The win came in controversial circumstances, with Chelsea reduced to nine men before United scored a late winner, which appeared to be offside. Manchester City also kept pace at the top with a 1-0 win over Swansea. Tottenham beat Southampton 2-1 to keep chase whilst Arsenal got back on track with a 1-0 win over QPR at home. Everton and Liverpool drew 2-2 in the Merseyside derby.
Bayern Munich’s unbeaten run came to an end in Germany as they were beaten 2-1 at home by Bayer Leverkusen. The shock defeat means main title rivals Schalke and champions Borussia Dortmund close the gap, after they won 1-0 and 2-1 respectively against Nurnberg and Freiburg.
In Spain it is as you were after Barcelona and Real Madrid both won 5-0 in their respective away games this weekend. Barcelona crushed Rayo Vallecano on Saturday night, before Real followed up with a similarly emphatic victory over Real Mallorca on Sunday. The two teams are still separated by eight points and two teams – Atletico Madrid and Malaga.
Atletico Madrid won 3-1 at home to Osasuna to remain level on points with Barcelona, whilst Malaga were held 0-0 by Espanyol. Valencia lost 1-0 at Real Betis, and Sevilla were beaten 2-1 at Real Zaragoza.
In Italy Juventus are still top of the pile after a controversial 1-0 win at Catania. Napoli are six points behind but with a game in hand, whilst Inter Milan’s good form continued as they close the gap with a 3-1 victory away to Bologna. Fiorentina beat Lazio 2-0, whilst AC Milan got a crucial 1-0 win against Genoa.
In France Paris St Germain moved three points clear of Marseille with a 1-0 win away to Nancy. Marseille missed the chance to level on points as their game with Lyon had to be postponed due to strong winds. Lille beat Valenciennes 2-1, and Montpellier got back to winning ways,
Twente remain top in Holland after beating Waalwijk 1-0, with PSV beating Zwolle 2-1 and champions Ajax drawing 2-2 at Feyenoord. AZ won at Vitesse 2-1. Porto beat Estoril Praia 2-1 in Portugal to remain in a tight battle for the title with Benfica, who cruised to a 3-0 win at Gil Vicente. Russian league leaders Anzhi Makhachkala were beaten 2-1 by Rubin Kazan and overtaken by CSKA Moscow, who won by the same score against Terek Grozny. Champions Zenit St Petersburg won 3-2 at Alania Vladikavkaz. Spartak Moscow beat Saransk 2-0 and Lokomotiv Moscow lost 2-1 at home to Amkar Perm.
Galatasaray kept on top of the pile in Turkey with a comfortable 3-0 win over Kayserispor, whilst Bursaspor won 1-0 at Trabzonspor. Shakhtar Donetsk kept their remarkable run going in Ukraine with a 13th win out of 13 against Tavria.
In Brazil, Gremio drew 1-1 at Bahia, Sao Paulo beat Sport 4-2, Internacional overcame Palmeiras 2-1, Corinthians defeated Vasco de Gama 1-0, and Botafogo crushed Goianense 4-0. The Clasico in Argentina saw Boca Juniors grab a late, late equaliser to draw 2-2 with River Plate.
