All to play for in Spain

Spain

Deportivo La Coruña, having taken over the leadership of La Liga for the very first time this season only last weekend, immediately lost hold of it to Real Sociedad when they went down 2-1 on Saturday evening to champions Valencia and Real beat Recreativo de Huelva 1-0 the following day.

At the Riazor, Brazilian defender Fábio Aurélio was on target twice for the visitors either side of the break and Donato's equaliser, the 40-year-old's 50th goal in the Spanish first division. Also playing on Saturday were Atlético Madrid, who beat lowly Racing Santander 2-0 away from home thanks to a double strike from Spain international forward Javi Moreno, the capital-club's first League win for two months.

Meanwhile yesterday, Nihat Kahveci scored the only goal of the game against struggling Recreativo to not only put Real into next season's Champions League, but also three points ahead of third-placed Deportivo and a point clear of second-in-the-table Real Madrid, who also won on Sunday, 5-1 at mid-table Málaga, with just four games of the season remaining.

Both Fernando Morientes and Raúl González netted braces for the European champions, while Brazil left-back Roberto Carlos got the other. But Celta Vigo missed out on a great opportunity to move clear of fourth-placed Valencia and into Spain's final Champions League berth for next season when they went down 5-0 at Villarreal with nine men.

Amazingly, the visitors were still level at the break, but not for long, with both Victor Fernández and Martín Palermo getting amongst the scorers for the strugglers.

Also playing yesterday were sixth-placed Athletic Bilbao, who came from two goals down to beat struggling Alavés 4-2 and remain in the final UEFA Cup spot for next season, a point ahead of in-form Real Mallorca, who took yet another massive scalp on Sunday by beating ten-man Barcelona 2-1 in the Camp Nou to all but end the Catalans' hopes of qualifying for next season's UEFA Cup, Carlos Domingues with a late winner for the visitors.

Raddy Antic's side are now four points behind Bilbao and in danger of not playing in Europe next season for the very first time in their illustrious history. Other results saw Osasuna pull clear of the drop zone with a fine 2-1 win at European hopefuls Real Betis, last-placed Rayo Vallecano drew 3-3 with Sevilla having trailed 3-1 with just a few minutes to go and Real Valladolid and Espanyol shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.

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Germany

With Bayern München already having been crowned champions of Germany, all the interest in the Bundesliga was centred on the bottom of the table, with last season's first division runner's-up Bayer 04 Leverkusen moving out of the drop zone with just one game remaining this season following a comprehensive 3-0 win at the BayArena over mid-table 1860 München.

The home team's goalscoring heroes on Saturday were Daniel Bierofka and Dimitar Berbatov in the first period, while Marko Babic's second-half strike sealed a debut win for new coach Klaus Augenthaler. And as a result, last year's European Cup finalists are now a point ahead of Arminia Bielefeld, who lost 3-0 at Hansa Rostock on Saturday and play Nürnberg next week, who were demoted themselves on the weekend after losing 2-1 at relegated FC Energie Cottbus, former Poland international striker Andrzej Juskowiak with a late winner for the home side.

Borussia Mönchengladbach also experienced the pain of relegation on Saturday after conceding a last-minute goal to only draw 2-2 at fellow strugglers Hannover 96, although in-form forward Mikael Forssell, currently on loan from Chelsea, was again among the scorers for the visitors.

Elsewhere in Germany, newly-crowned champions Bayern saw off the challenge of third-in-the-table Stuttgart 2-1 in Bavaria, leading scorer Giovane Elber with a brace, with former Liverpool striker Sean Dundee netting a late consolation for the visitors, his second in the space of a week and second-placed Borussia Dortmund moved a point clear of Stuttgart following a goalless draw at Cup finalists Kaiserlautern.

There were also some surprises in Germany this Saturday as VfL Wolfsburg beat European hopefuls Hertha Berlin 2-0 courtesy of strikes from Tomislav Maric and Dorinal Munteanu, Werder Bremen overcame fellow UEFA Cup contenders Schalke 2-1 and VfL Bochum drew 1-1 with another side chasing European qualification, Hamburg.

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Italy

In Serie A on Saturday afternoon, attention was turned towards the race for Italy's three remaining Champions League places for next season following Juventus' title win last weekend and victories for second-placed Internazionale, third-in-the-table AC Milan and Lazio, in fourth, meant that those three giants of Italian football will join Marcello Lippi's men in Europe's premier club competition for 2003/4.

Inter, who were eliminated from the semi-finals of the European Cup by city rivals Milan last Tuesday, had few problems in overcoming struggling Modena 2-0 away from home thanks to a Simone Pavan own goal and a second-half Mohamed Kallon strike.

Meanwhile, Champions League finalists Milan beat UEFA Cup hopefuls Bolonga 3-1 at San Siro, with Andrea Pirlo from the spot, Clarence Seedorf and top scorer Filippo Inzaghi all on target for the home side, while Inzaghi also missed a late penalty that could have taken him closer to Christian Vieri in the race for this season's capo canioneri.

And Lazio will join Milan in the qualifying stages for next season's Champions League, unless of course the rossoneri beat Juventus in the final at Old Trafford on 28 May or finish higher in the League than Inter that is, after coming from behind in the capital to see off the challenge of mid-table Brescia 3-1.

Former World Player of the Year Roberto Baggio had given the visitors a surprise lead, only for the Romans to respond through Sinisa Mihajlovic, from the spot, César Rodrigues and leading scorer Claudio López.

Champions Juventus, who knocked holders Madrid out of the European Cup last Wednesday, are now focusing their minds solely on Manchester in a fortnight's time and their attempt to win a Double, hence their 2-1 defeat at relegation-threatened Reggina, strike partners David Di Michele and Emiliano Bonazzoli with the vital goals for the strugglers either side of a Marcelo Zalayeta equaliser.

Also in danger of the drop are Piancenza, but having taken a 2-0 half-time lead at European contenders Parma thanks to Enzo Maresca and Dario Hubner, the visitors went down 3-2 when Alberto Gilardino, Adriano and the in-form Adrian Mutu with virtually the last kick of the match responded for the home side.

Fellow strugglers Atalanta recorded what could yet prove to be a crucial 2-1 win over relegated Como thanks to inspirational skipper Cristiano Doni's brace, his second an 80th-minute penalty, last-placed Torino drew 1-1 in Turin with lowly Empoli, fifth-in-the-table Chievo were held to a goalless draw at home by UEFA Cup contenders Roma and finally fellow European hopefuls Udinese were grateful to late strikes from Marek Jankulovski and Martin Jorgensen that saw off the challenge of mid-table Perugia.

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France

There were no fixtures in France's Ligue 1 this weekend because of the Coupe de Ligue final in Paris between title hopefuls Monaco and a Sochaux side that prior to kick-off were still very much in contention for a place in next season's UEFA Cup via their impressive League position.

And with 55 minutes of the game gone, the scoreline was still goalless, but that was where the good news ended for the underdogs as Didier Deschamps' side went on to hit the back of the net four times in the final 35 minutes of the match through captain Ludovic Giuly's double strike, while Sébastien Squillaci and Dado Prso added further goals before Sochaux's late consolation.

Player of the Weekend: Ludovic Giuly

The inspirational Monaco captain has had yet another scintillating season for the south coast giants of French football and on Saturday he crowned it off with a man-of-the-match performance in his side's comprehensive 4-1 drubbing of Sochaux in the League Cup final in which he found the back of the net on two occasions. Next target, possible Le Championnat glory?

by Richard Morgan