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■SCOTLAND

Rangers win Old Firm derby

Rangers cruised to the top of the Scottish Premier League on Sunday, with a double from former Celtic player Kenny Miller helping secure a 4-2 win against their Old Firm rivals at Parkhead. Both teams finished with 10 men, with Daniel Cousin and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink seeing red in the second half. The game came to life in the 37th minute with a superb solo goal from Cousin. But the Rangers fans had little time to celebrate before Georgios Samaras put Celtic level in the 40th minute. The away support went wild in the 52nd minute when Kenny Miller put Rangers ahead with a sweet volley from a Kevin Thomson cross and Pedro Mendes made it 3-1 in the 62nd minute with a wonder strike from 30m out. A horrendous error from Boruc then allowed Kenny Miller to get his second of the game in the 79th minute. Shunsuke Nakamura scored a consolation goal for Celtic in injury time.



■RUSSIA

Kazan beat Perm, stay top

Russian league leaders Kazan consolidated their lead at the top of the table following a 2-1 victory at Perm on Sunday. Kazan top the table with 42 points from 20 matches, six points ahead of Dynamo Moscow. Spartak Moscow, who beat 2-1 Nalchik at home, are third with 33 points. Perm clinched the lead 13 minutes after the break when their Bulgarian striker Martin Kushev scored a spot kick. Kazan replied positively, pinning the hosts back and pulled the scores level just 10 minutes later through forward Alexander Bukharov, who scored from his skipper Sergei Semak’s cross. In the 73rd minute, Kazan’s Christian Noboa of Ecuador netted the winner, beating Perm goalkeeper Sergei Narubin with a well-struck free-kick. Meanwhile second-placed Dynamo Moscow failed to narrow the gap with a 1-1 draw against city rivals FC Moscow.



■NETHERLANDS

Feyenoord lose opener

Ragnar Klavan scored one goal and set up another on Sunday to help Heracles Almelo beat 10-man Feyenoord 3-1 in the opening round of the Dutch league. Andre Bahia gave Feyenoord the lead with a header in the first minute, but Jonathan de Guzman was dismissed for elbowing in the 30th minute. Klavan then set up Darl Douglas for the equalizer in the 37th minute and Klavan and Karim Bridji added later goals for Heracles. NAC Breda beat AZ Alkmaar 2-1 with Ghana striker Matthew Amoah scoring both goals. Mounir El Hamdaoui scored AZ’s goal in the 38th minute.



■GREECE

AEK Athens start with win

Edinho scored one goal and Ismael Blanco converted a penalty kick to lead hosts AEK to a 2-1 win over crosstown rivals Panathinaikos in the first round of the Greek league on Sunday. Panathinaikos controlled play from the start, but could not penetrate a sturdy AEK defense. AEK took the lead with a curling shot from the edge of the box by midfielder Edinho into the upper right corner. In first half injury-time, AEK doubled the score with a penalty converted by Blanco after Nikos Spyropoulos handled the ball in his area.



■SERBIA

Partizan stretch their lead

Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade stretched their perfect league start to three matches after two goals by Zoran Tosic and a third by Nenad Djordjevic gave them a 3-0 win at OFK Belgrade on Sunday. Partizan are top, two points ahead of promoted Javor Ivanjica, who enjoyed a shock 2-0 away defeat of Red Star Belgrade that sent them bottom of the division.


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