European round-up – No stopping Inter or Barcelona

Inter Milan went nine points clear at the top after a late own goal gave them an uninspiring but important 1-0 win over Udinese.

Second placed Juventus fell further behind after they were held 3-3 at home by Chievo. After going 1-0 down, Chiellini had equalised for Juve but they went into the break 2-1 down. A Yepes own goal and one from Iaquinta looked to have given Juventus the points but Pellissier completed his hat-trick in the last minute for the visitors.

AC Milan stay in third place after Ronaldinho and Inzaghi both scored in injury-time to give them a 2-0 win over Lecce.

With eight games left it is hard to see anything other than an Inter, Juventus, Milan, 1,2,3.

No change at the top in La Liga as the top three all won 1-0 on Saturday evening. Leaders Barcelona stay six points clear after beating Real Valladolid 1-0 courtesy of a first half Sammy Eto‘o goal.

A goal from top scorer Higuain gave second placed Real Madrid a 1-0 win at Malaga whilst Sevilla in third overcame Recreativo with a Kanoute penalty.

Fourth placed Villarreal lost 3-0 at Almeria and fifth placed Atletico Madrid went don 4-2 at home to Osasuna. Valencia move up into fifth, just two points behind Villarreal after they beat Getafe 4-1 on Sunday. Two David Villa penalties helped them on their way.

The shock result of the weekend came when Wolfsburg moved to the top of the league with a stunning 5-1 win over Bayern Munich, who drop to fourth. Gentner had put Wolfsburg ahead just before half-time but Toni had sent Bayern in on level terms. A pair apiece from Grafite and Dzeko completed a miserable day for Jurgen Klinsmann’s men.

Martin Jol’s Hamburg move up to second, level on points with Wolfsburg after Pitroipa gave them a 1-0 win over a slightly fading Hoffenheim side.

Former leaders Hertha Berlin dropped to third after losing 3-1 at home to Borussia Dortmund. Rafael scored their goal which was of little consolation.

With eight games left and only seven points separating Wolfsburg at the top and Hoffenheim in sixth place, anything could still happen here.

This is another very tight league with only six points between the top six. Lyon remain at the top after a goal from Boumsong and a brace from Benzema gave them a 3-1 win at Le Mans.

Marseille remain just a point behind after they had a simple 3-0 victory at lowly St Etienne. Brandao and two from Niang kept the pressure on the leaders.

Bordeaux are just two points further back after a last minute Chamakh goal gave them a 1-0 win over Nancy.

AZ Alkmaar’s continued their seemingly unstoppable charge towards the Dutch title with an excellent 4-1 win over Den Haag on Saturday. The goals came from Dembele, Martens, El Hamdaoui and Van der Velden.

FC Twente are now eleven points behind with just five games to play after a Arnautovic goal was only enough to give them a 1-1 draw at NEC.

Ajax moved to within a point of Twente after their 2-1 win at Roda on Sunday.

Celtic remain three points clear of troubled Rangers after they demolished Hamilton 4-0 at Celtic Park. Two from Samaras and one each from McGeady and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink gave the leaders an easy win that had manager Gordon Strachan speaking delightedly about his team.

Rangers stayed in touch with a less impressive 1-0 win at bottom club Falkirk. Kris Boyd scored his 25th goal of the season but Rangers, without the disgraced Ferguson and McGregor, looked anything but title hopefuls.

Porto are four points clear in Portugal after goals from Farias, Gonzalez and Rolando gave them a comfortable 3-1 win over Vitoria Setubal. Their nearest rivals Sporting Lisbon beat Leixoes 1-0 with a first half goal from Derlei.

Sivasspor remain a point clear of nearest rivals Besiktas in Turkey after both grabbed weekend wins. The leaders won 2-0 at Denizlispor whilst Besiktas had a 1-0 win at home to Kayserispor.

In Belgium, Standard Liege moved level with leaders Anderlecht.

Standard grabbed a 3-1 win over GBA, whilst Anderlecht were held to a disappointing goalless draw by Lokeren.

Olympiakos are assured of the Greek title and they won 2-1 at Levadiakos. Panathinaikos, PAOK and AEK Athens are fighting it out for second place. Only AEK failed to win at the weekend when they could only manage a 1-1 draw.

The Swedish season kicked off this weekend with GAIS, Allmanna and Malmo all opening up with three points.

FC Zurich, Basle and Young Boys are battling it out for the Swiss league and Basle slipped a little with a 1-1 draw whilst the other two teams picked up three points.