European Round-up: Ronaldo in the spotlight again for Real

Goal, missed penalty, sent off.

Barcelona have moved five points clear at the top although Real Madrid do have a game in hand. Valencia and Sevilla remain in third and fourth place three and four points respectively further back.

Barcelona followed up their midweek away win at Xerez with another away win, this time at Deportivo. Messi gave Barca a first half lead but Deportivo went into the break level. The visitors left it late but Messi again, ten minutes from the end and Ibrahimovic in the last two minutes gave them a 3-1 win.

Real Madrid also picked up three points but not without incident. All looked to be calm and going according to plan when Sergio Ramos gave them a 1-0 lead over Almeria at half-time. However, seventeen minutes into the second-half Almeria were 2-1 up.

Goals in the last fifteen minutes from Higuain, Benzema and Ronaldo gave Real a 4-2 win in the end but Ronaldo managed to miss a penalty and get himself sent off as well. He is never far from the action!

Villa and Mathieu gave Valencia a 2-1 win at Athletic Bilbao whilst Sevilla lost a little ground with a 1-1 draw at home Valladolid.

Inter still lead in Italy ahead of Milan and Juventus with Parma moving up to fourth place.

Inter’s lead is down to four points after they were beaten at third placed Juventus. Felipe Melo had a mixed day after giving Juve the lead in the first half but getting himself sent-off near the end of the game. Sammy Eto’o equalised for the leaders before half-time but Juve won 2-1 with a goal from Marchisio just before the hour.

Milan are four points behind Inter and a point ahead of Juve after they beat Sampdoria 3-0. Borriello, Seedorf and Pato all scored inside the first twenty-three minutes.

Parma are five points further back after gaining a 2-2 draw at Genoa.

Bayer Leverkusen are three points clear at the top in Germany from Werder Bremen and Schalke with Bayern Munich a point further back.

Leverkusen were held to a goalless draw at Hannover, as were Werder Bremen at Cologne.

Schalke made up ground on them as Kuranyi and Rafinha gave them a 2-0 win over Hertha Berlin who remain well adrift at the bottom.

Gomes and Badstuber gave Bayern Munich a 2-1 win over Borussia Munchengladbach.

FC Twente march on in Holland as they won by the odd goal in seven in a thriller at NEC. Perez, Nkufo, Stoch and Ruiz ensured that they stayed two points clear at the top.

PSV stayed in touch with a comfortable 2-0 win at bottom club RKC Waalwijk but third placed Ajax lost ground going down 2-0 at FC Utrecht.

Bordeaux are four points clear of Montpellier at the top in France whilst Valenciennes, Lyon and Auxerre are all one point further back.

A first-half Plasil goal was enough for Bordeaux at home to PSG whilst Montpellier overcame ten man Le Mans to win 2-1.

Auxerre’s fine form came crashing down with a 3-1 defeat at home to Nancy and Lyon missed out, losing 4-3 at Lille despite a Lopez hat-trick and leading 3-1 at half-time.

Valenciennes capitalised on those defeats by beating Monaco 3-1.

It is a three horse race in Portugal as Braga and Benfica lead the way with Porto just three points behind.

Braga needed a very late Alan goal to earn a 1-1 draw at Leixoes whilst Benfica hammered Academica 4-0. A Cardoza hat-trick and Saviola took them back to being level on points with the leaders.

Porto stayed in touch after an easy 4-1 win at Guimaraes.

Wins for the top three in Scotland leave Celtic two points clear of Rangers and Hibernian.

Celtic beat Aberdeen 3-0 with a goal from McDonald and a pair from Samaras. A Miller penalty and two from Boyd (surprise, surprise!) gave Rangers a 3-1 win at bottom club Falkirk.

Hibs stayed in the race by beating Motherwell 2-0.

Olympiakos and Panathinaikos continue to dominate the Greek league. Olympiakos remain a point clear after they both won again this weekend. The leaders won 1-0 at FC Xanthi and Panathinaikos had a 3-1 home win over Atromitos.

Three joint leaders at the top in Turkey with another team just a point behind in what is an exciting title race.

Kayserispor were the big winners this week and they lead the way after they beat Bursaspor 3-0. Besiktas are next after they were held to a goalless draw at home to Diyarbakirspor. The third joint leaders are Fenerbahce despite going down 2-1 at Eskisehirspor.

Galatasaray are a point adrift of those three after they had a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Istanbul BB.