In the big two Sunday games in the Premier League, both Manchester City and Manchester United dealt big blows to North London rivals Spurs and Arsenal.

In the first game, Man City won a thrilling controversial 3-2 match thanks to Mario Balotelli's injury-time penalty.

The controversy is whether Balotelli should have been on the field to score the penalty as he appeared to stamp on Scott Parker's head.

Manchester United ended their two game losing streak with a massive 3-2 win over Man City at the Etihad Stadium. Some quick thoughts on the game:

• Kompany tackle was worthy of a leg card. You cannot slide in with two feet off the ground anymore. Doesn't matter if he went through Nani or not.

Our Manchester United fan site, covered the story on Saturday from James Lawton in the Independent on Saturday, that Manchester United were willing to listen to offers for Rooney. United immediately denied the story.

Well in Sunday's Mirror, Simon Mullock is reporting that Manchester City are planning to make a blockbuster £60m offer for the United star.

Manchester United missed out on the chance to begin the new year on top of the Premier League after suffering a shock 3-2 defeat at home against Blackburn Rovers.

Sir Alex Ferguson turned 70 today but it was a birthday the United manager will want to forget after witnessing his side rally from 2-0 down only to lose to Grant Hanley's late winner.

I am a big fan of Huntelaar and i still cannot understand why Milan let him go! Despite rescuing Milan on a number of occasions in the 2009/2010 season, Huntelaar was regularly used a substitute for the Rossoneri something that eventually led to his move to the Bundesliga.

The Dutch international has gone onto establish himself as a goal scoring machine for Schalke this season scoring 15 goals in 16 appearances for the German club.

Luis Suarez has been banned for eight matches and fined £40,000 by the Football Association for racially abusing Patrice Evra.

Evra told French TV he was racially abused by Suarez on 10 occasions during Manchester United's Barclays Premier League match at Anfield on October 15.

The FA said in a statement:

"An Independent Regulatory Commission has found a charge of misconduct against Luis Suarez proven, and have issued a suspension for a period of eight matches as well as fining him £40,000, pending appeal.

While Barcelona's Clásico win at Real Madrid captured headlines around the world, it was not the only significant result in Europe this weekend.

Spain
The Liga focus fell squarely on the Santiago Bernabéu this weekend as Barcelona injected fresh drama into the title race with a 3-1 comeback win at Madrid.

So after an exciting first round in the Champions League, there are a few shocks and surprises as the competition takes a 2 month break. Of course the major shocks are the exiting of Man United, Ajax and Valencia.

Joining that clubs that had already qualified to the knock out stages are: Lyon, Basel, CSKA Moscow and Napoli.

On another night of drama in the Champions League Lyon, Basel and Napoli all moved onto the round of 16, while last season's beaten finalist Manchester United was sent to the Europa League.

The most unlikely team to progress to the knock stages was Lyon, who needed Ajax to lose at home to Real Madrid while they beat Dinamo Zagreb and overturned a seven-goal deficit.

Terrible night for Manchester United and City as both clubs crashed out of the Champions League tonight.

The bigger shock was Man United losing 2-1 to Basel on a night that saw United captain Nemanja Vidic carried off with a bad knee injury.

United only needed a draw to progress but went behind after only nine minutes when Marco Streller fired home after Xherdan Shaqiri's cross was kicked out by David De Gea.

Manchester City remain five points clear at the top of the Premier League, while the three big London clubs; Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, all got important wins.

Man City have a massive Champions League match against Bayern Munich this coming week, and they warmed up for that encounter with a 5-1 thrashing of Norwich City.

There will be no dream Carling Cup semi-final match-up for Manchester United fans with Man City or Liverpool as United were unceremoniously bounced from the cup tonight by Crystal Palace 2-1 at Old Trafford after extra time. This was not a case of United battering Palace for 120 minutes and them escaping.

The last weekend in Europe ahead of the international break saw Real Madrid extend their lead in La Liga while Udinese and Lazio took advantage of some Juventus's match being postponed to move to the top of Serie A.

Spain
Real Madrid have a three-point lead at the top of the Liga table over Barcelona after Barca need a late goal from Lionel Messi to grab a point at Athletic Bilbao.

Real Madrid maintained their perfect record in Group D and strolled into the round of 16, while Inter Milan and Bayern Münich both took giant steps towards the knockout stages.

