Barcelona had gone twenty-two games since they last tasted defeat heading into the weekend, but slipped to only their second defeat of the season when they were shocked 2-1 by city rivals Espanyol.
Former Barcelona man Ivan De La Pena came back to haunt his former employers as his brace secured the unlikely win for the bottom placed club. Yaya Toure replied for the leaders.
That defeat allowed the much criticised Juande Ramos’ Real Madrid to begin to dream of successfully defending their title. They closed the gap at the top to seven points as they demolished Real Betis 6-1 at the Bernabeu.
Two each from Huntelaar and Raul and other goals from Higuain and Sergio Ramos saw Real to a 6-1 lead in a remarkable first half. Hardly the dour and defensive outfit that Ramos has had so much criticism for developing!
Seville are now third after a solitary strike from Jesus Navas saw them past Atletico Madrid, while Villarreal remain inside the UEFA Champions League places after a 2-1 success at home to Sporting Gijon thanks to Rossi and Capdevila.
Valencia were held 1-1 at Deportivo with David Villa scoring the goal but then getting sent off. Valencia will face a fine after picking up a remarkable eight yellow cards.
Inter are getting ever closer to a fourth league title in a row after they maintained their nine-point advantage over the rest with a 2-1 win at relegation threatened Bologna. Goals from Cambiasso and Balotelli were enough to take the three points.
Juventus continue to provide the biggest challenge to Inter’s dominance, winning 2-0 at mid-table Palermo. Juve fans would have been pleased to see the return of David Trezeguet who scored the second goal after Sissoko had given them the lead.
Milan remain eleven points back from their city rivals but kept their very faint hopes of winning the title alive with a narrow 1-0 victory at home to Cagliari. Clarence Seedorf scored the goal in the 65th minute against the seventh placed team.
A goal four minutes into injury time from Adrian Mutu saw Fiorentina maintain fourth place with a 2-1 victory over Chievo after Gilardino had equalised an early strike from the lowly visitors.
Martin Jol’s Hamburg are two points clear at the top after they had an excellent 2-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday. Both goals came from the in-form full back Marcell Jansen
Sitting two points back are Hoffenheim and Hertha Berlin who both failed to win their games this weekend.
Hoffenheim were held in a six-goal thriller at Stuttgart. The Hoffenheim hero was Ba who scored a hat-trick including two equalisers as they twice fell behind.
Hertha Berlin lost ground after they threw away a one-goal lead to lose 2-1 on the road at Wolfsburg. Cicero’s goal on the hour put them ahead, but two late goals damaged their title chase.
Two points further back again are Bayern Munich who went down 2-1 at home to Cologne to suffer back-to-back defeats. Van Buyten’s late goal was hardly a consolation.
A good weekend for Lyon as they stretched their lead at the top to six points with a comfortable 2-0 win at Nancy. Cris and Benzema scored the goals.
Former giants Paris St Germain remain in second place but fell further behind when they were held to a goalless draw on Saturday by Grenoble.
Marseille missed the opportunity to move above PSG as they were also held 0-0 by Le Mans.
Toulouse also drew 0-0 at home and Bordeaux needed an 89th minute equaliser from Fernando Cavenaghi to snatch a point at St Etienne.
AZ Alkmaar continued their procession towards claiming the Eredivisie crown on Saturday when a pair from El Hamdaoui saw them to a comfortable 2-0 win away at struggling Heracles. That win keeps them nine points clear of FC Twente who had an own goal and Janssen to thank for their 2-1 win at Sparta Rotterdam.
Ajax remain third after they came from behind with goals from Suarez and Vermaelen to win 2-1 at home to Volendam.
PSV Eindhoven just about managed to maintain their recent good form when a goal two minutes into injury time from Lazovic gave them a 1-0 win at Groningen.
Rangers have taken over as the new leaders in Scotland after they beat Kilmarnock 3-1 at Ibrox. Kenny Miller scored twice and Kris Boyd added the third.
Celtic would have gone back to the top if they had managed to win at Motherwell on Sunday, but after McDonald had given them the lead on the hour, they conceded a late goal to drop two points and drop to second in the table.
Hearts and Dundee United continue to lead the chase for third place, and a Uefa Cup spot, but both are fifteen points back from the Old Firm pair and could only manage a point apiece from their weekend games against St Mirren and Aberdeen respectively.
Porto have moved four points clear with a 2-0 win at Pacos Ferreira on Friday with a Bruno Alves penalty and Hulk on the scoresheet.
Second placed Benfica travelled to third placed Sporting Lisbon and lost out by the odd goal in five. Liedson gave Sporting an early lead but Reyes equalised for Benfica from the spot before half-time. Derlei put Sporting back in the lead early in the second half and with seven minutes to go Liedson found the net again to make it 3-1. A last minute goal from Cardoza was not enough to save Benfica from defeat.
Olympiakos suffered a very rare defeat going down 1-0 at Ergotelis. Despite that and the fact that nearest challengers Panathinaikos and PAOK Salonica both won, they still maintain an eleven point lead at the top.
Sivasspor are now three points clear after beating Eskisehirspor 1-0. Besiktas were the only other side in the top five to win. The most spectacular defeat was suffered by Galatasaray who lost 5-2 at home to second from bottom Kocaelispor. It is no surprise that German coach Michael Skibbe has now been sacked.
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