Goals:
8′ [1 - 0] V.R. Pimpao
11′ [2 - 0] Leandrao
27′ [2 - 1] P.D.S.D. Macedo

Borussia Dortmund

Dortmund captain Sebastian Kehl fired the defending champion ahead in the 48th minute and Lucas Barrios sealed the win in the 82nd, just 10 minutes after coming on as a substitute.

“It really wasn’t easy today, and that’s what makes the win so special,” said Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp.

Dortmund shrugged off a wind chill of minus 17 degrees Celsius (1.4 Fahrenheit) to stretch its unbeaten run to 14 games.

However, Dortmund winger Kevin Grosskreutz played down talk of a title defense.

“Bayern (Munich) said they’ve more quality,” Grosskreutz said.

“There’s always this question. ‘Who’ll be champions? Who’ll be champions?’ We’ve just won a game.”

Bayern can reclaim the lead on goal difference with a win at Hamburger SV on Saturday, when Schalke can also move level on 43 points by beating Mainz at home.

The home side forced two good saves from Roman Weidenfeller early on, before Nuremberg ‘keeper Raphael Schaefer twice denied Robert Lewandowski and then Shinji Kagawa on the line.

The visitors finally got the breakthrough after the interval when Moritz Leitner split the Nuremberg defense with a fantastic through ball and Lukasz Piszczek pulled it back for Kehl to slot into the bottom left corner.

Barrios then scored his first goal of an injury-plagued season when he pounced on Schaefer’s save from Kagawa to secure the win.

“For me it’s super. It was a great day,” the Paraguay striker said.

Klopp’s only concern now is the fitness of Sven Bender. The influential midfielder was forced off in the 22nd minute due to suspected ligament damage to his left ankle. (AP)

Goals:
11′ [0 - 1] B. Abdi
49′ [0 - 2] H. Kaebi
80′ [1 - 2] M.M. Nazari

Santos

Elano has publicly admitted to growing unhappy at Santos after reportedly being included as a makeweight in a deal for Gremio midfielder Douglas, who joined Corinthians earlier in the week.

Reports regarding the 30-year-old’s dissatisfaction have only increased after Santos’ 1-1 draw against Oeste on Thursday.

Coach Muricy Ramalho only decided to take Elano off at the break, even though the player had asked to be replaced during the first half.

“He is still at Santos, but if there is an offer and he wants to go, there is no player I want to stay if they are not happy and satisfied,” Luis Alvaro Ribeiro told reporters.

The former Manchester City attacker joined Santos in November 2010 in a €2.9 million deal after a year-and-a-half at Galatasaray. (Goal)

Goals:
5′ [1 - 0] R. Koch
53′ [2 - 0] M. Pote
63′ [2 - 1] S. Sararer
73′ [3 - 1] Z. Dedic

On the same day John Terry was removed as England captain while he awaits trial in July on charges of racially abusing an opponent, the center back was ruled out on Friday of United’s visit and probably next weekend’s match at Everton too with a knee injury.

With England teammate Ashley Cole also suspended following his red card against Swansea on Tuesday, fourth-place Chelsea is already facing an uphill battle to secure a victory that would trim the gap to United to nine points.

“John Terry is the captain, a leader on the pitch and off it and he is a great player so we will miss him of course,” Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas said.

“We are missing Ashley as well and those two players are in the top four of most-used players. But we cannot be crying out when we miss players … we have a very big squad which enables to us to approach the game with belief.”

Rooney is one of four high-profile players set for comebacks from injury this weekend for United, which has won its last three matches to move level with Manchester City at the top of the standings.

United manager Alex Ferguson may also recall central midfielder Tom Cleverley and wingers Nani and Ashley Young.

Rooney and Nani have been training for two days after recovering from injuries sustained in the Jan. 22 win at Arsenal. Young has been out since December and Cleverley has been out since October.

“We’ve done very well away from home this season and we need to be good from now on,” Ferguson said. “We’ve got some really important away games in the run-in—Chelsea, Tottenham and Man City. They’re going to be crucial games.”

Goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard is out of action for as long as six weeks because of an ankle injury, leaving David De Gea likely to start and Ben Amos set to fill in on the bench.

