Nani hails Man United unity

Manchester United forward Nani believes the team's unity is the reason behind their dazzling start to the new season.

United made it five wins from five in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday with a 3-1 win over title rivals Chelsea at Old Trafford, which was last achieved during the 1985/86 season.

In an absorbing encounter, the Red Devils took a 3-0 lead by halftime thanks to goals from Chris Smalling, Nani and Wayne Rooney, but former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres pulled one back for Chelsea immediately after halftime to make it a nervy second 45 for United.

Nonetheless, Sir Alex Ferguson's men held on for the win which sees them take an outright lead at the top of the table, two points ahead of city rivals Manchester City, and Nani has credited the unity within the team as the reason behind their storming start.

"The whole team has been working hard," Nani told United's official website. "We're all together and it gives us confidence for the games.

"We're a compact team and we've been playing some fantastic football - one and two-touch football - and we're scoring a lot of goals."

Nani, who has netted his fair share of stunners during his time at Old Trafford, netted the pick of the lot on Sunday when he stepped inside both Juan Mata and Raul Meireles, before unleashing a rocket past Goal keeper Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal.

However, the Portuguese winger is not ready to declare that strike the best of his United career.

"I've scored a couple of beautiful goals but I'd have to see the others to compare.

"It was a nice goal, though."

Despite admitting Chelsea gave United a run for their money for much of the game, Nani had no doubts that his team had been deserving winners on the day.

"Everybody saw a game with lots of opportunities for both sides.

"Chelsea had a lot of chances to score as well, but I think our performance was better than theirs and that's why we scored three goals.

"We had a lot of confidence and our football was better. I think we deserved the win."

Read More

Spanish La Liga Week end Results

Barcelona 8-0 Osasuna

Spanish and European champions Barcelona produced a raging performance against overwhelmed Osasuna to bounce back from a difficult week at home and abroad.

Goal Scorers: L Messi – Hat-trick, D Villa – 2 Goals, Xavi, C Fabregas(Barcelona), Roversio - Own Goal(Osasuna)

Athletic Bilbao 2-3 Real Betis

Promoted side Real Betis made it three wins from three at the start of the campaign after easing past Athletic Bilbao in a hugely entertaining encounter.

Goal Scorers: B Etxebarria, Nacho, S Sevilla(Betis), O De Marcos, D Lopez(Bilbao)

Levante 1-0 Real Madrid

Ten-man Real Madrid slumped to their first loss of the new season after suffering a surprise 1-0 setback at Levante on Sunday.

Goal Scorers: Kone

Atletico Madrid 4-0 Racing Santander

New signing Radamel Falcao scored a hat-trick as Atletico Madrid swept aside Racing Santander 4-0 at the Vicente Calderon.

Goal Scorers:R Falcao- Hat trick, A Lopez

Real Zaragoza 2-1 Espanyol

Luis Garcia returned to haunt his former side after scoring a brace to give new side Real Zaragoza a victory over 10-man Espanyol.

Goal Scorers: L Garcia(Zaragoza), J Lopez(Espanyol)

Getafe 0-1 Rayo Vallecano

An early effort from Miguel Perez Cuesta earned Rayo Vallecano a 1-0 away win against Getafe in an ill-tempered La Liga clash at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez.

Goal Scorers: M Perez Cuesta(Vallecano)

Sevilla 1-0 Real Sociedad

Fredi Kanoute's strike early in the second half was enough for Sevilla to see off Real Sociedad with a 1-0 win.

 Goal Scorers: F Kanoute(Sevilla)

Granada 1-0 Villarreal

Ikechukwu Uche's second-half header was enough to give Granada their first La Liga win in 35 years over an out of sorts Villarreal.

Goal Scorers: I Uche(Granada)

Sporting Gijon 0-1 Valencia

Valencia moved to the top of La Liga table with a 1-0 win at Sporting Gijon courtesy of a solitary Roberto Soldado goal.

Goal Scorers : R Soldado(Valencia)

Real Mallorca 0-1 Malaga

Martin Demichelis' first-half header was enough to hand Malaga all three points away at Real Mallorca.

Goal Scorers: M Demichelis(Malaga)

Read More

Italian Serie A Week-end Results

Napoli 3-1 AC Milan

Edinson Cavani scored a hat-trick as Napoli swept aside reigning champions AC Milan 3-1 at the San Paolo stadium to maintain their perfect record in Serie A.

Goal Scorers:  Edinson Cavani – Hat-Trick(Napoli), Alberto Aquilani(Milan)

Bologna 0-2 Lecce

Guillermo Giacomazzi and Carlos Grossmuller scored the goals as Lecce earned their first win of the season at Bologna.

