Italy

In Serie A on Sunday, the champions Juventus made up for their 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Manchester United last Tuesday by beating rivals Internazionle 3-0 in Turin to open up a three-point lead at the top of the first division.

Marcello Lippi's side were ahead after just four minutes when Guly scored an own goal and by half-time the game was over as a meaningful contest after Pavel Nedved's left-footed strike had doubled the home sides advantage before Mauro Camoranesi completed the win seven minutes from time.

However, third-placed AC Milan failed to take complete advantage of their city rivals' slip-up when they could only manage a 3-3 at San Siro with Atalanta, although the Milanese giants did recover from being 3-0 down at one point after strikes from Paolo Maldini, an own goal and a Fausto Rossini double by the visitors.


However Carlo Ancelotti's side responded in style, drawing level thanks to Filippo Inzaghi in the first period and Jan Dahl Tomasson and Inzaghi again after the break, but the home team could come to regret Brazilian star Rivaldo's penalty that hit the post on the stroke of half-time.

Elsewhere in Italy, fourth-placed Lazio dropped points again, although they were nonetheless grateful to defender Paolo Negro who equalised late on for the Romans in a 2-2 draw at mid-table Perugia. The home side had earlier taken the lead through Brazilian Zé Maria's penalty, only for Italy striker Bernardo Corradi to bring Roberto Mancini's team back on level terms.

And that result allowed fifth-in-the-table Chievo to close the gap on Lazio to just a point after their 3-2 home win over last-placed Torino, while Como moved off the foot of the table following a vital 1-0 win at fellow strugglers Piacenza, Nicola Amoruso with the decisive strike.


Other results saw Reggina, struggling to avoid the drop, win 3-2 at home against an Udinese side chasing a place in next season's UEFA Cup, improving Roma won again, 3-1 in the capital over Empoli with Italy striker Vincenzo Montella grabbing a brace, while on Saturday Modena and Parma fought out a 1-1 draw in their derby encounter at the Ennio Tardini stadium, Brazil striker Adriano, who Manchester United are apparently interested in signing, opening the scoring with a brilliant solo effort. Also playing on Saturday were Brescia and Bolonga, who drew 0-0.


Spain

In Spain's Primera División over the weekend, European Cup holders Real Madrid took over the leadership of the first division following their comprehensive 5-1 mauling of Alavés on Saturday, while previous pace-setters Real Sociedad were beaten surprisingly beaten 3-0 by lowly Real Valladolid yesterday.

Madrid' s five goals in the capital were shared between just the two players, captain Raúl González, who scored twice, and World and European Footballer of the Year Ronaldo, who netted the first hat-trick of his Madrid career to lift Vicente del Bosque's side a point clear at the top.

Also playing on Saturday were struggling Espanyol, who won for the first time in five games by beating an out-of-form Mallorca 2-0 thanks to strikes from skipper Raúl Tamudo and Oscar and bottom club Recreativo Huelva, who also enjoyed a rare victory in a five-goal thriller at San Mamés against Atletico Bilbao.



Playing yesterday were champions Valencia, but they failed to take advantage of Real's defeat, drawing 1-1 at fifth-placed Celta Vigo. John Carew had given the visitors a seventh-minute lead, only for in-form Brazil midfielder Edu to equalise three minutes later, but Deportivo La Coruña, in fourth, moved to within a point of Valencia after a 2-1 win at Racing Santander.

Profilic striker Roy Makaay was on hand to score his 19th La Liga goal of the season early on, and after the home side had drawn level, substitute Albert Luque won the visitors the match with a goal ten minutes from time.



Elsewhere in Spain, Barcelona's revival under newly-appointeed coach Radomir Antic was just checked slightly yesterday with a 2-2 draw at relegation threatened Osasuna, but only after the home side equalised in injury time.

Javier Saviola had given Barça the lead, only for Iván Rosado to level matters after 79 minutes and when Luis Enrique scored with five minutes remaining, it appeared as though the Catalans had done enough to secure all three points, only to be denied by Gerardo Rivero's late intervention.


And finally, sixth-placed Real Betis were beaten at home by a late Marcos Vales strike for Sevilla in the Seville derby, Atlético Madrid overcame Málaga 2-1 to remain in touch with the UEFA Cup places and Villarreal kept up the pressure on Rayo Vallecano by beating them 2-1 at home.

Germany

In Germany's Bundesliga, leaders Bayern Munich maintained their ten-point lead over champions Borussia Dortmund after a comfortable 2-0 win in Bavaria over Energie Cottbus, Germany midfielder Michael Ballack with a brace, while Dortmund overcame Hansa Rostock, also 2-0, thanks to goals either side of the break from Brazilian midfielder Dede and Ahmed Madouni.

Bayer Leverkusen, struggling at the wrong end of the table and trying to bounce back after two defeats in Europe against Newcastle, caused a surprise by beating Werder Bremen 3-0 to move away from the drop zone, but former German champions Kaiserlautern remain rooted to the foot of the table after a goalless draw at1860 Munich.

Also playing on Saturday in Germany were strugglers Borussia Mönchengladbach and Nürnberg, who both remain in trouble after failing to win against Schalke and VfL Wolfsburg respectively, while Hannover 96 overcame VfL Bochum 2-1.

On Sunday Stuttgart, knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Celtic on Thursday, kept hold of seventh-placed with a 1-0 win at Arminia Bielefeld, but Hertha Berlin, who also went out of Europe last week, went down 1-0 at fifth-in-the-table Hamburg.

France

Didier Deschamps's Monaco went to the top of Ligue 1 in France this weekend with a 3-1 win at strugggling Lille, while previous leaders Marseille could only manage a goalless draw at Strasbourg, leaving both southern giants level on 52 points, although Monaco lead the way on goal difference.

Monaco's goals arrived courtesy of Ludovic Giuly in the first period and a Shabani Nonda double after the break and moving up to fourth in the table on Saturday were Bordeaux after a comfortable 2-0 win at home against in-form Sochaux, the first division's top scorer Pauleta with his 16th of the season followed by a Jean-Claude Darcheville penalty just before the break moving the home team above their visitors in the process.

Playing yesterday were champions Lyon, who went third and remained in the hunt for Le Championnat, with a 2-1 win at Auxerre, the side that Liverpool knocked out of the UEFA cup last Thursday.


 

Early strikes from French Under-21 international strikers Sidney Govou and Pegguy Luyindula gave the visitors a comfortable cushion which they held until the final minute of the match when French international Djibril Cissé scored a consolation for the home team.

Elsewhere in France this weekend, surprise package Nice drew 1-1 at home with 2001 champions Nantes on Friday to go fifth, Paris Saint-Germain came back from two down in the capital against bottom-of-the-table Troyes to win 4-2, with goals from Stephane Pédron in the first period and Jose Aloisio, Fabrice Fiorèse and Jérôme Leroy in the second, Montpellier moved off the bottom with a 2-0 home win over Guingamp, Rennes won 1-0 at fellow strugglers Sedan, Le Havre beat Bastia 2-0 at home and Ajaccio and RC Lens drew 0-0.

Player of the Weekend: Raúl González



By scoring twice on Saturday evening in the Santiago Bernabéu against Alavés, Raúl became the fourth highest scorer in the history of Madrid, overtaking in the process Hugo Sánchez's landmark of 207 goals for the Spanish giants. Only three greats of the Spanish game now stand in the 25-year-old strikers path, Ferenc Puskas (236), Carlos Santillana (290) and the legendary Alfredo Di Stefano (307).

Not only that, but the golden boy of Spanish football is also the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Champions League with 39 strikes, as well as being his countries leading marksman with 31 goals to his name.