Two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo in each half, a trademark free-kick and a penalty, were more than enough for Real Madrid as they beat Lyon 2-0 to make it four wins out of four in the Champions League this season, and they join Barcelona and AC Milan in looking up a round of 16 place with two games to spare.

Manchester City's Italian striker Mario Balotelli did his talking on the pitch as his died romped to a 6-1 home win over city rivals Manchester United in the league last night.

Balotelli who earlier on Saturday made the news for setting his house on fire, was literally on fire for the blues as he scored 2 goals that helped Roberto Mancini's side move 5 points clear at the top of the Premier League table.

NBA star Lebron James was among thousands of fans who attended last weekend's Premier League fixture between Liverpool and Manchester United. The Miami Heat forward was clearly excited as was evident by his tweets.

"Just got to Liverpool, England,"

"Riding through the city.

Real Madrid are on the verge of the Champions League knockout phase after opening up a five-point lead in Group D on a night when a poor Bayern Munich display saw them miss a chance to open up a gap on Napoli. Elsewhere Inter Milan and Benfica moved to the top of their respective groups.

Madrid have yet to drop a point this season in the Champions League and they comfortably beat Lyon 4-0 at the Bernabéu tonight.

Manchester United take on Romanian side Otelul Galati tonight in a must win Champions League Group C fixture that could see them move up the table regardless of the result in the Basel v Benfica fixture that will be played concurrently.

According to Sir Alex Ferguson, he had never heard about his opponents Otelul before.

Manchester United captain Patrice Evra has accused Liverpool striker Luis Suarez of racially abusing him during the 1-1 Premier League draw at Anfield on Saturday.

The France international told French television after the game that Suarez used the same insult "more than 10 times" throughout the match.

Rafael Benitez the former Liverpool and Inter Milan coach believes that Manchester United have been successful under Sir Alex Ferguson's reign due to the club's massive wealth.

It isn't uncommon to hear such statement especially from rivals who cannot accept the success of their competitors.

A day after it was rumored that he would be the subject of a £30 bid from Real Madrid, Javier Hernandez has signed a new five-year contract with the club, according to the player's agent.

Hernandez representative Eduardo Hernandez told ESPN Deportes:

"We have renegotiated Javier's contract and he is now committed for five years with Manchester United.

The news that Wayne Rooney's father and uncle Richie were arrested today over allegations of a football betting scam has to have set off alarm bells at Old Trafford as well as the English FA.

The arrests were in relation to a game between Motherwell and Hearts in December last year in which Motherwell midfielder Steve Jennings was arrested after allegedly getting himself sent off deliberately during the match.

After 4 years with L A Galaxy, David Beckham's career in the MLS will be coming to an end at the end of this season that is assuming that the Los Angeles based outfit does not offer him a new contract.

Beckham is in his final year of his multi million dollar contract with Galaxy and this has led to a scramble for his signature among Europe's elite clubs with the likes of PSG, Tottenham and Queen's Park Rangers all in the race to sign him.

It seems like 2 of the top 4 teams in the EPL has shelved their hopes for winning the Premier League title at least for another year as Arsenal manager Arsene Wnger becomes the latest coach to surrender the tile to the current top 3 Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea.

Athough Liverpool's Suarez was quoted as making the same sentiments while speaking to reporters, there is still no official word from manager Kenny Dalglish as to the ambitions of Liverpool in regards to the title.

The Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer are said to be desperate for a high-profile English player to enable them to compete with David Beckham's LA Galaxy, and have reportedly identified Rio Ferdinand as their main target.

Ferdinand will be 33 next month and is out of contract at Manchester United at the end of next season (2013) and with the progress of Phil Jones and Chris Smalling it is unlikely that United would be interested in signing a then 34-year-old Ferdinand especially when he is on £120,000-a-week.

Manchester City put a turbulent week behind them with a 4-0 victory at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday as Premier League leaders Manchester United rode their luck in a 2-0 win over Norwich City.

City, who suspended Carlos Tevez following his refusal to come off the bench in the UEFA Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich, bounced back in style with goals from Adam Johnson, Mario Balotelli, Samir Nasri and Stefan Savic.

Manchester United has been ranked as the most valuable sporting team in the world, according to the findings of a new report.

Analysis from advisory firm Brand Finance shows that United's brand value has more than doubled since the Glazers bought the club.

