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England - Premiership

United slip up

Cristiano Ronaldo was given the weekend off by Manchester United after his excursions with Portugal, but was badly missed as the champions lost 1-0 at Bolton Wanderers. Fellow Portuguese Nani played the full ninety minutes for United on the right wing.

Meanwhile, Chelsea racked up another victory with a 2-0 win away at Derby County, although Paulo Ferreira and the injured Ricardo Carvalho were both absent for the Blues while Hilario was the substitute goalkeeper.

Luis Boa Morte started and had a hand in his team’s goal as West Ham drew 1-1 at home against Tottenham, while Nuno Valente set up one of Everton’s goals in the Toffees’ 7-1 drubbing of Sunderland, having taken his place at left-back. Pedro Mendes was an unused substitute as in-form Portsmouth won 2-0 at Birmingham.

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France - Ligue 1

Paris Saint-Germain’s dismal season continued with a 2-1 loss to Nice on Sunday evening, with Pedro Pauleta again relegated to the bench, only coming on for the final twenty-five minutes. Defender Marco Ramos was substituted an hour into Lens’ 1-1 draw with Lorient.

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Germany - Bundesliga

Ricardo Costa comeback

Ricardo Costa made his return to Bundesliga action, playing the full ninety minutes of Wolfsburg’s 2-1 defeat at Bayern Munich. Champions Stuttgart built on their win over Bayern on the last weekend, Fernando Meira captaining his side to a 4-1 win at Frankfurt.

Werder Bremen kept the pressure on Bayern at the top as, without Hugo Almeida, they won 2-0 away at Cottbus. Sergio Pinto was taken off with fifteen minutes remaining of Hannover’s 3-2 home defeat to Schalke.

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Italy - Serie A

Italian champions Inter, without injured Luis Figo, left youngster Vitor Pele on the bench as they beat Atalanta 2-1 at the San Siro. Vitorino Antunes was also an unused substitute as Roma scored a last-minute winner to beat Genoa 1-0 away from home. Juventus left Tiago on the bench as the Bianconeri recorded an impressive 5-0 hammering of Palermo in Turin.

Fernando Couto returned from his three-match suspension to take his place in the Parma defence for their visit to former club Lazio, but the Gialloblu lost 1-0 in Rome. Jose Vidigal missed Livorno’s 3-1 win over Sampdoria.

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Spain - La Liga

Atletico riding high

Pepe was in the Real Madrid defence as the champions dropped two points with a 1-1 draw at Murcia, giving Barcelona the chance to close the gap at the top to two points, which they duly did with a 3-0 thrashing of Recreativo. Deco did not play for Barca, but Recre started with Carlos Martins in midfield while Silvestre Varela was left on the bench.

Maniche was on the scoresheet for Atletico Madrid in their entertaining 4-3 home win over Valladolid. Defender Ze Castro and winger Simao Sabrosa were both also in the starting lineup for Los Rojiblancos. Valencia were beaten 1-0 at Racing Santander, having started their Portuguese trio of Miguel, Marco Caneira and Manuel Fernandes.

Sevilla were stunned at home by Mallorca, going down 2-1 to the Islanders at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, with Duda left out of the home squad and Jose Nunes in the winners’ defence. Portuguese number one Ricardo let in four goals as his Real Betis side were beaten 4-3 by rock-bottom Levante. Hugo Viana was not called from the bench during Osasuna’s 2-1 home defeat to Espanyol.

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Others

Greece

AEK Athens returned to the top of the Greek Super League with a 4-0 win over OFI Heraklion, with Geraldo Alves starting in defence but succumbing to an injury after half an hour, while Manu was an unused substitute.

The change at the top came as a result of Jose Peseiro’s Panathinaikos relinquishing top spot after they were held to a 2-2 draw by AE Larisa. Elsewhere, Fernando Santos led PAOK to a 3-1 victory over Panionios, who were still without forward Lourenco.

Holland

Dutch champions PSV, without Manuel da Costa, beat Excelsior 4-1 away from home on Saturday to move up to second in the Eredivisie, one point behind leaders Ajax.

Poland

Champions Zaglebie Lubin moved up to sixth in the Polish league with a convincing 4-1 win away at Korona Kielce on Saturday. Tiago Gomes played in defence – picking up a booking along the way – and Rui Miguel played the full match in attack.

Romania

Ricardo Cadu scored from the penalty spot as CFR Cluj came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Gloria Bistrita. There were seven Portuguese in the Cluj match squad: Nuno Claro kept goal; Cadu and Tony lined up in defence; Dani played in midfield and Antonio Semedo was in attack. Manuel Jose emerged from the bench for the final ten minutes and Andre Leao was an unused substitute. The result means Cluj have an eight-point lead at the top with 16 games gone in Romania.

Russia

Portuguese forward Danny scored as Dynamo Moscow were defeated in their final game of the Russian season, losing 2-1 at city rivals Spartak. The former Sporting man played the full match, as did midfielder Custodio, while Cicero was left on the substitutes bench.

Scotland

Pedro Moutinho scored for Falkirk against Rangers in the Scottish Premier League on Saturday, but could not prevent his side from going down to a 3-1 home defeat. Elsewhere in Scotland, Jose Goncalves took his place in defence as Hearts drew 1-1 at Gretna and Filipe Morais missed Hibernian’s 2-2 home draw with Dundee United through suspension.

Serbia

No games this weekend.

Switzerland

FC Basel advanced to the quarter-final of the Swiss Schweizer Pokal after a 1-0 win at Grasshoppers Zurich, with forward Carlitos playing the full ninety minutes for the current league leaders. Nelson Ferreira played the entire match as FC Thun also progressed with a 1-0 victory at Luzern.

Turkey

Konyaspor lost 1-0 Buraspor to remain 11th in the Turkcell Süper Lig, with Neca playing the full ninety minutes but defender Ze Gomes once again left on the bench.

Star Performer

Maniche (Atletico Madrid)

The side from the Spanish capital are enjoying an increasingly promising season, with the Portuguese international a prominent figure in midfield. Maniche once again showed his goalscoring knack by getting the opener as Atletico beat Valladolid 4-3 at the Vicente Calderon.

Earlier Round-ups