David Beckham made his debut for the league leaders as they moved three points clear of Olympique Lyonnais at the top of the table, whilst Marseille are now eight points adrift of the leaders and losing touch with the title race. Nice are one point behind them in fourth after beating Reims 2-0. St Etienne’s 3-0 win at Nancy keeps them fifth, champions Montpellier are up to fifth after beating Evian 1-0, and Rennes drew 2-2 at home to Sochaux. Lille won 3-1 at Ajaccio, and Bordeaux lost 2-0 at home to Brest.
In Italy Juventus won 3-0 against Siena to go seven points clear of Napoli, who play at Udinese on Monday night. AC Milan are up to third ahead of Lazio, who also play on Monday, after the derby with Inter Milan ended 1-1 on Sunday night. Cagliari beat Torino 4-3 in a thrilling encounter, whilst Roma won 3-2 at Atalanta.
In Spain it is as you were at the top after Barcelona came from 1-0 down to beat Sevilla 2-1, Leo Messi scoring for the 15th La Liga game in a row. Real Madrid also recovered from a 1-0 deficit against bottom of the table Deportivo to win 2-1, but are still four points behind Atletico Madrid, who won 1-0 against Espanyol. Real Betis beat Malaga 3-0, Rayo Vallecano lost 2-1 at home to Valladolid and Valencia drew 2-2 at Real Zaragoza.
In the Bundesliga Bayern Munich are 17 points clear of Borussia Dortmund after crushing Werder Bremen 6-1. Champions Dortmund were held 1-1 by Borussia Moenchengladbach to leave their title defence in tatters. Bayer Leverkusen drew 0-0 at Greuther Furth, and Eintracht Frankfurt and Freiburg also shared the points in a goalless draw. Hannover thrashed Hamburg 5-1, Mainz and Wolfsburg drew 1-1 and Schalke beat Fortuna Dusseldorf 2-1.
Manchester United comfortably beat Queens Park Rangers 2-0 in the Premier League to stay 12 points clear at the top, and champions Manchester City also won by the same score against third place Chelsea. Tottenham can go above them if they beat West Ham on Monday night, whilst Arsenal closed in after bouncing back from a disappointing week with a 2-1 win at home to Aston Villa. Everton lost by the same score at Norwich as they lost touch with the race for third and fourth. In the Capital One Cup, Swansea City won the first trophy in their history as they beat Bradford City 5-0 in the final, the biggest winning margin in the tournament’s history.
Galatasaray’s lead at the top of the Turkish league was cut at the weekend as Besiktas beat Sivasspor 1-0, whilst Fenerbahce stay second after a 3-1 win over Kasimpasa. Gala play tonight against Orduspor. In Portugal Benfica beat Pacos de Ferreira 3-0, and Porto beat Rio Ave 2-1. Porto remain just ahead on goal difference, but both are still unbeaten 20 games into the season.
In the Netherlands leaders PSV were beaten 2-1 by Feyenoord, who catapult themselves back into the title race. Ajax could not take advantage though, the champions held 1-1 by Ado den Haag. Twente lost at Heerenveen 2-1 to further their own problems, and Vitesse beat Heracles 5-3.
