Clinical Arsenal Beat An Uninspiring Liverpool at Anfield

Arsenal produced a disciplined and clinical display to comfortably beat Liverpool at Anfield. Goals from new signings Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla gave them their first three points of the season in a cagey game of few chances.

A year ago Liverpool travelled to the Emirates and beat an Arsenal side in transition 2-0 and this time it was the other way around as the Gunners disposed of a side lacking in creativity and menace. The game started slowly and besides a couple of Liverpool free-kicks that came to nothing there was little to suggest a goal was coming when Steven Gerrard needlessly gave the ball away deep in the Arsenal half. Podolski found Cazorla who turned into space before picking the perfect moment to slip the ball back to his team-mate, who  in turn, duly slotted in to give his team a 31st minute lead. 

Brendan Rodgers's Liverpool continued to press and push men forward but without much end product, the best moment a Raheem Sterling turn and shot that found the outside of the post. Arsenal could have doubled their lead before half-time but Olivier Giroud spurned a great chance when he shot wide when he should have done better. 

Arsenal came out quickly in the second half and Reina was forced into a smart save from Cazorla. On 68 minutes Cazorla played a neat one-two with Podolski and burst into the left-hand side of the area before shooting low under Reina at the near-post. 

A home come-back never looked like materialising and it was Arsene Wenger's men that nearly scored again when Giroud headed over when in acres of space. The only bright sparks for Rodgers was another virtuoso display by 17-year-old winger Raheem Sterling and a good late cameo by Jonjo Shelvey.

Arsenal answered many questions, especially to the people who thought that they could not score enough goals. Liverpool meanwhile just showed that letting Andy Carroll go to Upton Park leaves them with no Plan B and a lack of fire-power.

Exhilarating Night of Football Fluctuates Before Germany and Portugal Come Out on Top

Four of the biggest footballing nations in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal all played tonight in an absorbing night of sport at its best. The stage was set for one of the most dramatic nights of the tournament with all four teams able to qualify for the quarter-finals before kick-off. Neither match disappointed as football fans across Europe were taken through the ringer as the pendulum swung this way and that.

The Netherlands entered this final round of fixtures desperately needing a win to give themselves a chance of progressing to the knock-out stages while opponents Portugal knew a win would all but seal their place in the next round. The Dutch flew out of the blocks like Usain Bolt and Rafael van der Vaart gave them the early advantage with a magnificent curling strike from all of 25 yards. Portugal came close to an immediate response but Cristiano Ronaldo could only hit the base of the post when found in plenty of space. Portugal continued to threaten in an open game but Ronaldo was caught narrowly off-side and had a close-range header excellently saved by Oranje goalkeeper Stekelenburg.

Meanwhile in the other match Germany took the lead in the 19^th minute through a cool finish from Lukas Podolski after Mario Gomez appeared to mis-hit his shot. However underdogs Denmark did not lie down and scored an equaliser thanks Michael Krohn-Delhi’s head following Niklas Bendtner’s nod back across goal. This meant that as it stood Denmark and Germany were taking the top two spaces. However Danish joy did not last long as Portugal equalised through much-maligned star-striker Ronaldo. He beat the off-side trap by a whisker to collect Joao Pereira's pass and calmly slot home.

The second half continued to be tight in both matches as no one wanted to press too hard for fear of conceding what would have been a killer goal. Ronaldo silenced his critics in style when he cut inside to fire low past Stekelenburg in the 74^th minute crush Dutch hopes. The Real Madrid forward then nearly completed his hat-trick but saw his long-range left-footed drive come crashing back off the post. It did not matter though as the stuffing had long been knocked out of the Netherlands as they limped to an inadequate exit from a tournament they had been expected to feature prominently in.

Denmark continued to battle against the Germans in an attempt to find a winning goal that would have given them a chance of qualification. Unfortunately for the battling Scandinavians though Germany caught them on the counter-attack with just ten minutes left and Lars Bender fired home to seal top spot in the group and a quarter-final against Greece.

A brilliant night of football failed to let down the millions watching despite the high expectations. At the end of the day Denmark and Holland are on their way home, while Germany and Portugal march onwards to the Euro 2012 last eight.