European round-up

Familiar sight

The gap at the top in Spain has closed to just one goal! Real Madrid remain top on 77 points with a goal difference of 57 whilst Barcelona have the same points and a goal difference of 56. Just eight games remain including the second battle between the two. It really couldn’t be closer.

Over twenty points back are Valencia who look safe in third with Sevilla and Mallorca battling it out for fourth.

Real Madrid had a regulation 2-0 win at Racing Santander. Ronaldo put them ahead with a first half penalty and Higuain scored his inevitable goal in the second half.

Barcelona showed they can cope without Ibrahimovic as his replacement Bojan scored twice in their 4-1 demolition of Athletic Bilbao. The other goals came from Jeffren and Lionel Messi.

Joaquin and two last minute strikes from David Villa gave Valencia a 3-0 win over Osasuna whilst Sevilla beat Tenerife by the same margin. Mallorca were held 1-1 at Almeria.

With six games left in Italy Inter still lead by a point from Roma with Milan a further two points back.

All three of the top three won this weekend. Inter showed something of a return to form with a 3-0 win over Bologna at the San Siro. Motta scored twice with Balotelli adding the other.

A first half goal from Vucinic gave Roma a 1-0 win at Bari, whilst Milan had a hard fought 3-2 win at Cagliari.

All the goals came in the first half with Borriello and Huntelaar twice giving Milan the lead and then an own goal giving them a decisive third lead eight minutes before half-time.

It looks to be between Bayern Munich and Schalke in Germany with Bayern holding a one point advantage at the moment. With just five games left, these two have opened up a five point gap on the rest.

Bayern won the battle of the top two on Saturday and warmed up for the visit to Old Trafford in style. They won 2-1 at Schalke despite being down to ten men when Altintop received his second yellow card four minutes before half-time. All the scoring had been done by then as Ribery and Muller put the visitors 2-0 up before Kuranyi replied for Schalke.

Four games to go and FC Twente are nearly there. They lead Ajax by four points with PSV just a point further back.

A goal in each half from Nkufo and Ruiz gave Steve McClaren’s men a 2-0 win at VVV Venlo. Ajax stayed in touch when an Alderweireld goal four minutes into injury-time gave them a 1-0 win at ADO Den Haag.

PSV also had a narrow win with an 81st minute Dzsudzsak penalty being enough for them to win at Willem II.

It is incredibly tight in France with just one point separating the top five. Lyon lead the pack on goal difference from Montpellier and Auxerre whilst both Bordeaux and Marseille are a point behind but have two games in hand on the top three.

Lyon went to the top courtesy of Michel Bastos and Lopez, who gave them a 2-1 win at Rennes. Montpellier and Auxerre were both held to draws at home.

Bordeaux were beaten 2-1 at home by Nancy whilst Marseille had a 1-0 win over Lens.

With five games to go Benfica seem to have finally broken away from Braga as they have opened up a six point gap at the top.

Braga just about stayed in touch with an eventful 3-2 win at home to Guimaraes on Friday. All three of Braga’s goal’s came from the spot as did one of the visitors’. Braga went down to ten men and were pegged back to 2-2 in the 90th minute but five minutes into stoppage time a Meyong penalty gave them the points.

Benfica avoided such drama with a 4-2 win at Naval, although they did find themselves 2-0 down after eleven minutes. Goals from Di Maria, Cardozo and two from Weldon were enough to give them a reasonably comfortable win in the end.

No change in Scotland with Rangers still ten points clear of Celtic and Dundee United looking good for third place.

A second half Robbie Keane penalty gave Celtic a 1-0 win at Hibernian but Rangers maintained their lead after an early Edu goal was enough to beat Hamilton at home.

Dundee United stayed within five points of Celtic with a 1-0 win at St Johnstone.

Two games to go and barring a miracle the title is going to Panathinaikos. They are six points clear of Olympiakos and eight clear of PAOK Salonika.

The leaders showed why they are at the top with a comprehensive 3-0 win at Atromitos. Olympiakos could only draw 0-0 at home to FC Xanthi to practically end their title hopes, whilst PAOK lost 2-1 at Larissa to totally end theirs.

Still six games left in Turkey but Bursaspor have moved into pole position. They have a three point lead at the top from Fenerbahce with Besiktas and Galatasaray languishing in third and fourth.

The leaders won 2-1 at home to Antalyaspor and Fenerbahce won 2-0 against Kayserispor. Meanwhile, Besiktas and Galatasaray could only manage disappointing draws.