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England - Premiership

United close in on Arsenal

Manchester United cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premiership for the second week running, and the champions even came within minutes of going top. Nani started and Cristiano Ronaldo played the final twenty minutes as the champions won 3-0 at Fulham, while leaders Arsenal scored a 94th minute equaliser to draw 1-1 with Aston Villa and hold a one-point lead at the top.

Chelsea also made ground on Arsenal by beating West Ham United 4-1 at Upton Park. Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho both played the full ninety minutes in the Blues’ backline, while Luis Boa Morte was subbed at half time after being involved in an incident which saw Chelsea’s Frank Lampard sent off.

Meanwhile, Everton returned to fourth place with a 3-1 win over Portsmouth at Goodison Park, although Portuguese Nuno Valente and Manuel Fernandes (Everton) and Pedro Mendes (Pompey) were not included in their respective squads. Ricardo Rocha’s Tottenham were brought back down to earth following their Carling Cup win last weekend, with the former Benfica man not in the match squad as his side lost 4-1 at Birmingham.

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France - Ligue 1

Paris Saint-Germain’s midweek victory in the French League Cup failed to galvanise their league form, with Pedro Pauleta not involved in a 3-0 defeat at title chasing Bordeaux. Marco Ramos was also not in action as Lens were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Toulouse.

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Germany - Bundesliga

Bremen keep up chase

Werder Bremen remain four points behind Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich after a 2-0 home victory over Borussia Dortmund, although Hugo Almeida was not part of the Bremen party. Fernando Meira’s Stuttgart saw their match at Cottbus postponed due to unplayable weather conditions.

Wolfsburg lost for the first time in 2008, going down 3-1 at Karlsruher with Ricardo Costa in the defence. Elsewhere, Hannover were without Sergio Pinto as they beat Nuremberg 2-1 at home to move up into 8th in the German topflight.

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Italy - Serie A

Inter lose shocker

Champions Inter finally lost their unbeaten record in Serie A on Sunday night, with their 1-0 defeat at Napoli once again opening up the title race. Portuguese trio Vitor Pele, Maniche and Luis Figo all started for the Nerazurri, with Maniche replaced at half time and Figo withdrawn with ten minutes to go as Marcelo Zalayeta’s 3rd minute goal proved decisive.

The result allowed Roma to close the gap at the top to six points with a 4-0 thrashing of Parma. Portuguese left-back Antunes came on for the final ten minutes for Roma, while the visitors were without veteran defender Fernando Couto for the trip to the Italian capital.

Fiorentina opened up a four-point cushion between themselves and Milan for the fourth Champions League place with a memorable 3-2 victory at Juventus. Manuel da Costa was an unused substitute for La Viola, while Tiago was once again overlooked on the Juve bench.

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Spain - La Liga

Real steal a march on Barcelona

Pepe made his return after over a month out injured as Real Madrid beat Recreativo Huelva 3-2 to open up a five-point gap at the top of La Liga. Roberto Beto was sent off for Recre, Carlos Martins scored a late consolation and Silvestre Varela also played the full ninety minutes for Spain’s oldest football club.

Second place Barcelona lost ground on the leaders after going down 4-2 at Atletico Madrid, with Simao starting for the hosts and Ze Castro (Atletico) and Deco (Barca) unused substitutes at the Vicente Calderon. Sevilla’s Champions League hopes suffered a blow with a 2-1 loss at Deportivo, during which winger Duda was replaced midway through the second period.

Valencia were also beaten, going down 2-0 at Espanyol with Marco Caneira in defence. Real Betis pulled themselves up into 11th place in La Liga with a thumping 4-0 win over hapless Murcia, Ricardo keeping goal for the Seville side. Jose Nunes was in the Mallorca defence for their 3-3 draw at Getafe and Hugo Viana watched from the bench as his Osasuna side held Villarreal to a scoreless draw.

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Others

Greece

Helder Postiga came off the bench to snatch Jose Peseiro’s Panathinaikos a 1-1 draw at AEK Athens on Sunday evening to move one point clear at the top of the Greek Super League. The former Porto man came off the bench shortly before the hour with the scores level, and replied for Pana when AEK took a 67th minute lead. Geraldo Alves was left on the bench by AEK.

Daniel Fernandes and Sergio Conceicao both started for Fernando Santos’ PAOK in a 2-0 defeat to Ergotelis Heraklion which sees the side drop down to 9th in the league.

Poland

Zaglebie Lubin’s 0-0 draw at Lech Poznan on Friday evening saw the defending champions move up to sixth place in the Polish Liga. Portuguese forward Rui Miguel started the match for Zaglebie, but was replaced by compatriot Tiago Gomes on 82 minutes.

Romania

CFR Cluj suffered a rare defeat on Sunday evening, going down 3-1 at Steaua Bucharest to see their lead at the top of the league cut to five points. Cluj, who took the lead in the game, started defenders Tony and Ricardo Cadu, midfielders Dani and Andre Lea and forward Antonio Semedo, while Manuel Jose came off the bench late on.

Portuguese Vasco Matos played the first half as Rapid Bucharest moved to within five points of the top with a 1-0 win at Otelul Galati. Former Benfica defender Daniel Amoreirinha scored the equaliser as UT Arad twice came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw at Universitatea Cluj. Pedro Oliveira and Edson da Silva were unused substitutes for UT Arad. Forward ‘Chico’ was subbed late on in Farul’s 1-0 win at Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt.

Scotland

Hearts coped with the absence of defender Jose Goncalves to beat Inverness 3-0 on Saturday to move up to 7th in Scotland. Pedro Moutinho started but was subbed in the final ten minutes of Falkirk’s 0-0 draw with Motherwell, while Filipe Morais watched from the bench as his Hibernian side lost 2-0 at home to Celtic.

Serbia

The resumption of action in the Serbian Super League after a two-and-a-half month break saw the top two face off on Saturday night. Second place Red Star Belgrade hammered leaders Partizan Belgrade 4-1 at the Crvena Zvezda stadium. Almani Moreira was in the Partizan side, but was unable to prevent Red Star, who were without Joao Lucas, from closing the gap at the top to three points.

Switzerland

FC Basel remain six points clear in Switzerland after dispatching rock-bottom Thun 3-1 on Sunday evening. Having gone behind just before the hour mark, Basel scored three times in the final 26 minutes, with former Benfica forward Carlitos setting up the 66th minute Derdiyok Eren strike that put his side in front. Nelson Ferreira played the full ninety minutes for the hosts.

Star Performer

Helder Postiga (Panathinaikos)

In what was his first major contribution since moving to Greek leaders Panathinaikos, substitute Postiga snatched a crucial equaliser away at title rivals AEK Athens on Sunday evening to keep Jose Peseiro’s men top of the pile in the Super League.

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