Big guns rampant

In a week that saw a mixture of FA Cup and Premier League matches, Piquionne scored both goals against Birmingham to give the home crowd something to celebrate as troubled Portsmouth booked a place in the semi-finals where they will meet Tottenham or Fulham who failed to score at Craven Cottage. Aston Villa came from 2 down in the first half at Reading to win 4-2 thanks to a Carew hat-trick, and will play Chelsea in the other semi after the Londoners disposed of Stoke 2-0 at the Bridge. In the league Everton hammered Hull 5-1, while Manchester United struggled to win 1-0 at Wolves, and Arsenal rallied to a 3-1 home win against Burnley.
In Spain with Barcelona drawing 2-2 at Almeria, Real Madrid moved to the top of the league after coming from 2 down at home to beat Sevilla 3-2 with a last minute goal, but their joy was short lived as they were knocked out of the Champions League in midweek after only managing a 1-1 home draw against Lyon. A rocket from Robben gave Bayern Munich the away goal to take them through despite losing 3-2 at Fiorentina, while Arsenal pummelled Porto 5-0 thanks to a hat-trick by Nicklas Bendtner who had missed 3 sitters at the weekend, and Manchester United mauled Milan 4-0 at Old Trafford. In first leg of the Europa League, Liverpool who had lost 1-0 at Wiagn on Monday, lost by the same scoreline to a late goal in Lille, and Fulham were beaten 3-1 at Juventus while Rubin Kazan, Valencia and Benfica drew 1-1 at home to Wolfsbug, Werder Bremen and Marseille respectively. Standard Liege triumphed 3-1 at Panathinaikos, and Hamburg enjoyed the same result at home to Anderlecht while nine-man Sporting Lisbon held Atletico to a goalless draw in Madrid.