European round-up: Real keep it interesting as Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland and Turkey go to the wire

Ronaldo and Higuain keep it interesting

Just when you thought Barcelona were going to win the Spanish League after they beat Real Madrid at the Bernabeu last week the whole thing flies wide open again.

Barcelona were inexplicably held to a 0-0 draw at struggling local rivals Espanyol. They also had Daniel sent-off for two yellow card offences.

Real Madrid had a good 2-0 win over third placed Valencia. The goals came from Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo. That win lifts the Whites back to within one point of Barcelona with five games to play.

Sevilla remain fourth after they beat nine man Sporting Gijon 3-0.

Jose Mourinho’s grip on the Scudetta continues to be weak as Inter remain a point behind Roma with just four games left. Milan are now safe but adrift in third place.

Inter beat ten man Juventus 2-0 with late goals from Maicon and Eto’o, whilst Roma had a double from Vucinic to thank for their 2-1 win at Lazio. They also managed to get a remarkable eight players shown a yellow card without any of them being shown a second one!

Milan lost 2-0 to fourth placed Sampdoria and had Bonera sent off. Just to make things worse, Sampdoria’s winner came two minutes into injury-time.

Bayern Munich are two points clear of Schalke at the top in Germany with only three games left to play. Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund are fighting it out for third.

The leaders made something of a point by winning 7-0 against struggling Hannover 96. Arjen Robben helped himself to a hat-trick whilst Olic and Muller grabbed two each.

Schalke kept the pressure on after as two from Ratikic and one from Farfan gave them a 3-1 win at home to Borussia Munchengladbach.

Werder Bremen did their chances of finishing third a whole lot of good by beating Wolfsburg 4-2 away, whilst Dortmund could only draw 1-1 at home to Hoffenheim and Leverkusen lost 2-1 at Stuttgart.

The Dutch League goes into it’s final day next Sunday with Steve McClaren’s FC Twente side just one point clear of Ajax. They both face away games at mid-table sides on what is sure to be an exciting and nerve racking climax to the season.

Both teams won this weekend with Twente beating Feyenoord 2-0 with a goal in each half from Nkufo and Stoch. Ajax had a fine 4-0 win over Heracles with De Jong and Pantelic both scoring two.

PSV are clear in third place and they had a comfortable 3-1 win at home to FC Groningen.

With five games left to play in the season Marseille are looking like champions as they sit five points clear at the top. Auxerre in second are then four points clear of a chasing pack of four teams who will all fancy their chances of a top three finish.

The leaders needed a ninetieth minute penalty from Taiwo to beat Boulogne 2-1. Valbuena had given them a first half lead but Boulogne equalised with just eight minutes left.

Auxerre had an easy 4-1 win over Lorient who ended the game with just nine players. Of the chasing pack, Lille were the only winners, beating Monaco 4-0.

With three games to go Benfica are six points clear and almost there. They had to work hard for the three points this weekend as they won 3-2 at Academica. Two from Weldon and one from Ruben Amorim gave them the win.

Second placed Braga kept their feint hopes alive as two from Alan and one from Moises gave them a 3-1 win at home to Leixoes.

Porto remain third after a comfortable 3-0 win over Guimaraes.

It has been all over for quite a while in Scotland really but Rangers still haven’t mathematically won the title. They had a regulation 2-0 win over Hearts thanks to second half goals from Lafferty and Miller.

Celtic are eleven points behind after goals from Keane, Fortune and Rasmussen gave them a 3-2 win over Hibs.

Dundee United are safe in third after they won 3-2 at Motherwell.

The season finished in Greece and champions Panathinaikos ended with a 1-0 win at Giannina. That win means they win the league by six points from Olympiakos with PAOK Salonica two points further back in third.

Olympiakos finished with a 2-1 win over Aris Salonika, whilst PAOK beat Ergotelis 4-1.

Bursaspor are top by four points with four to play, but second placed Fenerbahce have a game in hand. Galatasaray and Besiktas, in third and fourth are not totally out of it but are unlikely to make up the ground.

Bursaspor won on Friday with a goal in each half at home to Gaziantepspor. Fenerbahce kept the pressure on them by getting a crucial 1-0 win over Besiktas to all but end their title hopes.

Galatasaray maintained their challenge by running out 2-1 winners at Manisaspor.