United—unlike regular top-four rivals Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool—has no worries over whether it will qualify for next season’s Champions League.

The defending champions have won five of their last six meetings with Chelsea but the Blues won the other match in that sequence 2-1 in last season’s corresponding fixture.

Third-place Tottenham is seven points ahead of Chelsea, which is hanging onto the fourth and final Champions League qualifying spot ahead of challenges from Newcastle, Liverpool and Arsenal.

Fifth-place Newcastle hosts Aston Villa in Sunday’s other match.

Manchester City hosts Fulham in one of seven games Saturday, with Tottenham at Liverpool on Monday.

City will again be without striker Mario Balotelli because of suspension and Ivory Coast duo Kolo Toure and Yaya Toure because of their participation at the African Cup of Nations.

David Pizarro, signed on loan from Roma this week, is in contention to make his debut and defensive duo Vincent Kompany and Micah Richards should play despite minor fitness problems.

“We had this problem with some players away,” City manager Roberto Mancini said. “We had this chance with David on loan from Roma and it was good for us because I know the player. I think that could be useful for us in the next four months.”

Louis Saha could be in for a hot reception at Anfield, having just left Everton in time to make his Tottenham debut against his old club’s biggest rival.

With Jermain Defoe, Rafael van der Vaart and Emmanuel Adebayor all in doubt for the match because of injury, the 33-year-old Saha is hoping he gets the chance to add to the single Premier League goal he scored for Everton this season.

“I see many opportunities with the midfielders, the wingers, and the way the team plays here, so I just can’t wait to get started,” Saha said. “It’s a very attacking side and they always look for movement of the striker.” (AP)

Goals:
10′ [1 - 0] B. Djite
14′ [1 - 1] P. Ifill
38′ [1 - 2] D. Sanchez

Napoli

The San Paolo outfit head into Sunday’s game at AC Milan in a must-win situation if they have any European hopes for next season, as they sit seventh in the Serie A standings, 14 points off leaders Juventus.

Napoli’s domestic league form this season has been in stark contrast to their success in the Champions League, in which they have reached the knockout stages, but Campagnaro says there are reasons for the fans to rejoice.

“The criticism has been too harsh,” he told TuttoNapoli.net. “We are still in the Champions League and we eliminated one of the favourites to go through [Manchester City].

“We have a good chance to reach the Coppa Italia final. We are missing something in Serie A, but I am convinced that the fans like the fact that we are still fighting in Europe better.”

The Argentine stopper then admitted that Napoli face a difficult task against Milan at the weekend, but noted his side are eyeing the three points.

“We know Milan’s quality, but we want to do our best,” Campagnaro continued. “We always play better when we give our best. There energy is always there.

“In order to win everything, we must always be at 100 per cent. If we are at our best, no one can beat us.” (Goal)

Goals:
48′ [0 - 1] S. Kehl
82′ [0 - 2] L. Barrios

Arsenal

The Frenchman says he is tempted to rotate his squad to avoid players becoming fatigued after matches against Aston Villa and Bolton Wanderers in the past week.

“I will rotate a little bit because many players have given a lot,” he told the club’s official website. “[With Van Persie] the temptation is there.

“We are in a situation at the moment where he is the main goalscorer, so I will maybe have to build a team that works around him.”

Park Chu-Young, Thierry Henry and Theo Walcott are potential candidates to replace Van Persie in attack if Wenger does decide to rest his talisman.

However, despite returning from the Africa Cup of Nations with Morocco, the Arsenal boss has confirmed that Marouane Chamakh will not be involved.

“We have Park [Chu-Young], Thierry Henry, we have Walcott who wants to play through the middle – he has not done it,” he said.

“We have not done it but we always have adapted. Thierry Henry at the start was not a centre forward, Robin van Persie was not a centre forward, so we’ll see what we do if it happens.

“But Chamakh is back. No [he is not ready to play]. He should be in today because they have 48 hours to be back after the competition, but I will not use him tomorrow.”

Arsenal, who lost 4-3 in the reverse fixture against Blackburn earlier this season, currently sit in seventh place in the Premier League, five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea. (Goal)