By IAN HOLLIDAY
Every January, as the third round of the FA Cup begins in England, the question is never whether there will be upsets, but rather how big they'll be. Saturday's was one of the biggest in recent memory.
Tiny Stevenage, which only became part of the Football League this season, and currently sits 15th in the League Two table, not only out-shot and out-possessed its Premier League opponents, it out-played them. The Magpies needed a last minute wonder-strike from Joey Barton to even get on the board, and it proved to be too little, too late, as Stevenage won 3-1.
While England's top league paused for the FA Cup, league play continued in Spain and in Italy, where leaders AC Milan had their hands full at home to Udinese. The visitors took a 3-1 lead in the 66th minute on Antonio Di Natale's second of the match, only to surrender two goals in four minutes. Udinese again looked like it would take all three points when German Denis scored in the 89th minute, only to give up the lead again on a Zlatan Ibrahimovic goal in the third minute of stoppage time.
Here is a rundown of this weekend's FA Cup, Italian, and Spanish action:
FA CUP
While Newcastle's shock defeat was the biggest upset of the weekend, it wasn't the only one. Fellow promoted Premier League sides Blackpool and West Brom both fell to lower division opposition, losing 2-0 to Southampton and 1-0 to Reading, respectively. Sunderland also fell on Saturday, losing 2-1 to Notts County. Other Premiership clubs had to settle for replays against their lower-opponents. Manchester City were held to a 2-2 draw at Leicester City, and Arsenal needed a last minute penalty from Cesc Fabregas to avoid an embarrassing home defeat to Leeds. It wasn't all bad for Premiership sides, however. Chelsea, Fulham, and Everton all blew out their third round opponents, and Man United defeated Liverpool 1-0 in the round's most anticipated fixture.
Manchester United 1, Liverpool 0
Tottenham 3, Charlton Athletic 0
Chelsea 7, Ipswich Town 0
Leicester City 2, Manchester City 2
Lincoln City 3, Hereford United 4
Arsenal 1, Leeds United 1
Millwall 1, Birmingham City 4
Blackburn 1, Queens Park Rangers 0
Bolton 2, York City 0
Brighton 3, Portsmouth 1
Bristol City 0, Sheffield Wednesday 3
Burnley 4, Port Vale 2
Burton Albion 2, Middlesbrough 1
Coventry City 2, Crystal Palace 1
Doncaster Rovers 2, Wolverhampton Wanderers 2
Fulham 6, Peterborough United 2
Huddersfield Town 2, Dover 0
Hull City 2, Wigan Athletic 3
Norwich City 0, Leyton Orient 1
Preston North End 1, Nottingham Forest 2
Reading 1, West Bromwich Albion 0
Scunthorpe United 1, Everton 5
Sheffield United 1, Aston Villa 3
Southampton 2, Blackpool 0
Stoke City 1, Cardiff City 1
Sunderland 1, Notts County 2
Swansea City 4, Colchester United 0
Torquay United 1, Carlisle United 0
Watford 4, Hartlepool United 1
West Ham United 2, Barnsley 0
Stevenage 3, Newcastle United 1
SPAIN
Barca and Real Madrid continued to roll through their La Liga schedules this weekend, with each club posting 4 goals in a comfortable victory. Madrid got a hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo to overturn an early 2-1 deficit against Villarreal, while Barca posted a 4-0 win at Athletic Bilbao. Ronaldo's three goals brought his total to 22 for the season, four ahead of Lionel Messi, who added just one to his total against Athletic.
Espanyol 4, Real Zaragoza 0
Mallorca 4, Almeria 1
Osasuna 0, Getafe 0
Racing Santander 1, Sporting Gijon 1
Real Madrid 4, Villarreal 2
Levante 0, Valencia 1
Malaga 1, Athletic Bilbao 1
Real Sociedad 2, Sevilla 3
Deportivo La Coruna 0, Barcelona 4
Monday: Hercules v. Atletico Madrid
ITALY
Milan may have had its hands full in salvaging a point against Udinese, but the club still holds a four point lead in the Serie A standings thanks, in large part, to losses by two of its nearest competitors: AS Roma and Lazio. Roma fell 2-1 at Sampdoria on Sunday to stay stuck in fourth place on 32 points. Lazio fell to third with a disappointing 2-1 home loss to relegation-threatened Lecce. The only club able to take advantage of Milan's slip was Napoli, which now holds second place with 36 points after its 3-0 thumping of Juventus. Napoli has been on a run of great form lately, due in large part to Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani, who netted all three of the club's goals against Juve.
Sampdoria 2, AS Roma 1
AC Milan 4, Udinese 4
Bari 0, Bologna 2
Catania 1, Inter Milan 2
Cesena 0, Genoa 0
Chievo 0, Palermo 0
Fiorentina 3, Brescia 2
Lazio 1, Lecce 2
Parma 1, Cagliari 2
Napoli 3, Juventus 0
What did you think of this weekend's results? Enjoy the FA Cup action? Prefer Premier League play? Impressed by any of the results in Italy or Spain? Share your thoughts below:
Come on Messi, Really? Only one goal? (sarcasm)
I watched the Newcastle-Stevenage match…what a game. Stevenage never seemed to lose the edge, and continued to push against Newcastle after going ahead, instead of trying to pack it in and hold on. The Newcastle goal came late, with Stevenage already well in control.
Newcatle was playing without Carroll. Does anybody know if he was injured?
I heard his coach sent him to Dubai to get healthy. I suspect he was just fatigued but isn’t expected to be out for long.
La Liga is a joke, Pretty Boy’s third goal (which broke the game wide open) should have been disallowed, but to be fair Real was dominating the second half and every well have score another, anyone who think La Liga is fun to watch should ask themselves if SPL is fun to watch?
URRRRRRRRZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. That a way Reading, keep it up.
la liga is not for everyone Dan… as you can see its a different style of football.
i, for one, love La Liga. i think they have to figure out a way to make it more competitive so it isnt just a two horse race, but the level of football is great…which you cannot say for the SPL. and that is the main difference. both leagues only have two teams who win, but at least the other teams in La Liga are good teams who can play good footy. they just don’t have the money to keep up with Real and Barca thanks to things like TV monies.
I totally disagree. I don’t watch La Liga much, but that Villarreal game was a ton of fun to watch–fast, attacking soccer on both sides…
yes definitely not fun to watch quality football I hate how they keep the ball on the ground instead of booting it down the field in the box and hope someone puts it in the net. That’s much more fun.
im guessing that robert daniels comment is sarcasm….
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Real-Villareal match – especially when Mourihno went all the way over to the Villareal bench to taunt them, and getting a waterbottle thrown at him from a substitute player.
the sub was CANI. haha
Sure its beautiful soccer, but its disgusting how behind everyone else is. I don’t even bother to look at La Liga results anymore.
He has a thigh strain. They were fearful for a tear, but he has missed the last 3 games due to injury. Right now he is questionable for the Sunderland clash.
What about Amoebi like?! Did they have Amoebi?!