World Champions Mesut Mesut Özil and Per Mertesacker are through to the English FA Cup semi-finals with Arsenal FC for a second year running. The holders from London dug deep to win 2-1 against joint record holders Manchester United to progress to the semi-finals. Nacho Monreal (25) and Danny Welbeck (61) scored for the guests, who played a clever counter attacking game, in front of 74,285 spectators at Old Trafford. Wayne Rooney’s (29) netted the initial equaliser for the hosts. To cap it all off, Manchester United went down to ten men after Angel Di Maria received two yellows in quick succession in the 79th minute.
Both Özil and Mertesacker played the full 90 minutes for Arsenal, who can now overtake Man Utd as outright record winners, with both currently on eleven wins each.
Klose fires Lazio to victory with brace
World Champion Miroslav Klose’s brace helped Lazio defeat fellow countryman Mario Gomez’s Fiorentina in the crunch Serie A match in the race for third place, though the latter was missing through injury. In the highlight fixture of matchday 26 in the Italian league the boys from Rome won convincingly 4-0 and regained third place in the league with 46 points. Fiorentina remain in fifth with 42.
Lucas Biglia put Klose’s team in the lead after six minutes before Antonio Candreva doubled the lead with a penalty in the 65th minute. The game was all but over when Klose scored his seventh and eighth goals of the season in the final 15 minutes to secure the win. Gomez missed the game with an ankle ligament injury.
For Klose, who after 20 appearances this season can make his own decision on his future at Lazio, the clubs performance is a factor in him signing a potential contract extension. “We’re moving in the right direction, but we still have some tough opponents ahead of us. We’re missing a little continuity, but it would be wonderful if we could achieve a spot in the Champions League” Klose had said before the match according to Italian press.