In Italy's Serie A over the weekend, there were surprise defeats for league leaders AC Milan, as well as for title rivals Lazio and a hat-trick for the league's top scorer, Christian Vieri, on the day that Gabriel Batistuta made his debut for Internazionale.

Milan went down 1-0 at ten-man Udinese in Italy's Sunday night game in front of a live television audience, David Pizzaro's first-half penalty proving decisive, meaning that city rivals Inter were able to draw level on points with them at the top of the first division following their 3-0 victory over Empoli earlier in the day.

However, because of Milan's superior goal difference, they still lead the way in Italy.

Italian international centre-forward Vieri netted three goals in 16 second-half minutes at San Siro yesterday afternoon to take his tally for the season to 16 in Serie A, four more than his closest rival in the scoring charts, but for Lazio, there was a first defeat in 16 as Roberto Mancini's side surprisingly lost 1-0 at home to struggling Reggina and as a result slipped from second to fourth.

That was because champions Juventus put on a performance that Gianni Agnelli, the club's owner who passed away on Friday, would have been proud of, disposing of relegation-threatened Piacenza 2-0.

The visitors, who were reduced to ten men in the second period, were beaten by first-half goals from Alessandro Del Piero and Pavel Nedved.

On Saturday, the pressure on Roma coach Fabio Capello intensified as the 2001 champions lost for the second week in succession.

However, on this occasion their defeat was at bottom-of-the-table Como, a club that had failed to win a game all season in 17 previous attempts.

But, following the sending off of Roma defender Traianos Dellas in the second period, the home side, who temporarily moved off the bottom of the table for 24 hours, scored two late goals, the second from former Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa and Bradford City striker Benito Carbone.

Also playing on Saturday were Atalanta, who secured a vital 2-0 win at fellow relegation strugglers Modena, rounding off a good week for the visitors following their impressive 2-0 win at Roma last weekend.

Elsewhere in Italy high-flying Chievo lost 1-0 at Perugia, ten-man Torino and Bolonga fought out a 2-2 draw that meant that Como returned to the foot of the table, a point behind second from bottom Torino, while Bolonga moved to within four points of Chievo in fifth and Roberto Baggio was on hand to equalise for Brescia at home to Parma in a 1-1 draw.

In Spain's Primera División, league leaders Real Sociedad had the opportunity to put pressure on their title rivals by claiming a victory 24 hours before the chasing pack took to the field and that is exactly what the Basques did, overcoming Atletico Madrid 2-1 in the Spanish capital on Saturday night in front of a live Spanish audience.

Real, who as a result remain undefeated in the first division this season, were grateful to former Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld who saved a first-half penalty, for the second match in a row, when the score was goalless.

After the break Tayfun Korkut put the visitors in front, only for Luis Garcia to respond two minutes later with a fine strike.

However, Real won the match with a Darko Kovacevic header and consequently were crowned as winter champions of La Liga and more often than not in Spain, the side that are winter champions go on to lift the title come the end of the season.

On Sunday evening European Cup holders Real Madrid let slip a lead for the second week in succession, this time at Athletic Bilbao and therefore fell five points behind Real in second place.

World and European Footballer of the Year Ronaldo had given the visitors a 57th-minute lead, only for Asier Del Horno to equalise with 19 minutes remaining.

Champions Valencia took advantage of Vincente del Bosque's sides draw to move within three points of the Merengues in third following their 1-0 home win over Sevilla, Pablo Aimar with the winner and moving up to fourth, ahead of Deportivo La Coruña, are Real Betis, who overcame Villarreal 2-1 in Sevilla, both goals courtesy of Brazil left-winger Denilson.

A point and a place behind Betis are Deportivo after they were surprisingly beaten 3-1 at relegation-threatened Espanyol, and this after taking a third-minute lead through in-form Dutch striker Roy Makaay.

However, goals from Antonio Soldevilla, Roger and Angel Morales helped to move Javier Clemente's side up to 18th, while Deportivo slip to fifth.

Like in Italy with Roma's Capello, in Spain the pressure on Barcelona manager Louis van Gaal is growing by the day, especially after his star-studded side moved to within just three points of the relegation zone after going down 2-0 on television at sixth-placed Celta Vigo.

Following Gustavo Lopez's missed penalty in the first half, the home side took a deserved lead through Jesus Jesuli three minutes after the interval and the win was secured with a strike from former Arsenal left-back Silvinho.

Elsewhere in Spain yesterday there were crucial wins for bottom-placed Recreativo Huelva, who came from behind to beat fellow strugglers Rayo Vallecano 2-1 at home, although they remain rooted to the foot of the table, Osasuna, who beat Racing Santander 3-1 in Pamplona, Alaves, 3-1 winners at Real Valladolid and Malaga, who saw off the challenge of seventh-placed Real Mallorca 1-0.

In Germany this weekend the winter break appears to have galvanised the title hopes of Ottmar Hitzfeld's Bayern Munich, who easily overcame strugglers Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-0 in Bavaria on Sunday to extend their already sizeable lead at the top of the table to a massive eight points.

England midfielder Owen Hargreaves opened the scoring for Bayern after 25 minutes before late strikes from strikers Alexander Zickler and Giovane Elber sealed the win. 

For last season's Bundesliga and Champions League runners-up Bayer Leverkusen, the break does not appear to have improved their fortunes as they lost 3-0 yesterday at the BayArena to bottom-of-the-table Cottbus, a result that leaves Leverkusen three places and points from the relegation zone.

On Saturday Matthias Sammer's champions Borussia Dortmund lost 2-1 at Hertha Berlin, while Werder Bremen drew 2-2 at home with Arminia Bielefeld.

Dortmund's defeat leaves them in third, nine points behind Bayern, after a last-minute goal from Brazilian Marcelinho defeated them and this after Czech striker Jan Koller had drawn the visitors level with a 80th-minute header.

Bundesliga top scorer Ailton was on target again for the 14th time this season with a penalty that he thought had given Bremen all three points against Bielefeld and although the match ended in a draw, the home side still went second following Dortmund's defeat.

Also playing on Saturday were four-time German champions Kaiserlautern, but the club's 2-1 home defeat against fifth-placed Stuttgart leaves them one off the bottom and only on goals scored from Cottbus.

Meanwhile fourth-placed Schalke won 2-1 at Wolfsburg, 1860 Munich's Markus Schroth grabbed a hat-trick in his teams 4-1 demolition of Hansa Rostock to go sixth in the table, Vfl Bochum beat Nurnberg 2-1 and Hannover 96 and Hamburg drew 2-2.

In France this weekend there was no league action as it was the second round of the Coupe de France.

PLAYER OF THE WEEKEND: Christian Vieri

The Inter striker has been in scintillating form this season as he tries to make up for the disappointment of missing out on the title on the last day of last season to Juventus and already he has scored an incredible 16 times in Serie A to lead the way in the goal scoring charts.

And on Sunday he netted a brilliant hat-trick in the space of a mere 16 second-half minutes that helped his team to a crucial win that draws them level at the top of the table with fierce rivals Milan.