his well-taken penalty made it 2-1. But any hopes of Hannover salvaging a point disappeared when Schieber struck to make it 3-1 to Nurnberg nine minutes from time.
In the final Serie A match of the first half of the season, Kwadwo Asamoah’s Udinese lost their six match unbeaten run to Lazio who closed to within three points of league leader AC Milan. The match shown LIVE on Joy Sports and Adom TV on Multi-TV was loaded with goals and comical defending in equal measure.
Hernanes put the home side in front in the second minute, but Alexis Sanchez equalised for the first time five minutes after the break. Giuseppe Biava restored Lazio's lead immediately, but German Denis replied with his first touch of the game 10 minutes later. An own goal from Christian Zapata then gave Lazio all three points and allowed them to take full advantage of Milan's defeat by Roma on Saturday to reduce the deficit at the top to three points. The bloated 3-2 score-line tells half the story of a chances-laden match, played in the absence of any meaningful defense.
The Italian Serie A resumes on Thursday 6th January, 2011. World Club Champions Inter Milan welcome Napoli to the San Siro keen to get their Scudetto hunt back on track. The UEFA Champions League and Europa League resume at the start of February.
Credit: Multi-TV Sports Desk/Espn.com
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