Spanish La Liga side Malaga have continued their recruitment drive with the purchases of French midfielder Jeremy Toulalan from Lyon and experienced Dutch central defender Joris Mathijsen from Hamburg.
JOHANNESBURG -- For all the controversy and the perceived injustices, for all the bad fouls and dubious decisions, for all the aesthetic/ideological debates about Spain being boring and the Dutch being nasty (or vice versa, if you will), it came down to this:
SV Hamburg regained top spot in the Bundesliga with a 1-0 win over Bayern Munich in Saturday's vital league clash in Germany.
Bundesliga high-flyers Hamburg fought back from going a surprise goal behind after just 35 seconds to defeat Manchester City 3-1 in their UEFA Cup quarterfinal first leg tie on Thursday.
Bundesliga's newcomers Hoffenheim went back to the top of the German standings with a 3-1 win at VfL Bochum on Wednesday.
Debutant Chris Iwelumo missed an outstanding chance as Scotland's World Cup hopes took a significant blow as they were held to a goalless draw at home by Norway.
Newly-promoted Hoffenheim sit atop the Bundesliga after two rounds after beating Borussia Moenchengladbach 1-0 on Saturday for their second straight win.
Denmark held the Netherlands to a 1-1 friendly draw in Eindhoven on Thursday, Marco van Basten's side's penultimate warm-up match for Euro 2008.
Hamburg have signed Dutch midfielder Romeo Castelen on a four-year contract from Feyenoord Rotterdam for a fee of three million euros ($4.10 million), the Bundesliga club have said.
Four Dutch goals in the second half made up for a poor first half as the Netherlands scored a comfortable 4-1 win over Russia in a friendly international on Wednesday.
Central defender Joris Mathijsen's 17th minute goal gave Netherlands a 1-0 win over Luxembourg in their Euro 2008 Group G qualifier.
Dutch international defender Joris Mathijsen has left AZ Alkmaar to join Hamburg on a four-year contract.
Brazilian strikers Diego Tardelli and Robert scored second-half goals for Real Betis to beat AZ Alkmaar 2-0 in a first-leg game of the UEFA Cup's Round of 32 on Wednesday.
Striker Roy Makaay and midfielders Edgar Davids and Mark van Bommel do not appear to feature in coach Marco van Basten's plans after being dropped from the latest Dutch squad.
Substitute Mauricio Pinilla scored a spectacular long-range goal 10 minutes from time to give Sporting a 2-1 victory over AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of their UEFA Cup semi-final.
Parma coach Pietro Carmignani's preoccupation with his side's relegation battle will mean he again fields a weakened line-up for their UEFA Cup semifinal first leg clash against CSKA Moscow on Thursday.
AZ Alkmaar practically sealed a place in the UEFA Cup quarterfinals with a convincing 3-1 win at Shakhtar Donetsk in the first leg of their second knockout round tie on Thursday.
Dutch leaders Ajax have signed Greek striker Yannis Anastasiou to boost their attack ahead of Sunday's key league clash with PSV Eindhoven.
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