Eurosport - Mon, 17 Nov 17:30:00 2008
A look at all the weekend's football action from around the globe, including an African Champions League title for Al Ahly.
NETHERLANDS
Ajax Amsterdam brushed aside PSV Eindhoven with a 4-1 home victory to go top of the Dutch league with 25 points, ahead of NAC Breda on goal difference after they beat Heracles Almelo 3-0.
AZ Alkmaar slipped to fourth, two points behind the leaders, after being held to a 1-1 draw by Vitesse Arnhem. They trail Groningen, 3-0 winners over Graafschap Doetinchem, also on goal difference.
Heerenveen beat Utrecht 3-2 to climb to the fifth spot, while struggling Feyenoord remain 12th, 13 points behind the leaders after a 1-1 draw at Twente Enschede.
PORTUGAL
Unheralded Leixoes continued their excellent start to the season with a 1-0 win at Sporting on Saturday to stay top of the standings with 19 points from eight matches, one ahead Benfica.
Maritimo, who beat Trofense 2-0 on Friday, champions Porto, who defeated Vitoria Guimaraes 2-0 on Saturday, and Nacional Madeira, who drew 0-0 with Rio Ave on Sunday, share third spot with 14 points each.
Benfica consolidated second place when Brazilian defender Sidnei clinched a 1-0 home win over Estrela Amadora on Sunday.
GREECE
Olympiakos Piraeus moved four points clear at the top of the Greek Super League after every other team in the top eight failed to win at the weekend.
Olympiakos' 2-0 win over second-placed PAOK Salonika, thanks to goals from Christos Patsatzoglou and Diogo, put the champions four points clear with 23 points. Xanthi are level with PAOK on 19 after drawing 0-0 with lowly Panthrakikos.
RUSSIA
Brazil striker Vagner Love notched a second-half hat-trick to power CSKA Moscow to a 4-0 win over newly-crowned champions Rubin Kazan in a penultimate round of the Russian premier league season.
The league's top scorer took his tally for the season to 20 after scoring seven goals two games and sealing second place and a spot in next year's Champions League for the army club.
CSKA have 56 points from 29 matches, five points ahead of city rivals Dynamo Moscow, who held last year's champions Zenit St Petersburg to a 1-1 draw to stay in third place.
AFRICA
Egypt's Al Ahli won the African Champions League for a record sixth time after beating Coton Sport of Cameroon 4-2 on aggregate.
A 2-2 draw in the second leg of the final in Garoua ensured success for the Cairo team after their 2-0 victory in the first leg two weeks ago.
Al Ahli, competing in the final for a fourth successive year, held off a second half comeback from their hosts to book a place at next month's World Club Cup in Japan.
They set up a handy lead on Sunday when veteran midfielder Ahmed Hassan scored the opening goal, flicking home the ball off the outside of his right foot seven minutes from half-time at the end of a short corner routine.
The boisterous home crowd were given hope of a comeback when Karim Abdoul equalised with a shot from the edge of the penalty area on the stroke of half-time.
Coton Sport, needing three more goals to turn around the aggregate scoreline, took the game to their visitors after the break.
They managed one more goal just past the hour mark when Baba Ousmaila headed home from a free kick.
Despite running Al Ahli ragged, Coton Sport's strikers still spurned several good chances with Ousmaila and Daouda too hasty in executing their chances.
Al Ahli kept up their unbeaten run in the latter stages of this year's competition when Mohamed Barakat was pushed in Coton Sport's penalty area in second half added time and captain Shady Mohamed converted from the spot.
Al Ahli had previously held the record of five Champions League wins jointly with compatriots Zamalek.
Coton Sport were competing in the final for the first time, hoping to become the first side from Cameroon to win Africa's top club prize in 28 years.
ARGENTINA
Boca Juniors missed a chance to go top of the Argentine standings when they suffered a shock 3-2 home defeat by Velez Sarsfield and champions River Plate won for the first time in 13 domestic games.
River's win also moved the defending champions off the bottom of the Apertura championship table and came in their first match since former Argentina midfielder Diego Simeone quit as coach.
San Lorenzo, held 3-3 by Newell's Old Boys who had one player and their coach sent off late in a fiery game, stayed top on goal difference from surprise package Tigre, who beat Godoy Cruz 2-0.
San Lorenzo and Boca started the weekend level on points at the top and San Lorenzo slipped up first, drawing after they had led 3-1 with 10 minutes to play.
But Boca wasted the chance to take advantage.
Mariano Uglessich headed Velez Sarsfield in front after only 17 minutes at a stunned Bombonera when he was left completely unmarked in the Boca area.
Substitute Nicolas Cabrera increased Velez's lead less than one minute after coming on when he swept past three defenders and shot low into the corner in the 51st minute.
Juan Forlin pulled one back, scoring from a rebound after Juan Roman Riquelme's free kick struck the underside of the crossbar in the 58th minute.
But a superbly taken goal five minutes later by teenager Jonathan Cristaldo restored Velez's two-goal lead.
Rodrigo Palacio pulled another back with six minutes left but it was not enough for Boca.
San Lorenzo and Tigre have 30 points from 15 games, with four each to play, and Boca are one behind.
At the other end of the table, River beat Independiente 1-0 to end their long winless run in their first game under caretaker coach Gabriel Rodriguez.
Colombia striker Radamel Falcao Garcia headed the winner from a corner in the second half to lift River above Godoy Cruz on goal difference.
