Inter strengthened their hold on the Serie A title at the weekend despite only picking up a point. Jose Mourinho’s men drew 2-2 at home to Palermo after leading 2-0 at half-time with goals from Balotelli and Ibrahimovic.
However, second placed Juventus are ten points back after they went down 3-2 at Genoa. A Del Piero penalty had equalised for them at 1-1 and when Iaquinta equalised again to make it 2-2 in the 84th minute, it looked like they would get a point. Palladino got the winner for the home team with two minutes left. To add to Juventus’ woes, Camoranesi was sent off.
Elsewhere the Rome derby was a typically fiery affair. Lazio will enjoy the local bragging rights after defeating Roma 4-2 but the match also saw three players shown red cards.
A first minute goal from Iniesta and a second half own goal were enough for Barcelona to gain a 2-0 victory over struggling Recreativo Huelva at Camp Nou on Saturday. With eight games remaining they stay six points clear of current champions Real Madrid.
Raul and Robben kept Real in the race as they beat Real Valladolid 2-0.
Sevilla lost 1-0 at home to Getafe to damage their Champions League qualifying hopes but Villarreal couldn’t take advantage, going down 2-0 at home to Malaga.
The one team who did benefit were Valencia who had a thrilling 3-2 win at Sporting Gijon. Silva, Villa and a late Mata goal saw them move into the final qualification spot.
Bayern Munich had suffered two humiliations in a row but they bounced back this weekend with a 4-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt. Ribery, Toni and Lucio found the net in the first half and Schweinsteiger added a fourth after the break.
That win moved Bayern up into second place but Wolfsburg remain three points clear at the top after they won 2-1 at Borussia Munchengladbach courtesy of goals from Dzeko and Riether.
With Hertha Berlin losing 2-0 at Hannover, Stuttgart moved into contention as an injury-time Gomez goal gave them a 1-0 win over Hamburg.
The battle for the French title is no clearer after the weekend’s games. Marseille are now top after they beat Grenoble 4-1 with goals from Hilton, Brandao and a brace from Taiwo.
One point behind them are Lyon who could only draw 2-2 at home to Monaco. Their goals came from Kris and Piquionne.
Another point further back are Bordeaux who won 2-0 at Auxerre thanks to Menegazzo and Wendell.
AZ Alkmaar are still eleven points clear in Holland with just four games remaining after Dembele gave them a 1-0 win at NAC Breda.
FC Twente are second after Denneboom, Franco, Rajkovic and Elia gave them a 4-2 win over Roda JC.
Ajax are just a point behind Steve McClaren’s team after they thrashed Willem II 7-0. Their goals included a hat-trick from Suarez.
Rangers have moved to within one point of Celtic at the top of the table after defeating Motherwell 3-1. An early goal from Velicka was added to by two from top scorer Kris Boyd.
Meanwhile, leaders Celtic could only draw 1-1 at third placed Hearts after Vennegoor of Hesselink had given them a first minute lead.
A pair from Farias and one from Bruno Alvez gave Porto a 3-0 win over Amadora and a four point lead at the top of the table.
Sporting moved into second with a 3-1 win over Naval whilst Benfica lost ground, losing 1-0 at home to Academica.
Sunday’s Istanbul derby finished 0-0 between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce in Turkey. This game, which is always hotly contested in an amazingly intimidating atmosphere ended in a mass brawl in the final minutes which saw four players, two from each team, sent off.
Sivasspor remain a point clear of Besiktas at the top after both sides won at the weekend.
In Greece, Olympiacos are already assured of the title but they won’t have been happy to lose 1-0 at home to Larissa.
Panathinaikos, PAOK and AEK Athens continue to fight it out for second place with PAOK being the only team to pick up three points from this week’s fixtures.
Anderlecht and Standard Liege are locked together at the top of the table, eleven points clear of the rest.
Both teams had 1-0 home victories this week with Anderlecht beating Club Bruges and Liege seeing off the challenge of Lokeren.
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