ENGLAND
Manchester United remain in pole position in the Premier League after winning 4-0 at Tottenham Hotspur with goals by Cristiano Ronaldo, Nemanja Vidic, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
Champions Chelsea are six points back after Frank Lampard's goal earned a 1-0 victory at Charlton Athletic and have just 12 games remaining to try to overhaul Alex Ferguson's side.
Liverpool's title hopes, briefly rekindled in midweek, were finally snuffed out when they were held to a goalless home draw by stubborn city rivals Everton.
Reading continued their remarkable first season in the top flight as a 2-0 win at Manchester City took them up to sixth.
----
SPAIN
Barcelona stayed a point clear at the top of the Primera Liga despite being held to a goalless draw at Osasuna, after chasing Sevilla and Real Madrid dropped points.
Barca's Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o came on for the last five minutes in Pamplona after four months out injured.
Second-placed Sevilla also drew 0-0 at home to lowly Real Sociedad, but the big surprise was Real Madrid's 1-0 defeat by Levante at the Bernabeu.
Real, who stay fourth on 38 points, never recovered after Salva Ballesta's 11th-minute penalty for Levante and were whistled off the pitch at the end.
Improving Valencia climbed to third with 39 points after beating Atletico Madrid 3-1 with a Fernando Morientes double.
----
FRANCE
Olympique Lyon suffered a third defeat in their last five league outings after an injury-time winner by captain Benjamin Nivet gave strugglers Troyes a 1-0 victory that left the clear Ligue 1 leaders chasing a first win this year.
Nivet slotted home four minutes into stoppage time to hand Troyes the points against the champions, who have not won a Ligue 1 match since the 4-0 thrashing of Racing Lens on Dec. 17 and have seen their lead cut to 11 points with 15 games left.
Racing Lens moved up to second thanks to a convincing 3-1 success at Valenciennes on Saturday.
----
GERMANY
Schalke 04 replaced Werder Bremen at the top of the Bundesliga after beating their main title rivals 2-0 on Sunday.
Peter Lovenkrands got both goals at Werder's Weserstadion, the Danish striker hooking in from a Lincoln cross for the opener and wrapping things up after taking a pass from Kevin Kuranyi in the second half.
Victory gave Schalke 45 points from 20 games while Werder slipped to second on 42.
VfB Stuttgart stayed in the hunt with a 1-0 win at Borussia Dortmund, keeping them third with 38 points, but Bayern Munich's hopes of getting back in the race were hit hard by a 3-0 defeat at Nuremberg on Friday.
It was a miserable return to the job of Bayern coach for Ottmar Hitzfeld, who was called in to replace Felix Magath following his sacking on Wednesday.
The champions for the past two seasons are in fourth place, now 11 points off the lead.
----
NETHERLANDS
Leaders PSV Eindhoven suffered their first home defeat in 25 months as they lost 3-2 at home to AZ Alkmaar, with Danny Koevermans getting the winner two minutes from time.
PSV remain top with 56 points and 11 matches remaining, five ahead of Ajax Amsterdam who beat visiting arch-rivals Feyenoord 4-1 with a hat-trick by Dutch international Wesley Sneijder.
Alkmaar are third with 50 points while Twente Enschede trail by three more points after a 2-1 win at struggling Excelsior Rotterdam, Karim El Ahmadi and Blaise N'Kufo getting the goals.
© 2024 Rediff.com -