European round-up

Having received many comments about the English Premier League bias in my articles, I thought I would introduce a new feature whereby I look at the highlights from around Europe. From now on, every Tuesday morning, I’ll have a look at the highlights from around the continent.

We’ve reached the halfway stage in Spain and it looks increasingly like Barcelona are going to run away with the title. Their 5-0 win against Deportivo took them to fifty points for the season, three points more than the record previously held by Real Madrid at this stage of the season.

Two goals each from Samuel Eto’o and Thierry Henry helped Barcelona on their way. Weren’t those two players almost totally written off in the close season?

The chasing pack are a long way behind Barcelona but they are led by reigning champions Real Madrid who sit twelve points off the lead. They kept the gap the same at the weekend with a 3-1 win against the improving bottom club Osasuna who had taken a first half lead.

The other Champions League places are held by Sevilla who had a narrow and less than impressive 1-0 win at home to Numancia and Valencia, who seem to be fading alarmingly and lost 3-2 at Athletic Bilbao.

Just outside the top four sit Villarreal who had a 2-0 win over an increasingly doomed looking Real Mallorca.

A big shock this weekend as Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan lost 3-1 at mid-table Atalanta. This was only Inter’s second defeat of the season and they found themselves 3-0 down before half-time. An injury time consolation from Ibrahimovic was all they could manage in return.

Luckily for Mourinho they remained three points clear at the top as Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw by Lazio.

David Beckham continued to impress for AC Milan as they consolidated third place in a hard-fought 1-0 win over Fiorentina at the San Siro. Kaka saluted the crowd like it was his last game for the club. Well, now we know it wasn’t.

In fourth place, Genoa easily dismissed struggling Lecce 2-0 to continue their excellent run of form.

Seven of the top eight teams in France won their games this weekend.

Champions and favourites, Lyon, had a comfortable 2-0 win at Grenoble to remain in top place. They are not having it all their own way this season however and Bordeaux kept up the pressure on the leaders with a 2-1 win at Nantes.

At the Stade Velodrome Marseille had a simple 2-0 win over struggling Le Havre and Toulouse kept up their challenge with a 3-0 win over Nancy.

AZ Alkmaar remain three points clear in Holland after they beat bottom club Volendam 2-0.

Ajax are certainly not giving up without a fight and they had their fifth win in a row when they beat NEC Nijmegen 4-2.

The biggest shock in Europe is the fact that Steve McClaren’s FC Twente are also still in with a chance of winning the title! I’m sorry, but no English supporters could possibly imagine McClaren leading anyone to success! Anyway, they took another three points in a 2-1 win over struggling Vitesse Arnhem.

There may be a few worried Celtic fans around as they lost for only the third time this season, going down 4-2 at Aberdeen.

With Rangers beating Falkirk 3-1 the apparently unassailable lead that Celtic had has now been reduced to just two points.

Bottom club Inverness Caledonian Thistle lost for the seventh time in a row and their manager has paid the price with his job.

In Portugal, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon remain together at the top with both sides winning. The third team at the top, Porto, fell a little behind after being held to a goalless draw by Trofense.

In Greece, Olympiakos continue to dominate the league. A 1-0 win at Panseriakos saw them remain nine points clear at the top.

In Turkey, the joint leaders, Sivasspor and Trabzonspor both won their games whilst third placed Galatasaray won a lively six goal derby against Besiktas.