Goal Scorers: Guillermo Giacomazzi, Carlos Grossmuller(Lecce)

Catania 1-0 Cesena

Maxi Lopez's first-half penalty settled a scrappy Serie A clash in Catania's favour at Stadio Angelo Massimino.

Goal Scorers: Maxi Lopez (Catania)

Parma 2-1 Chievo

An injury-time goal from Sebastian Giovinco earned Parma a 2-1 win over Chievo although his joy was marred when he was sent off a minute later for a second bookable offence.

Goal Scorers: Giovinco – 2 Goals(Parma) , Alberto Paloschi (Chievo)

Udinese 2-0 Fiorentina

Udinese made it two wins from two Serie A matches with win over Fiorentina thanks to first-half goals by Antonio Di Natale and Mauricio Isla.

Goal Scorers: Antonio Di Natale, Mauricio Isla(Udinese)

 Lazio 1-2 Genoa

Genoa came from behind to win 2-1 and registered their first win of the season against Lazio on Sunday afternoon.

Goal Scorers: Rodrigo Palacio, Juraj Kucka(Genoa), Giuseppe Sculli(Lazio)

Siena 0-1 Juventus

Juventus continued their flawless start to the season with a 1-0 at Siena taking them into a share of the Serie A lead.

Goal Scorers: Alessandro Matri (Juventus)

Atalanta 1-0 Palermo

Atalanta further reduced their deficit at the foot of Serie A thanks to a first win of the campaign in a rain-disrupted win over Palermo.

Goal Scorers: German Denis(Palermo)

Inter Milan 0-0 Roma

Inter Milan and Roma both opened their account in the table with a combative draw at the San Siro.

Cagliari 2-1 Novara

Cagliari edged a tight encounter with Novara with goals from Thiago Ribeiro and Joaquin Larrivey taking the Sardinians to the top of Serie A.

Goal Scorers: Thiago Ribeiro, Larrivey(Cagliari), Takayuki Morimoto(Novara)

Read More

German Bundesliga Week-end Results

Schalke 0-2 Bayern Munich

German giants Bayern Munich returned to the top of the Bundesliga table with their fifth straight win after comfortably seeing off Schalke.

Goal Scorers: Nils Petersen and Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)

Hannover 2-1 Borussia Dortmund

Hannover struck twice in the last five minutes to stun Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund, who fell to a third defeat of the campaign.

Goal Scorers: Karim Haggui, Didier Konan (Hannover), Shinji Kagawa (Dortmund)

Hoffenheim 3-1 Wolfsburg

Hoffenheim kept up the pressure on the league leaders as two goals from Brazilian Roberto Firmino guided them to victory over Wolfsburg.

Goal Scorers:  Ryan Babel , Roberto Firmino – 2 Goals(Hoffenheim),  Ashkan 

Dejagah(Wolfsburg)

Kaiserslautern 3-1 Mainz

Kaiserslautern came from behind to win their first Bundesliga match of the campaign, beating Mainz 3-1 at the Betzenberg.

Goal Scorers:  Itay Schechter , Christian Tiffert(Kaiserslautern), Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting, Bo Svensson –Own Goal(Mainz)

Hertha Berlin 2-2 Augsburg

Bundesliga new comers Augsburg survived the late dismissal of Sebastien Langkamp to hold on for a decent point on the road at Hertha Berlin.

Goal Scorers: Christian Lell, Tunay Torun(Hertha Berlin), Hajime Hosogai, Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker(Augsburg)

Other Results :

Nurnberg 1-1 Werder Bremen

Home side Nurnberg fought back to secure a hard-fought draw in terrible conditions against 10-man Werder Bremen.

Goal Scorers: Mehmet Ekici (Bremen), Wollscheid (Nurnberg)

Hamburg 0-1 B. Monchengladbach

Borussia Monchengladbach climbed to second position in the Bundesliga standings with a narrow away win over rock-bottom Hamburg.

Goal Scorers: Igor de Camargo (B.Monchegladbach)

Bayer Leverkusen 1-4 Cologne

Striker Lukas Podolski inspired Cologne to a 4-1 win over local rivals Bayer Leverkusen in Stale Solbakken and Robin Dutt's first Rhineland derby.

Goal Scorers: Milivoje Novakovic, Lukas Podolski – 2 Goals, Mato Jajalo (Cologne), Simon Rolfes(Leverkusen)

 Freiburg 1-2 Stuttgart

Martin Harnik scored a brace as Stuttgart closed the gap on the Bundesliga leaders with victory at Freiburg on Friday night.

Goal Scorers: Martin Harnik (Stuttgart), Cisse (Freiburg)

Read More