Dortmund have now prevented Bayern Munich winning the title for two years in a row, and with Jurgen Klopp’s side looking as strong as last season, Bayern know they have a lot to do to win back the Bundesliga title. They had not gone two years without winning the league since the 1990s. Their 2-1 win over Werder Bremen though was rendered academic by Dortmund’s success. Moenchengladbach are almost certain of a Champions League place in fourth, whilst Schalke in third drew 1-1 with Augsburg.
Munich will now focus on the Champions League, and their semi final with Real Madrid, who all but won their own league this weekend with a 2-1 win over Barcelona in the Clasico at the Nou Camp. Sami Khedira had scored for Real, but an equaliser from Alexis Sanchez raised hopes of a fourth title for the Catalans, before Cristiano Ronaldo’s winner.
Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, doing well in the Europa League, strengthened their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League with a 3-1 win over Espanyol and a 1-0 victory over Racing Santander respectively. Valencia crushed Real Betis to strengthen their hold on third, 4-0, and Malaga are still fourth whilst Levante drew 1-1 at Sevilla to stay fifth.
A decisive blow was also struck in Italy as Juventus continued their unbeaten run with a 4-0 win over Roma. They are now three points clear of champions AC Milan, who were held 1-1 by Bologna. Lazio are in third still by three points after a 1-1 draw at home to Lecce, whilst Udinese in fourth drew 0-0 at Chievo, with Napoli beating Novara 2-0 to keep up their hopes of returning to the Champions League. Inter drew 0-0 at Fiorentina.
In England though, the title race was blown wide open by Steven Pienaar’s equaliser at Old Trafford. Everton staged a remarkably recovery as they drew 4-4 with Man Utd, whose lead over Man City is now three points. The two play each other next week, and if City win, they will go ahead of their city rivals with two games left.
Montpellier still lead from Paris St Germain in France after a 1-0 win over Valenciennes, but the Parisians are breathing down their necks after thrashing Sochaux 6-1. Lyon beat Lorient 3-2, but are still struggling to keep up with third placed Lille, who won 2-0 at Dijon. St Etienne beat Caen 4-1 to bolster their European hopes but Toulouse’s took a blow as they lost 2-1 at Evian.
Ajax move closer to the Dutch title as they beat Gronigen 2-0. AZ, PSV, Feyenoord and Twente are all still chasing them though after they all won, 2-1, 2-1, 2-1 and 1-0 respectively, against Venlo, NEC, Den Haag and Excelsior. In Portugal Porto beat Beira Mar 3-0 and Benfico thrashed Maritimo 4-1 to keep up their title tussle, and in Russia, leaders Zenit drew 2-2 with Krasnodar, but closest rivals Spartak Moscow and CSKA Moscow failed to take advantage. Spartak lost 3-0 at home to Anzhi, and CSKA lost to Dynamo Moscow.