According to the report, published in The Times, United's brand value has risen from £197 million in 2005 to £412 million.

Manchester City joined Manchester United at the top of the Premier League table, beating Everton in the day's early game, with Sir Alex Ferguson's men held to a 1-1 draw at Stoke City later on.

Roberto Mancini's side put the pressure on as second half substitutes Mario Balotelli and James Milner gave the blue half of Manchester a 2-0 win over a poor Everton side.

Manchester United went two points clear at the top of the Premier League after beating Chelsea in an incredible game at Old Trafford today.

United were three up at half-time with goals from Chris Smalling, Nani and Wayne Rooney as Chelsea contributed to their own downfall courtesy of poor defending and a dismal failure to take the chances that came their way.

A Dutch classic and a Warsaw derby are among the weekend's top games as on-song Manchester United FC look to test new-look Chelsea FC's resolve in the English Premier League.

Netherlands: PSV Eindhoven v AFC Ajax
Ajax will be keen to defend their unbeaten start to the Eredivisie season when they visit a PSV side who can move level on points with the league leaders with a win in Amsterdam.

Winners in 2010, Inter Milan were shocked at home by Trabzonspor, but there was better news for fellow former champions Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

Bayern Munich and Real Madrid opened their Champions League group stage campaigns with away victories, but 2010 winners Inter MIlan suffered a shock home defeat by Trabzonspor AŞ in the second set of matchday one games.

Inter Milan kicked off the new Serie A season with a defeat and there was frustration elsewhere for European champions FC Barcelona, but the goals continue to flow for Mario Gomez and Wayne Rooney as the duo helped respective sides Bayern Munich and Manchester United record big wins.

Italy
Inter were hoping to make the most of Friday's 2-2 draw for champions AC Milan against Lazio, but Inter were upset 4-3 away to against Palermo, despite two goals for Diego Milito and a first for summer signing Diego Forlán.

They have two of the richest football owners in the world, so it should not be a surprise that Manchester City and Chelsea were once again the big spenders in the summer transfer market.

Manchester City spent well over 120 million euros last summer, and for the second year in a row, the club was the biggest spender, albeit only a comparitively modest 92.

Manchester United today posted record operating profits of £110.9million for the year ended June 30, 2011.

The club have also recorded a record revenue of £334.1million, an increase of £45million from last year and passing £300million for the first time. That £334.1million in revenue beat the previous record of £313m that Arsenal had previously announced.

There were goals aplenty for some of Europe's leading clubs this weekend as both halves of Manchester celebrated big wins, Real Madrid kicked off the Liga season with a 6-0 win and PSV Eindhoven racked up half a dozen strikes of their own.

Premier League
Manchester United were rampant as they handed a depleted Arsenal side their biggest defeat of the Premier League era, Wayne Rooney notching a hat-trick and Ashley Young scoring twice in an 8-2 triumph.

The center of football in England is in Manchester as Wayne Rooney scored a hat-trick as Manchester United thrashed Arsenal 8-2 at Old Trafford and Edin Džeko scored four as Manchester City beat Spurs 5-1 at White Hart Lane.

Manchester City were impressive in the early kick-off as Edin Dzeko scored four times as he and debutant Samir Nasri helped Manchester City put Tottenham Hotspur to the sword with a ruthless display of attacking football.

If you watched Manchester United in the preseason or against West Brom, the one obvious difference between this season and last season is that United have a younger, faster, more mobile team where players easily interchange positions.

United are a yard faster all over the pitch than they were last season.

UEFA has announced that a total of €754.1m was distributed to clubs participating in the Champions League last season and that Barcelona and Manchester United received the largest amounts.

The €754.1m prize money allotted to the 32 teams who figured from the group stage onwards consisted of €413m in fixed amounts plus €341,100,000 from the market pool.

Manchester United began defence of their Premier League crown with a late 2-1 victory at West Brom, while title rivals Chelsea were being held to a 0-0 draw by Stoke.

United began the match strongly and took a 13th-minute lead when Wayne Rooney latched onto an Ashley Young pass and drove a shot on the turn past Ben Foster.

Nani scored in injury time to give Manchester United a 3-2 win over Manchester City in the Community Shield. United fell behind 2-0 at half-time and then ripped City to shreds in a brilliant second half display.

United started well having a lot of good possession without creating any clear-cut scoring chances.