France

 

Lyon retained their Ligue 1 crown on Saturday evening, despite losing 4-1 at home to this season's surprise package Guingamp, because closest challengers Marseille also lost, 1-0 at Nantes.

Two goals from the visitors top scorer Didier Drogba sent Guingamp on their way to a famous win at the Gerland, while Marseille's slim Le Championnat hopes were extinguished when they were reduced to ten men with 15 minutes remaining of their match at Nantes, before Olivier Quint put the home team in front and they held on for the win despite also having a player sent off late on, a result that left the south coast club in third place and having to qualify for next season's Champions League.

Meanwhile Monaco finished in second spot thanks to a 6-0 home win over last-placed Troyes, with first division top scorer Shabani Nonda netting a hat-trick, strike partner Dado Prso grabbing a brace and new France international midfielder Jérôme Rothen also got his name on the scoresheet. Didier Deschamps's side will go straight into next season's European Cup, while taking up France's two remaining UEFA Cup places are fourth-in-the-table Bordeaux and fifth-placed Sochaux.

 

The former beat lowly Lille 2-0 at home courtesy of a brace from top scorer Pauleta and the latter overcame Sedan 2-1 following strikes from Benoït Pedretti and Santos either side of Henri Camara's penalty, a result that relegated Sedan. And relegated alongside Sedan and Troyes are Le Harve, despite the club's 2-1 home win against mid-table Nice.

The home sides goalscorers on Saturday, Anthony Le Tallec and Florent Sinama-Po, are currently on loan from Liverpool and are now likely to move back to Anfield for next season because of Ajaccio's goalless draw with Strasbourg that condemned Le Harve to the drop.

Other results on Saturday saw Auxerre beat Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 thanks to two Olivier Kapo goals in what was a dress rehearsal for next weekend's Coupe de France final, last season's runners-up Lens overcame Bastia 2-0, with reported Tottenham Hotspur target Antoine Sibierski scoring and Rennes saw off the challenge of struggling Montpellier 3-1.


Spain

 

On Saturday evening in Spain, European champions Real Madrid returned to the Primera División summit with a 2-1 win at the Mestalla against champions Valencia, but 24 hours later Real Sociedad won 2-0 at ten-man Málaga to return to the top of the table. Madrid top scorer Ronaldo scored twice either side of the break and a Fábio Aurelio equaliser, the Brazilian's 18th and 19th first division goals of the season, while on Sunday Real scored two goals in the final 12 minutes through Igor Gabilondo and Darko Kovacevic to move a point clear of Madrid with just three games of the campaign remaining.

However Deportivo La Coruña's second straight defeat, 3-0 at Celta Vigo in the Galician derby, has all but ended their La Liga hopes, second-half goals from Edu, twice, and Jesuli, keeping the home team in the fourth and final Champions League place for next season. Also in action on Saturday night were sixth-in-the-table Athletic Bilbao and they held on to Spain's last remaining UEFA Cup spot after beating struggling Racing Santander 2-1 at home, veteran defender Aitor Karanka and an Ismael Urzaiz penalty cancelling out Pedro Munitis's second-half opener.

 

Meanwhile two Fernando Torres goals, on the young strikers return from injury, helped Atlético Madrid to overcome lowly Villarreal 3-2 at the Vicente Calderón, a result that just about keeps the capital-club's hopes of European qualification alive and Rayo Vallecano and Osasuna fought out a goalless draw.

In the first division on Sunday, Barcelona kept alive their hopes of playing in Europe next season with a 3-1 win over relegation-threatened Recreativo Huelva, Javier Saviola, Patrick Kluivert and substitute Juan Riquelme with the goals that leave the Catalan giants in seventh, four points behind Bilbao.

However at the wrong end of the table, Alavés's chances of avoiding the drop were severely damaged by a 3-1 defeat to fellow strugglers Espanyol, who are now virtually safe as a result. Two goals from a man who could be facing England next month, Savo Milosevic, including one from the spot, put Espanyol eight points clear of the drop zone with three games of the season to play.

Also playing on Sunday were Sevilla, whose 3-1 win at fellow UEFA Cup hopefuls Real Mallorca left the visitors level on points with the islanders in the race for Europe and this despite going behind early on to the in-form Samuel Eto'o.

But, after the visitors had drawn level, Mallorca were reduced to ten men, before José Antonio Reyes netted the crucial strike for Sevilla. Meanwhile Real Betis could only manage a disappointing 2-2 draw with mid-table Real Valladolid, who had a player sent off late on, a result that leaves Betis six points adrift of a place in next season's UEFA Cup.


