European Round-up – Barcelona back in style

Another two for Barca's big money buy.

Barcelona moved three points clear of Real Madrid who are themselves three points clear of Sevilla.

Real Zaragoza are not a bad side and they will have gone to the Camp Nou knowing that Barcelona have had a couple of poor performances. Any hope they had was blown away by half-time when Barcelona took a 3-0 lead. They went on to win 6-1 with Keita getting a hat-trick, Ibrahimovic bagging a pair and Messi chipping in with a goal as well.

Sporting Gijon have had a decent start to the season and they are proving difficult to beat at home. Real Madrid couldn’t manage it as they were held to a goalless draw.

Sevilla also only managed a 0-0 draw as they were held at home by Espanyol. This was even more remarkable when you find out that Espanyol were down to ten men for the last half hour of the game.

At the other end of the table the recovery being shown by Xerez came to an end in a 1-0 defeat at Tenerife and Villarreal finally got a win as Nilmar and Senna gave them a 2-1 win against Malaga.

Inter remain two points clear at the top in Italy after they had a less that impressive 2-1 win at home to Catania. First half goals from Muntari and Sneijder were enough to give them the points.

Second placed Sampdoria had a more impressive 4-1 win over Bologna. A Mannini brace and goals from Pazzini and Ziegler saw off the visitors who had Di Vaio sent off before the half hour. It should be noted that they were 3-0 down by then.

Juventus kept up the pressure on the top two with a 1-0 win at Siena who are rock bottom of the league.

Neither Bayer Leverkusen nor Hamburg could pick up three points this week though they remain joint top of the league. Leverkusen drew 1-1 at home to Borussia Dortmund thanks to a second half equaliser from Friedrich. Hamburg drew 3-3 at Schalke and had Rozehnal sent off on the hour when they were 2-1 up.

Werder Bremen moved to within a point of the leaders with a comprehensive 4-1 win away at VfL Bochum. Bayern Munich stayed in touch with a 2-1 win at home Eintracht Frankfurt although they needed late goals from Arjen Robben and Van Buyten after they had fallen behind on the hour.

Hertha Berlin remain at the bottom although they may be slightly cheered by their 0-0 draw with champions Wolfsburg.

FC Twente remain two points clear of PSV after both sides recorded 4-0 wins at the weekend. Twente won at home to Groningen with goals from Stoch, Tiendalli, Nkufo and Ruiz, whilst Dzsudzsak, Reis, Bakkal and Lazovic bagged the goals for PSV at NEC.

Ajax and Feyenoord complete the top four after Ajax had a fine 4-2 win at champions AZ and Feyenoord scraped home 1-0 over VVV Venlo.

Bordeaux, Monaco, Lyon and Montpellier are all within two points of each other at the top in France.

Bordeaux remain top after an easy 3-0 win over Le Mans whilst two late goals helped Monaco to a 3-1 win at Boulogne.

Lyon and Montpellier were both comprehensively beaten in a surprise at the top. Lyon were hammered 4-1 at Nice and Montpellier fared little better going down 3-0 at Rennes.

At the bottom Grenoble were so close to getting their first point. They were holding Nancy to a 1-1 draw until an 88th minute penalty condemned them to a disastrous ten defeats in ten.

Celtic went back to the top in Scotland with a hard-fought win at struggling Hamilton. Goals from Maloney and McDonald in the first half put Celtic in charge but an 83rd minute Hamilton reply meant Celtic were hanging on in the end.

Rangers could only draw 1-1 at home to Hibernian.

Braga dropped their first points of the season when they were held 1-1 at Rio Ave. Porto took advantage to close the gap to three points by winning 3-2 at home to Academica.

Olympiakos and Panathinaikos are a remarkable nine points clear of the rest after just eight games. Surely that can only just be mathematically possible!

Olympiakos won 2-1 at home to Ergotelis whilst Panathinaikos were 2-1 winners over PAOK.

Fenerbahce overtook Galatasaray at the top of the table after a fine 3-1 win over their rivals. Bursaspor joined Galatasaray in second place with a thumping 6- 0 win over Istanbul BB.