Barcelona were held to a 2-2 draw by Athletic Bilbao in a thriller in the Basque country, whilst Valencia climbed to third with a 2-0 win over Levante, who faltered after seeing their unbeaten run ended recently.
In France, none of the top four won, with PSG drawing 1-1 at Bordeaux, and Montpellier being held by the same score at St. Etienne. Lyon lost 2-1 to Sochaux, and champions Lille were surprisingly held at home by Evian, also 1-1.
Manchester City remain in control of the Premier League after a 3-2 win at QPR, whilst Manchester United beat Sunderland 1-0 to celebrate Sir Alex Ferguson’s 25th anniversary as manager of the club.
Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal all won, whilst Newcastle also beat Everton to continue their good form, though Liverpool were held by Swansea.
In Germany, Borussia Dortmund crushed Wolfsburg 5-1 to move up into second place, whilst Bayern Munich beat FC Augsburg 2-1.
In Italy, Udinese are top of the league after beating Siena 2-1, and Lazio are in second following a 1-0 victory over Parma. Milan won 4-0 against Catania to move up to third, whilst Juventus
Palermo won 3-1 against Bologna, leaving Napoli in sixth.
In Brazil, the title race got tighter after Corinthians lost 2-1 at América Mineiro. Vasco de Gama also lost 2-0 and Santos, meaning both have 58 points, and are just two ahead of Fluminense, who won 2-1 at Internacional.
Flamengo beat Cruzeiro 5-1 but Botafogo lost 1-0 at home to Figuierense, meaning both are three points behind the leaders with five games left to play in the championship.
In Russia, Kuban Krasnodar drew 1-1 at home to Zenit St. Petersburg, meaning they finished top of the table after 30 games, ahead of CSKA Moscow, who drew 1-1 at Lokomotiv Moscow.
