The small club from Valencia beat Malaga 3-0 at the weekend to join Barcelona, who beat Racing Santander by the same score.
Real Madrid remain third following a 4-1 win over Real Betis, in which Gonzalo Higuain netted a third hat trick in just two weeks. Sevilla and Valencia continued their good starts with a win over Sporting Gijon (2-1) and a draw at Real Mallorca (1-1) respectively.
Atletico Madrid were also held 0-0 at Granada, and Villarreal and Getafe also played out a goalless stalemate.
Manchester City are top of the Premier League after a 4-1 win over a poor Aston Villa, as Manchester United were held 1-1 by Liverpool in the weekend’s biggest game. Newcastle remain unbeaten and in the top four with a 2-2 draw at home to Tottenham, whilst Chelsea beat Everton 3-1 to keep pace with the leaders. Arsenal continue their recovery with a 2-1 win over Sunderland.
In Italy, Napoli went down 2-1 at home to Parma in the weekend’s big shock, whilst Inter were also stunned by the same score at Catania.
AC Milan won 3-0 against Palermo in a boost to their flagging fortunes, but on Sunday the league was hit by no fewer than five goalless draws.
Those involved in stalemates included leaders Juventus and Udinese, who took on Chievo and Atalanta respectively.
In the Rome derby, Lazio beat Roma 2-1 thanks to a late winner from Miroslav Klose.
Paris St. Germain kept up their three point lead in Ligue 1 with a 3-1 win at Ajaccio thanks to a hat trick from Kevin Gameiro. Montpellier came from behind to beat Dijon 5-3 at home to stay second, whilst Lyon are level on points with them after a 3-1 win against Nancy. Lille are a point behind both and won 3-1 at Auxerre, while Rennes beat Lorient 2-0 to keep pace with the leaders. Marseille’s struggles continued with a 0-0 draw at Toulouse.
Bayern Munich beat Hertha Berlin 4-0 to remain clear at the top of the Bundesliga and Borussia Moenchengladbach are still second despite a 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen. After their poor start, Borussia Dortmund are recovering and beat Werder Bremen 2-0 at the weekend.
Stuttgart beat Hoffenheim 2-0, Schalke suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat to Kaiserslautern, to leave them 4th and 6th respectively, sandwiching Werder.
AEK Athens are still top in Greece after drawing 1-1 at home to Olympiakos, and in Holland AZ Aalkmar drew 2-2 at Ajax to stay top. PSV beat Utrecht 1-0 and Twente crushed Waalwijk 4-0 to stay 2nd and 3rd, Feyenoord also won 4-0 against Venlo and Vitesse are level on points with them with a 1-0 win at NEC, to climb above champions Ajax.
Corinthians are still top in Brazil after a 1- 0 win at Cruzeiro, and are closely followed by Vasco de Gama also on 54 points after a 2-0 win over Atletico Mineiro. Botafogo also won 2-0, against Atletico Paranaense, whilst Flamengo won 1-0 at Ceara and Fluminense beat Palmeiras 2-1. Sao Paulo’s 3-0 defeat at Atletico Goianense leaves them sixth.
In Argentina, Boca Juniors were held 0-0 by Belgrano, and are six points clear of Racing Club, who drew by the same score with San Martin. Rafaela remain third despite a 3-0 defeat to Estudiantes.
LA Galaxy bid farewell to David Beckham at the weekend, who will now likely leave for Europe, and did so in style after a 1-0 win over Chivas which leaves them with a record 67 points to stay top of the Western Conference.
In the Eastern Conference, New York Red Bulls missed the chance to book a play off spot after a 2-0 defeat to Kansas, which saw Thierry Henry sent off, to leave their opponents in the play offs. Philadelphia remain top of the league.
