Crucial goal
Real Madrid closed the gap on Barcelona at the top of La Liga to just one point on Saturday.
Whilst a first half Higuain goal was enough to give Real all three points at the Bernabeu against Racing Santander, Barcelona were toiling to a 1-1 draw at Athletic Bilbao. Daniel had given Barca the lead on fifty-four minutes but within ten minutes the hosts had drawn level.
Sevilla kept up the pressure on the top two and are only two points further back after they won 2-1 at Tenerife. Perotti and Renato put Sevilla in the driving seat but the home team gave them a nervous finish to the game by pulling a goal back fifteen minutes from the end.
Valencia remain fourth after Villa, Albelda and Marchena gave them a comfortable 3-1 win at Osasuna.
Inter are five points clear of Juventus at the top of the Italian league. They had an easy 3-1 win at Bologna with Milito, Balotelli and Cambiasso finding the target. The win was only marred by the sending off of Maicon in injury-time.
Juventus also picked up three points but they were less impressive as a second half Grosso strike proved to be the only goal of the game at home to Udinese.
Milan are just two points further back in third place after they won by the odd goal in seven in a thriller at home to Cagliari. Seedorf, Borriello and Pato had put them 3-2 up at half-time and a second half Ronaldinho penalty secured the points.
Bayer Leverkusen remain at the top in Germany but their lead has been cut to one point by Werder Bremen with Schalke just another point further back.
Leverkusen got a respectable 1-1 draw at Bayern Munich with Kiessling equalising an early Gomes goal for Bayern.
Meanwhile, Werder Bremen were having a remarkable 6-0 win at SC Freiburg. Hugo Almeida scored two of the goals with the others coming from Marin, Ozil, Naldo and Rosenberg.
Schalke needed two late goals from Farfan and Moravek to see off Hannover.
Hertha Berlin remain marooned at the bottom of the table despite earning a 1-1 draw at Stuttgart.
A new leader in France as Auxerre take over at the top. A goal in each half from Coulibaly and Ndinga took them to victory over Monaco, who fall to eighth place in the table.
Bordeaux surprisingly slipped up ay home to Valenciennes. A seventh minute goal by Samassa was enough to give his side the points and move them up to sixth place. Lyon are third after they could only draw 1-1 at Grenoble. That gave the home side just their second point of the season. Lorient are up to fourth after they had an impressive 2-0 win at St Etienne.
Marseille are in seventh place and PSG are down in thirteenth.
Steve McClaren’s FC Twente are two points clear of PSV at the top in Holland with Ajax a further four points back. Those three have a seven point gap on the rest.
FC Twente almost slipped up at home to Vitesse but a goal from Ruiz in the eighty-third minute was enough to take the points.
PSV had an easy win over ten man Heracles with Afellay, Dzsudzsak, Toivonen and Vukovic finding the net in a 4-0 victory.
Ajax went one better by beating Heerenveen 5-1. De Zeeuw bagged two of the goals for the Amsterdam club.
Braga and Benfica are locked together at the top of the Portuguese league, five points clear of the rest.
Braga had held the lead at the top but they slipped up by losing 1-0 at Guimaraes. Benfica caught up with them by winning by the only goal against Naval. Only a late Javi Garcia goal was required.
Rangers consolidated their position at the top in Scotland with a 3-0 win against struggling Kilmarnock. The goals came from Boyd (inevitably!), Miller and Whittaker.
Celtic had the chance to go back to the top on Sunday but a 2-1 defeat at Dundee United left them a point behind their rivals having played a game more. It had looked good for Celtic when they went ahead with a Robson penalty in the 72nd minute, but two goals in the last ten minutes piled on the misery for Tony Mowbray and his men.
It is a two horse race in Greece as Panathinaikos and Olympiakos are so far clear at the top. Panathinaikos hold top spot by a point and have a game in hand, but they could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Asteras Tripoli.
Olympiakos were unable to take advantage as they were held 2-2 at Giannina.
Fenerbahce are three points clear at the top in Turkey despite going down 3-0 at third placed Besiktas.
Galatasaray remain second but they could only draw 1-1 at home to Manisaspor.
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