Behind the pair, Lille strengthened their hold on the final Champions League place with a 3-0 win at Evian, whilst Toulouse beat Auxerre 1-0 to stay in touch. Lyon overcame struggling Sochaux 2-1 to retain their third place aspirations, whilst Marseille arrested a seven game losing streak at Nice with a 1-1 draw.
In England Manchester City dropped more crucial points, this time at Stoke City as they came from a goal behind to draw 1-1. Manchester United face Fulham on Monday and can go three points clear of their city rivals. Arsenal solidified their third spot with a 3-0 win over Aston Villa, taking advantage of the draw between fourth placed Tottenham and Chelsea in fifth at Stamford Bridge. Newcastle beat West Brom 3-1 to remain in the hunt for a Champions League place, just, whilst Liverpool’s awful form continued. They lost 2-1 at home to relegation threatened Wigan to make it five losses in six.
Real Madrid returned to winning ways in style on Saturday as they thrashed Real Sociedad 5-1, Cristiano Ronaldo breaking the record for the fastest any player has reached 100 goals in La Liga history. They are still six points ahead of Barcelona, who were 2-0 winners at Real Mallorca. Valencia went down 3-1 at home to Getafe to continue their miserable form, whilst Malaga drew level with Los Che as they beat Espanyol 2-1 in Barcelona. Levante lost 2-0 at home to Osasuna, Atletico Madrid lost 1-0 at Real Zaragoza and Athletic Bilbao were held 1-1 by Sporting Gijon.
Borussia Dortmund crushed Koln 6-1 in the Bundesliga, whilst Bayern Munich beat Hannover to keep up the pressure with a 2-1 win. Schalke won 2-0 against Bayer Leverkusen, and Borussia Moenchengladbach suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at home to Hoffenheim.
Juventus kept up the pressure on AC Milan in Serie A as both overcame tricky tests. Juve beat Internazionale 2-0 a day after AC had to come from a goal behind to beat Roma 2-1. Lazio are still third after beating Cagliari 1-0, whilst Udinese drew 1-1 at Palermo and Napoli drew 2-2 at home to Catania.
In Russia, CSKA Moscow’s 2-0 home defeat by Lokomotiv Moscow meant they missed the chance to close the gap on Zenit St Petersburg, who are still top after a 1-1 draw with Rubin Kazan. Hamdi Harbaoui scored the only goal of the Belgian Cup final for Lokeren against Kortijk, giving the Tunisian cult like status with the club’s support. And in Scotland Rangers beat Celtic 3-2 to prevent their rivals wrapping up the title at their own stadium, Ibrox.
Porto drew 1-1 at Pacos de Ferreira whilst Benfica also drew 0-0 at Olhanense. Ajax beat PSV 2-0 in the big match in Holland to remain in touch with leaders AZ, who beat Waalwijk 1-0. Twente drew at Ado den Haag to lose pace at the top, whilst Feyenoord won 3-0 at de Graafschap and Heerenveen crushed Venlo 4-1. And in Argentina, Estudiantes went top as they beat Argentinos Juniors 2-1 on Sunday to take the lead in the Clausura. They leapfrogged Tigre, who lost at Arsenal 1-0, and Apertura champions Boca Juniors, who were held 2-2 by Lanus.