BRAZIL
Palmeiras's problems mounted when they lost 5-2 to Flamengo in the Brazilian championship, two days after coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo was attacked by the club's own fans.
Luxemburgo appeared on the touchline before the game with his right arm in a cast and revealed he had broken it in a clash with supporters at Sao Paulo airport on Friday evening when the team travelled to Rio for the game.
"It was the attitude of vandals," Luxemburgo said. "It was an act of cowardice, an ambush. But I'm not going to let them get away with it."
"If you don't win the championship or a match, you run the risk of the supporters invading the airport and beating everyone up," added the former Real Madrid and Brazil coach.
After the match, Luxemburgo said the team had received phone calls threatening more trouble on their return to Sao Paulo.
Brazilian media said police had set up a special security operation and the players would go straight from the plane to a bus without entering the terminal.
Sunday's defeat effectively ended Palmeiras's title chances as they dropped to fifth place, seven points behind leaders Sao Paulo with three games to go. Flamengo moved up to third.
Marcelinho Paraiba gave Flamengo an early lead, midfielder Ibson notched a hat-trick and former Manchester United midfielder Kleberson added the finishing touch.
Palmeiras replied with an Alex Mineiro penalty and a goal from striker Kleber.
Sao Paulo, who lead with 68 points from 35 games, stayed on course for a third successive title by beating relegation-threatened Figueirense 3-1.
Striker Borges put them 2-0 ahead in less than half an hour, heading in Jorge Wagner's cross and capitalising on a mistake by defender Asprilla for the second.
Cleiton Xavier pulled one back before halftime before striker Hugo turned in Joilson's cross to wrap up the points in the second half.
Gremio beat Coritiba 2-1 to stay two points behind in second place.
Paulo Baier scored a hat-trick for Goias in their 3-1 win over troubled Botafogo who had Tulio and Andre Luis sent off, bringing their red card tally to five in the last four games.
Lucio Flavio converted one penalty and missed another for Botafogo.
URUGUAY
Danubio leap-frogged Nacional to go top of the championship's first stage after their 1-0 win but the match was overshadowed when fans fought on the field.
Shortly after the final whistle, dozens of visiting Nacional fans found their way through a hole in the fencing, invaded the pitch and managed to grab a Danubio flag.
This enraged the home supporters who also ran onto the field and a pitched battle ensued in which fans, some armed with iron bars, punched and aimed karate kicks at each other.
Media said that police took around 15 minutes to bring the situation under control.
A crowd of around 7,000 had packed into Danubio's tiny ground in the working-class neighbourhood of Jardines del Hipodromo.
Jorge Garcia headed the only goal in the second half from Sergio Leal's cross while Nacional had Adrian Romero sent off in the last minute.
Danubio lead with 24 points from 11 games, two ahead of Nacional and Cerro.
PERU
Around 100 Univeristario supporters ran onto the field and attempted to attack the players after the 1-1 draw away to Atletico Minero in Matucana. The fans also insulted the team and demanded the resignation of coach Ricardo Gareca.
The players left the field under police protection, went straight onto the team bus and headed for Lima, a journey of around four hours, without having a shower.
Roberto Jimenez put Universitario ahead but Jose Galvan snatched a late equaliser for lowly Atletico to the fury of the roughly 1,000 visiting supporters.
Sport Ancash's joy at being awarded the three points from their 1-0 defeat at home to Deportivo San Martin was short-lived as they lost 1-0 to Sporting Cristal.
Ancash were awarded a 3-0 walkover win last week because San Martin had arrived late for the game, a decision which left both teams level at the top of the championship's second stage with 40 points each.
San Martin went three points clear by winning 2-0 at Coronel Bolognesi with long-range goals from Ronald Quinteros and Jose Diaz.
COLOMBIA
Deportivo Pereira, with the eccentric Rene Higuita keeping goal at the age of 42, beat Bucaramanga 3-0 to qualify for the last eight of the Clausura championship.
Former Colombia goalkeeper Higuita, famous for his scorpion save against England at Wembley and a spectacular blunder in the 1990 World Cup against Cameroon, has made the latest of several comebacks at the provincial club.
Bogota pair Millonarios, who have won a record 13 titles, and Santa Fe both missed out.
Millonarios finished ninth, below Deportivo Cali on goal difference, despite beating Envigado 2-1 and Santa Fe lost 3-1 at Atletico Junior.
Cali went through despite a 1-0 defeat to La Equidad, who stayed one point ahead of Millonarios and also qualified. Deportes Tolima, Atletico Junior, Atletico Nacional, America, and Medellin were the other teams to qualify.
CHILE
Three of the four Clausura championship quarter-final first leg ties ended in draws as Rangers held Universidad Catolica 3-3, O'Higgins and Palestino finished 2-2 and Colo Colo drew 1-1 at Huachipato.
Cobreloa, who backed down on their threat not to play Universidad de Chile in a row over the timing of the fixture, won 3-0 at home.
ECUADOR
Deportivo Quito drew 1-1 at Barcelona to stay three points clear of their opponents at the top of the championship's final stage with four games to play.
David Quiroz put Barcelona ahead when his penalty hit the post but rebounded into the goal off Giovanny Ibarra in the 42nd minute.
Walter Calderon equalised in the 71st minute.
South American champions LDU beat Deportivo Cuenca 2-0 to go level with Barcelona.
PARAGUAY
Libertad stayed on course for a fourth successive title by winning 2-1 at Olimpia. Guarani, who won 3-1 at Sol de America, are three points behind.
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