It was a decisive weekend in Europe’s big leagues with Barcelona, AC Milan, Manchester United and Dortmund suddenly all firming for their respective titles, while in France it’s well-and-truly alive.
Spanish La Liga
Weekend Results Saturday; Getafe 1 Sevilla 0, Malaga 3 Mallorca 0, Almeria 0 Valencia 3, Real Madrid 1 FC Barcelona 1. Sunday; Deportivo Coruna 2 Santander 0, Osasuna 1 Athletic Bilbao 2, Espanyol 2 Atletico Madrid 2, Sociedad 2 Gijon 1, Levante 2 Hercules 1. Monday; Villarreal v Zaragoza
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | FC Barcelona | 85 |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 77 |
| 3 | Valencia | 63 |
| 4 | Villarreal | 54 |
| 5 | Sevilla | 46 |
With six games left in the season, Barcelona are all but Spanish champions. Real Madrid knew anything but a victory would effectively end the title race. Barca may feel aggrieved about the penalty Real won for the equaliser, converted by Cristiano Ronaldo but they’ll be delighted to hold onto their eight-point advantage at the summit.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Osasuna | 35 |
| 17 | Real Zaragoza | 33 |
| 18 | Malaga | 33 |
| 19 | Hercules | 30 |
| 20 | Almeria | 26 |
Almeria’s fourth consecutive defeat has them headed for the Spanish second tier. Julio Baptista scored a brace to inspire Malaga to a crucial 3-0 win over Mallorca, but Deportivo and Getafe both won this weekend to move away from the drop zone.
Topscorers *Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 30 goals, Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 29 goals, David Villa (Barcelona) 17 goals, Joseba Llorente (Athletic Bilbao) 16 goals, Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal) 15 goals *
Italian Serie A
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | AC Milan | 71 |
| 2 | Napoli | 65 |
| 3 | Internazionale | 63 |
| 4 | Lazio | 60 |
| 5 | Udinese | 59 |
What a weekend for AC Milan! Max Allegri’s men took a giant step towards their first Scudetto since 2004 as their 3-0 win over Sampdoria combined with Napoli and Inter Milan’s defeats sent them six points clear with five games to play. Napoli failed a big test of their title credentials as Edinson Cavani missed a penalty in the defeat, which boosts Udinese’s Champions League hopes.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Lecce | 35 |
| 17 | Cesena | 34 |
| 18 | Sampdoria | 32 |
| 19 | Brescia | 30 |
| 20 | Bari | 21 |
Sampdoria’s disastrous run of form has now taken them into the bottom three after their big loss to AC Milan where ex-star Antonio Cassano scored against them. Painful much. To make matters worse for them, fellow strugglers Parma and Cesena won this weekend. Cesena’s 1-0 win over Bari all but sends the Cockerels down.
Topscorers Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 26 goals, Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 25 goals, Marco Di Vaio (Bologna) 19 goals, Samuel Eto’o (Internazionale) 19 goals, Alessandro Matri (Juventus/Cagliari) 18 goals
English Premier League
| Pos | Team | Pts | Pl |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester United | 69 | 32 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 63 | 32 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 61 | 32 |
| 4 | Manchester City | 56 | 31 |
| 5 | Tottenham | 53 | 31 |
Manchester United may have been knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester City in the semi finals on the weekend, but they moved a step closer to the league title after Arsenal dramatically conceded with the final kick of the game to draw 1-1 with Liverpool. The Red Devils are now six points clear with six games to play.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Blackburn | 35 |
| 17 | Wigan | 34 |
| 18 | Blackpool | 33 |
| 19 | West Ham | 32 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 32 |
Wigan moved out of the bottom three with a huge 3-1 win over fellow strugglers Blackpool. The Tangerines have now won just one of their past 13 games. Meanwhile, West Ham’s last-gasp 2-1 loss to Aston Villa has them staring down the barrel of relegation. Wolves didn’t play.
Topscorers Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United) 21 goals, Carlos Tevez (Manchester City) 19 goals, Darren Bent (Aston Villa/Sunderland) 13 goals, Robin van Persie (Arsenal) 13 goals, Andy Carroll (Newcastle/Liverpool) 13 goals
German Bundesliga
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Borussia Dortmund | 69 |
| 2 | Bayer Leverkusen | 61 |
| 3 | Bayern Munich | 55 |
| 4 | Hannover 96 | 54 |
| 5 | FSV Mainz | 48 |
Dortmund are all but champions as they extended their advantage to eight points with four games to play in Germany. BVB cruised to a 3-0 win over Freiburg, after the damage was done on second-placed Leverkusen who were thumped by Bayern Munich 5-1 in Sunday’s early kick-off with Mario Gomez netting a first-half hat-trick.
Interestingly, Leverkusen boss Jupp Heynckes had his title hopes scuppered by the side he’ll coach next term, who suddenly are back in the Champions League places.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | VfB Stuttgart | 33 |
| 15 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 33 |
| 16 | VfL Wolfsburg | 29 |
| 17 | St Pauli | 29 |
| 18 | Moenchengladbach | 26 |
The 2-2 draw between strugglers Wolfsburg and St Pauli doesn’t really help either side’s bid to escape the bottom three, but the battle for 16th spot – which earns them a playoff against the third-ranked side from the second division – is on. Stuttgart>’s 3-1 win at FC Koln has them breathing a lot easier.
Topscorers Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich) 22 goals, Papiss Demba Cisse (SC Freiburg) 20 goals, Theofanis Gekas (Eintracht Frankfurt) 16 goals, Milovoje Novakovic (FC Koln) 14 goals, Srdjan Lakic (Kaiserslautern) 13 goals, Lucas Barrios (Borussia Dortmund) 13 goals,, Didier Ya Konan (Hannover 96) 13 goals, Andre Schurrle (FSV Mainz) 13 goals
Random League: French Ligue 1
Leaders Lille could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Bordeaux, which has allowed champions Marseille to close the gap at the top. OM came from behind with 25 minutes to go, to win 2-1 at Montpellier, while Lille have only claimed one point from their past two games.
Third-placed Lyon lost 1-0 at PSG in Sunday’s late game, but both sides appear to have too much to do with seven games to play. Down the other end, bottom-club Arles>’ relegation was confirmed after a 1-0 home loss to Valenciennes. Arles have won one game all season.
