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England - Premiership

Manchester United hold the advantage going into next weekend’s title showdown with Chelsea after a late Carlos Tevez goal earned them a 1-1 draw at Blackburn and a three-point lead at the top of the Premiership. Nani made his comeback from injury as a half time substitute, while Cristiano Ronaldo started for the champions, whose superior goal difference guarantees them top spot whatever happens at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. Chelsea were not in action, having played twice during the week, while Everton also had the weekend off.

Portsmouth slipped down to 7th place in the Premiership and out of the automatic European places after losing 3-1 at Manchester City, with Pedro Mendes not in the Pompey squad. West Ham beat bottom placed Derby County 2-1 at Upton Park, with Luis Boa Morte coming on as a stoppage time substitute. Ricardo Rocha was on the bench for Tottenham’s 1-1 draw at Wigan.

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France - Ligue 1

PSG in relegation trouble

A disastrous weekend in France for Paris Saint-Germain saw the team from the capital lose yet again, while relegation rivals Lens won. PSG went down 3-0 at Caen with Pedro Pauleta playing the full ninety minutes, leaving Paul le Guen’s men in the relegation zone on goal difference with just four matches left to play. Lens left Marco Ramos on the bench for their 3-2 win over Sochaux.

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Germany - Bundesliga

With Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund contesting the German Cup final this weekend, the sole Bundesliga match played was Nurnberg’s 1-0 win over Wolfsburg. Ricardo Costa was in the Wolfsburg defence, picking up a yellow card for his side, who remain in 7th place.

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Italy - Serie A

Inter close in on title

Inter took a major step towards retaining their title by extending their lead at the top of the table to six points with four matches left to play. With Roma, who left Antunes on the bench, being held to a 1-1 draw by a Livorno side missing Jose Vidigal on Saturday, Inter took advantage with a 1-0 victory at Torino the following evening. Maniche and Pele were both unused substitutes for the Nerazurri.

Juventus all but secured third place with a convincing 4-0 thrashing of Atalanta, with Tiago coming on for the final half hour. Fiorentina are still in the fourth Champions League spot after La Viola beat Palermo 1-0 without Manuel da Costa. Parma, without the suspended Fernando Couto, were beaten 2-1 at home by Napoli.

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Spain - La Liga

Real almost there

Real Madrid closed in on a second successive Spanish title by beating Racing Santander 2-0 to open up a ten-point lead in La Liga. Pepe played in central defence for the champions, who need just five points from their final five games to guarantee the title. Barcelona slipped up yet again ahead of their midweek Champions League match with Manchester United, drawing 0-0 with Espanyol as Deco watched from the bench.

Racing’s defeat to Real Madrid meant that Atletico Madrid held on to fourth place, despite losing 3-1 at home to Real Betis. Simao Sabrosa started but was subbed off in the first half by Atletico, while Portugal’s number one Ricardo was not even on the bench for Betis.

Valencia’s possible relegation became an even stronger possibility after Ronald Koeman’s hapless side were hammered 5-1 by Athletic Bilbao. Miguel and Marco Caneira both played for Los Ches, who are just two points above the dreaded bottom three places. Fellow relegation battlers Recreativo are still in trouble after Roberto Beto and Carlos Martins started and Silvestre Varela came off the bench in a 3-0 defeat at Zaragoza.

Duda was a second half substitute as Champions League chasing Sevilla were surprisingly hammered 4-1 at home by Almeria. Jose Nunes started in defence for Mallorca as a Daniel Guiza hat-trick inspired the islanders to a 4-1 win at Murcia.

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Others

Greece

Olympiakos were confirmed as champions in Greece after winning their final game and retaining their two-point advantage over second place AEK Athens, while Panathinaikos finished third. AEK were 2-0 winners over Asteras Tripolis, with Edinho playing in attack, while Jose Peseiro’s Pana won 3-1 at Apollon Kalamaria as Helder Postiga watched from the substitutes’ bench.

Fernando Santos’ PAOK Saloniki went down 4-3 at AE Larisa, losing their fifteenth game of the season, which means they have been beaten in half of their matches in the Super League. Daniel Fernandes kept goal for PAOK, who finish in 9th place.

Poland

Rui Miguel scored as Zaglebie Lubin ran out 5-2 winners over Jagiellonia Białystok in Poland on Saturday. Defender Tiago Gomes and Rui Miguel both started the match for Zaglebie, with Miguel replaced on 68 minutes as the champions remain in 6th place with four games left to play.

Romania

Back-to-back victories for Steaua Bucharest on Monday and Saturday saw CFR Cluj finally lose top spot in Romania having led the table for much of the season. Cluj won their match at the weekend, beating UT Arad 3-0 away from home, but Steaua’s successes mean that CFR are two points off top spot with four matches left to play.

Cluj captain Ricardo Cadu scored from the penalty spot after five minutes to set the team on their way to a comfortable win at Arad. Cadu was joined in the starting line-up by Nuno Claro, who kept goal, Tony, Andre Leao, Dani and Antonio Semedo. None of Arad’s Portuguese contingent were involved.

Vasco Matos was introduced on the hour mark by Rapid Bucharest in their 1-0 victory over Pandurii Targu Jiu, who had Mingote in goal. Francisco ‘Chico’ Castro came on at half time for Farul Constanta in their 3-2 win at Dacia Mioven, while defender Hugo Luz played as FC Vaslui drew 0-0 with Politehnica Iasi.

Russia

Dynamo Moscow remain in second place in Russia after they were held to a 1-1 draw away at FC Moscow on Saturday. Portuguese attacker Danny played the full ninety minutes for Dynamo, who are four points adrift of early pacesetters Rubin Kazan.

Scotland

As the Scottish league format split into a Championship group and a Relegation group, Filipe Morais was an unused substitute for Hibernian’s 1-1 draw at Dundee United in the top half of the divide. In the bottom section, Hearts got off to a winning start as Jose Goncalves started in a 3-2 win over St Mirren and Pedro Moutinho played ninety minutes as Falkirk drew 0-0 with Gretna.

Serbia

Partizan Belgrade are still top in Serbia after a narrow 1-0 win over Borac Cacak maintained their three-point lead over city rivals Red Star.

Switzerland

FC Basel kept hold of top spot in what is developing into a thrilling title race in Switzerland. Carlitos played 79 minutes as Basel were 3-1 winners over FC Thun, for whom Nelson Ferreira played the full ninety minutes. Young Boys Bern also won their fixture, beating Aarau 4-0 at home, meaning Basel hold a two-point lead at the top having played one match more.

St.Gallen’s hopes of avoiding a relegation playoff were dealt a blow as they lost 1-0 at FC Luzern, with Ze Vitor playing the full ninety minutes as his side remain 9th in the ten-team Swiss top flight.

Turkey

Ankaraspor slipped down to 14th in the Turkcell Süper Lig after a 2-1 defeat at Sivasspor on Saturday. Portuguese midfielder Neca came on at half time for Konya with the match goalless, as his side came from behind to win thanks to two goals in the final nine minutes. Ze Gomes was not involved as Konyaspor ran out 3-0 winners away at Ankaragücü.

Ukraine

Metalurg Donetsk are still in 12th in the Ukrainian Premier League after a 1-1 draw at Zarya Lugansk. Ricardo Fernandes played in midfield for Metalurg, who have won just one of their last eight matches.

Star Performer

Pepe (Real Madrid)

The Portugal defender looks set to continue his winning habit in his first season in Spain. The former Porto man was part of a solid Real Madrid defence which kept a clean sheet during a 2-0 win at high-flying Racing Santander, as Los Merengues took a major step towards another La Liga title.

Earlier Round-ups