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England - Premiership

United downed by city rivals

Both Manchester United and Chelsea dropped points at the top of the Premiership table this weekend, with the champions going down to their first home league defeat of the season. Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani started for the Red Devils against local rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford, but were left disappointed as the visitors left with a shock 2-1 victory.

Chelsea moved a point closer to United, but will feel aggrieved not to have closed the gap by more as they were held to a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge by Liverpool. Ricardo Carvalho played in central defence for the Blues.

Manuel Fernandes struggled from the start for Everton, who managed to beat Reading 1-0 at Goodison Park, with Nuno Valente left on the bench. Pedro Mendes was an absentee for Portsmouth during their 1-0 victory at Bolton, while Luis Boa Morte also watched from the stands as West Ham drew 1-1 at home against Birmingham.

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France - Ligue 1

Pedro Pauleta was introduced early in the second half but could not inspire Paris Saint-Germain, who slumped to a goalless draw at home against Le Mans. Marco Ramos was not involved in Lens’ 4-1 hammering of Caen.

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Germany - Bundesliga

The top of the table clash in Germany finished all square as Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen played out a 1-1 draw at the Alianz Arena, although injured front man Hugo Almeida did not feature for Bremen.

Champions Stuttgart, captained by Fernando Meira, lost 3-1 at home to Hertha Berlin, Ricardo Costa’s broken ribs kept him out of Wolfsburg’s 1-0 win at Arminia Bielefeld and Sergio Pinto missed his Hannover side’s 2-2 draw with Karlsruhe.

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Italy - Serie A

No let-up from Inter

Champions Inter maintained their unbeaten record in Italy with a 2-0 win at Catania, with Vitor Pele (25th minute) and Maniche (74th minute) both coming off the bench for the Nerazurri. Second place Roma kept up the pursuit by beating Reggina 2-0 in the capital without Antunes.

Tiago Mendes was an unused substitute during Juventus’ 2-1 win at Udinese, while Fernando Couto played in defence as Parma came away from Cagliari with a point following a 1-1 draw.

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Spain - La Liga

Real hit seven

Real Madrid extended their lead at the top of La Liga to eight points with a 7-0 hammering of Valladolid at the Bernabeu on Sunday, although Pepe missed out through injury. They were given the opportunity to pull away from second placed Barcelona after Los Cules, without Deco, drew 1-1 at Sevilla, who left Duda on the bench.

The surprise result of the weekend was Recreativo Huelva’s 2-1 win at high-flying Espanyol. Roberto Beto and Carlos Martins both played from the start for relegation battling Recre, who edged out of the bottom three.

A brace from Diego Forlan gave Atletico Madrid a 2-0 win at Racing Santander, with Simao Sabrosa returning to the line-up but replaced with twenty minutes remaining. Meanwhile, Valencia’s resurgence continued as Marco Caneira played in their 3-1 win over Real Betis, who had Ricardo in goal.

Hugo Viana was not in the Osasuna squad as the Pamplona side beat Zaragoza 1-0, while Jose Nunes helped Mallorca to a clean sheet but the Islanders were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Almeria.

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Others

Greece

Jose Peseiro’s Panathinaikos moved to the top of the Greek table with a 1-0 win over Veria on Saturday. Helder Postiga started the match for Peseiro’s men but was taken off with twenty-five minutes left on the clock.

Previous leaders AEK Athens lost for the second weekend in succession, with Geraldo Alves starting and Manu playing the final half hour of their 1-0 loss at Larisa. Fernando Santos’ PAOK recorded a much needed win, beating Aris Saloniki 3-0 with Daniel Fernandes in goal and new signing Sergio Conceicao an unused substitute.

Poland

Winter break.

Romania

Winter break.

Scotland

Hearts moved up to eighth in Scotland as Jose Goncalves played in their 2-0 win over Gretna. Pedro Moutinho was taken off just after an hour into Falkirk’s 2-0 defeat at Rangers. Filipe Morais lasted 76 minutes of Hibernian’s 1-1 draw at Dundee United.

Serbia

Winter break.

Switzerland

Carlitos was on the scoresheet as the league leaders got back on track following last week’s defeat with a 3-0 win over Neuchatel Xamax. The former Benfica man opened the scoring after nine minutes and was later substituted in the closing moments. Nelson Ferreira played the full ninety minutes for FC Thun in their 2-2 draw with FC Sion.

Turkey

Neca made his debut for Ankaraspor following his midweek switch to the Turkish capital, coming on just after the hour mark as his new side beat Kasimpasa 2-0. Defender Ze Gomes was an unused substitute as Neca’s former club Konyaspor lost 2-1 away at Denizlispor.

Star Performer

Carlitos (FC Basel)

Having lost last weekend to title rivals Young Boys Bern, Swiss leaders FC Basel needed to get back to winning ways this weekend. Former Benfica man Carlitos duly responded by scoring the opening goal as his side beat Neuchatel Xamax 3-0.

Earlier Round-ups