Italy

 

In Serie A on Saturday, fifth-placed Parma and sixth-in-the-table Udinese grabbed Italy's two remaining UEFA Cup places thanks to last-day victories. Parma beat lowly Empoli 2-0 on their travels, Adrian Mutu and Emanuele Filippini with the vital strikes either side of half-time and Udinese overcame fourth-placed Lazio 2-1 at home, Czech Republic international Marek Jankulovski with the all-important goal, while Claudio López's late effort ensured he finished as the Romans' top scorer this season.



However, Chievo missed out on a place in Europe by one point after going down in a seven-goal thriller at newly-crowned champions Juventus and this despite a hat-trick from former Germany captain Oliver Bierhoff. Juve, who take on AC Milan in the European Cup final at Old Trafford this Wednesday evening, took advantage of Lorenzo D'Anna's second-half dismissal to respond through Marcelo Zalayeta, twice, David Trezeguet and Cristian Zenoni.

 

Internazionale finished the season in second, seven points behind Marcello Lippi's men, following a disappointing 2-2 at San Siro against mid-table Perugia, Argentinian striker Hernán Crespo scoring twice, with city rivals Milan a further place back after suffering a 4-2 defeat at relegated Piacenza, although the visitors were resting a number of key individuals ahead of Wednesday night's Champions League finale.

Two Dario Hubner strikes were followed by an Enzo Maresca penalty and a Marco Marchionni goal, while Christian Brocchi could have played himself into Carlo Ancelotti's starting line-up with a double that included a penalty. At the wrong end of the first division on Saturday afternoon, both Atalanta and Reggina won away from home to finish the season level on 38 points, the same total as Empoli and Modena, but due to the latter two's superior records in head-to-head games between the four sides, it will be the former pair that meet in a play-off to decide who stays in Serie A and who gets demoted to Serie B.

Reggina caused a shock by winning 2-0 at high-flying Bolonga, in-form forwards Emiliano Bonazzoli and David Di Michele with the crucial goals, although Atalanta caused an even bigger surprise by overcoming Roma 2-1 in the capital thanks to strikes from inspirational skipper Cristiano Doni and Carmine Gautieri, but Fabio Capello's side had already qualified for next season's UEFA Cup after making the final of the Coppa Italia. And finally, Modena drew 2-2 at Brescia, while Como beat bottom-of-the-table Torino 1-0 at home.


Germany

 

In Germany on Saturday afternoon Bayer Leverkusen escaped relegation from the first division on the final day of the Bundesliga season with a 1-0 win at relegated Nürnberg, Yildiray Bastürk the goalscoring hero for last season's serial runners-up just before the break.

However there was despair for Arminia Bielefeld, whose 1-0 home defeat to Hannover 96 meant that they were relegated alongside Nürnberg and last-placed Energie Cottbus, who could only manage a 1-1 draw at third-in-the-table Borussia Dortmund, for who Tomáš Rosický had opened the scoring.

Runaway champions Bayern München lost 1-0 at Schalke, Stuttgart, in second, had few problems in overcoming VfL Wolfsburg 2-0 at home thanks to first-half goals from leading scorer Kevin Kuranyi and a Krassimir Balakov penalty, all of which means that they and Bayern will go straight into next season's Champions League, but Dortmund must qualify in August.

Germany's representatives in the UEFA Cup are fourth-placed Hamburg, who saw off the challenge of ten-man Hansa Rostock 2-0 and fifth-in-the-table Hertha Berlin, 2-0 victors against German Cup finalists Kaiserlautern.

Also playing on Saturday were Werder Bremen and their surprise 4-1 defeat at lowly Borussia Mönchengladbach with ten men ended what faint hopes the club had of playing in Europe next season, with on loan Chelsea striker Mikael Forrsell again amongst the scorers for the home team, while VfL Bochum's Thomas Christiansen finished the campaign as the team's leading marksman after netting in their 4-2 win at mid-table 1860 München.


Player of the Weekend: Darko Kovacevic

The former Sheffield Wednesday striker has been a revelation this season in what is the Serbia and Montenegro international's return to the Anoeta and on Sunday evening he was on hand to score his sides all-important second goal at Málaga, a win that keeps the Basques' one point ahead of second-placed Madrid with just three games of La Liga left. Next week though, Kovacevic and Co take on champions Valencia.

by Richard Morgan