Blue Manchester in trouble

AC Milan, Man Utd, Bayern won and Musir finished in a rather disappointing 3rd place.

The suspected change in leadership in the EPL materialised as the red part of Manchester took the reins away from their blue neighbours. A few months ago, I was writing that this year's La Liga will go to Real Madrid and the EPL will go Man City, with the view that any one of them winning will be rewarding. The first one looks spot on, the second prediction looks fuzzy at the moment. The Citizens still have the advantage of receiving Man Utd at the Etihaad in one of the remaining games, but the momentum has currently turned into Utd's favour. The tide can still swing either way as I expect both to drop surprise points during the remaining fixtures. It will be a tight race but Man Utd are certainly in the driver's seat at the moment and deserving favourites. They are definitely ready for the title run-in while City have a mental hurdle to grasp and overcome, or their title chances could be ruined very rapidly. Exciting duel indeed.

Anyone seen any of the Rooney's penalties lately? It is obvious the guy gives it a good practice as he puts them spot on with no chance for the goalkeeper. Besides one blip when he slipped and missed last year, his penalties have been perfectly dispatched out of the keeper's reach. Contrast him with former team-mate Christiano Ronaldo, who can be as effective, but reacts to the keeper's movements to place his shot, virtually and un-sportingly cutting off his dash in the process. Give me a Rooney penalty to watch anytime.

The Super Saturday Meydan fixture did not go much in the way of the favourites given the ultra-competitive nature of the cards. The results do not give an indication of what the winners could look like on Dubai World Cup day, but they have allowed for certain fancied horses to be removed out of the equation. In this regard, Bold Silvano flopped again and does not look a contender for the DWC, even though connections are pointing out that he had a problem with his tongue over the bit during the race. Same for Gitano Hernando who was expected to find his mile distance too sharp but cannot be expected to improve wonders in 3 weeks time for the big race. The only 2 DWC horses that returned from a positive bulletin were Monterosso, who finished a creditable 4th and will be expected to be better for the run, and Master of Hounds who won on the turf course and might warrant a return to the Tapeta for the DWC.

In golf, Rory Mc Ilroy did not win but came out an eye-catching 3rd in the WGC Championship, one week after winning the Honda Classic. The Irishman certainly has been impressive in racking up quite a few Top 10 finishes and it will be interesting to follow his percentages in that regard. He's certainly getting better and better and warrants more confidence than any other golfer out there, including Tiger Woods.