Inter remain seven points clear of Juventus after both teams claimed victories away from home on Saturday.
Inter triumphed 2-0 at Genoa thanks to Ibrahimovic and Balotelli, whilst a Chiellini goal was enough to give Juventus all three points at Torino. Inter’s win came at the cost of a couple of injuries that may see key defenders Marco Materazzi and Nicolas Burdisso absent in the Champions League clash at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
Milan kept up their chase for a Champions League qualification place with a comfortable 3-0 win over Atalanta. The evergreen Inzaghi bagged a hat-trick. David Beckham, who will stay at the San Siro for the rest of the season, was substituted.
Fiorentina’s fading hopes of catching the top three were dealt a severe blow with a 2-0 defeat at home to mid-table Palermo.
After a couple of weeks of seeing their lead at the top being eroded by Real Madrid, Barcelona can breathe a little easier after this weekend’s games.
Their lead at the top of the table is back to six points after they beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 whilst Real could only manage a 1-1 draw against city rivals Atletico.
Barcelona were reasonably comfortable winners in their game with first half goals from Busquets and a Lionel Messi penalty putting them in command at the break. No further goals came in the second half, but Guardiola and his men will be happy to put their mini-blip behind them.
Real Madrid needed a second half equaliser from Huntelaar to rescue a point after Diego Forlan had given Atletico a first half lead.
Sevilla consolidated third place and moved to within seven points of Real with a 2-1 win over Almeria. The man who can’t stop scoring at the moment, Freddie Kanoute, scored the first goal and made the second for Renato.
Villarreal are three points clear of the rest in fourth place after a Fuentes goal gave them all three points at home to Espanyol.
PSG closed the gap on Lyon to just a solitary point after they won away at Lorient whilst the leaders were being beaten at Lille.
PSG secured a 1-0 win courtesy of a first half Giuly goal, whilst Lyon lost 2-0 at a Lille side who will still harbour hopes of a European finish.
Marseille lost ground as they could only manage a tame 0-0 draw at home to Valenciennes, whilst Toulouse kept up their challenge with goals from Sirieix, Gignac and Sissoko seeing them to an easy 3-0 win over Bordeaux.
Andriy Voronin might have been a complete waste of space at Liverpool but he continues to show his worth on loan at Hertha Berlin. His hat-trick gave his side a 3-1 win away at Cottbus and increased their lead at the top to four points.
Hoffenheim were held 0-0 at home by Werder Bremen and Martin Jol’s Hamburg were humiliated 4-1 at Borussia Munchengladbach.
Bayern Munich moved into second place with an impressive 5-1 win over Hannover. Their goals came from Van Buyten, Klose, Altintop, Podolski and Demichelis.
Unbelievably, Steve McClaren seems to be doing a pretty good job at FC Twente. There must be a reasonable explanation for his success but I can’t think of one. I can only assume that the team would be well clear at the top if they had a different manager whereas they are eleven points behind the leaders AZ Alkmaar after their 1-1 draw with PSV.
Twente earned a point with a goal four minutes into injury-time from Nkufo.
AZ Alkmaar continued their seemingly unstoppable journey to the title with a 1-0 win at NEC courtesy of a goal from Jaliens.
No SPL games this weekend as the big boys were all playing in the Scottish cup. There were mixed fortunes for the old firm as Rangers dismissed Hamilton 5-1 at Ibrox whilst Celtic went out of the tournament 1-0 at St. Mirren.
Porto remain two points clear of Benfica who remain two points clear of Sporting after all three of the top teams won at the weekend.
Porto had an easy 4-1 win at Leixoes with goals from Gonzalez, Hulk, Raul Meireles and Farias. Benfica had Aimar and Katsouranis to thank for their 2-1 win at Naval, whilst Liedson and Derlei gave Sporting a comfortable 2-0 win over Pacos Ferreira.
Olympiakos remain nine points clear of PAOK after earning a 0-0 draw away to their rivals.
Panathinaikos drew level with PAOK after an impressive 3-0 win over Larissa.
It remains tight at the top as Sivasspor remain in pole position despite only drawing 1-1 at home to Ankaraspor.
One point back sit Besiktas who had a thrilling 3-2 win at Hacettepe, and Trabzonspor who missed the chance to go top by losing 1-0 at home to struggling Konyaspor.
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