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England - Premiership

Ronaldo at the double; Nani off

Manchester United are just three points away from retaining their Premiership title as Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani stole the headlines for differing reasons in a 4-1 win over West Ham. Both Portuguese players started the match, but while Ronaldo grabbed a brace to take his seasonal tally to 40, Nani was sent off for a first half head butt. Luis Boa Morte played for the Hammers, but was substituted in the second half.

With Chelsea travelling to Newcastle on Monday afternoon, United currently have a three-point lead over the Blues, with a victory in next weekend’s trip to Wigan Athletic certain to see them crowned champions.

Pedro Mendes was again left out of the Portsmouth squad for their trip to Middlesbrough. Everton were made to wait for the point they need to secure fifth place in the Premiership as they lost 1-0 at Arsenal on Sunday afternoon. Manuel Fernandes started in central midfield for the Toffees, who were without Nuno Valente. Ricardo Vaz Te was not involved as Bolton al but secured their top flight status with a 2-0 home win over Sunderland at the Reebok.

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France - Ligue 1

PSG deep in relegation trouble

Paris Saint Germain have just two matches to pull themselves out of the relegation zone in Ligue 1 after a 1-1 draw with Toulouse left the club from the capital still in the bottom three. Pedro Pauleta started the game for PSG, but was replaced early in the second half after his side took the lead, but watched on from the bench as Toulouse snatched an 89th minute equaliser. Lens are the team directly above PSG, on goal difference, and without Marco Ramos, Jean-Pierre Papin’s side drew 0-0 with Monaco.

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Germany - Bundesliga

Almeida on the mark

Hugo Almeida was back amongst the goals for Werder Bremen in a 2-0 win over Energie Cottbus, getting the second after coming on as a substitute ten minutes into the second half. Stuttgart were without Fernando Meira for a 4-1 win over Frankfurt, while Ricardo Costa was in the Wolfsburg defence which held champions elect Bayern Munich to a 0-0 draw. Sergio Pinto did not feature in Hannover’s 1-1 draw at Schalke.

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Italy - Serie A

Twist in title race

The Italian title race took a late twist this weekend as leaders Inter lost 2-1 to city rivals Milan to allow Roma to cut the lead at the top to three points. Maniche started for Inter against the Rossoneri, but was replaced as fellow Portuguese Vitor Pele watched from the bench. Roma closed the gap with a 3-0 win at Sampdoria, with Antunes an unused substitute.

A bad week for Fiorentina continued as their midweek penalty shootout heartbreak in the Uefa Cup was followed by a potentially critical 2-1 loss at Cagliari. The defeat, which did not include Manuel da Costa, saw the Viola slip out of the Champions League places. Tiago Mendes was not called from the bench for Juventus in their 1-0 defeat at Siena. Parma, who missed the suspended Fernando Couto, beat Genoa 1-0 to give themselves hope of survival.

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Spain - La Liga

Real and Pepe wrap up La Liga triumph

Real Madrid won their second successive Spanish title after a 2-1 win at Osasuna saw them maintain their ten-point lead at the top La Liga with three matches left to play. Pepe started in central defence for the champions, who were a goal and one man down with two minutes left to play, but won thanks to last gasp strikes from Robinho and Arjen Robben.

Barcelona sparked back into life after their Champions League disappointment with a 6-0 thrashing of Valencia at Camp Nou. Deco played 78 minutes for Los Cules as Thierry Henry and Bojan Krkic both helped themselves to a brace. Miguel and Marco Caneira were in the visiting Valencia defence.

Atletico Madrid edged closer to securing Champions League football for next season thanks to a 3-0 win over Recreativo Huelva at the Vicente Calderon. Ze Castro was on the bench for Los Rojiblancos, who were without Simao Sabrosa, while unused substitute Silvestre Varela was the only Portuguese included in the Recre squad.

Sevilla are two places and three points off fourth, despite beating Valladolid 2-0 at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan as Duda watched from the bench. Mallorca, with Jose Nunes in defence, moved up into 7th place in La Liga as a Daniel Guiza double fired the Islanders to a 2-1 win at Athletic Bilbao. Ricardo returned to the Real Betis bench for their 1-1 draw at Almeria.

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Others

Greece

Season finished.

Poland

Zaglebie Lubin secured a minimum sixth place finish in Poland thanks to a 3-1 win over Cracovia Krakow on Saturday. Portuguese forward Rui Miguel was not involved for Zaglebie, but defender Tiago Gomes appeared as a 77th minute substitute for last season’s surprise champions.

Romania

CFR Cluj regained leadership of the Romanian league with just one match left to play after Steaua Bucharest lost the capital city derby on Sunday afternoon. Cluj will now go into next weekend’s final match at city rivals Universitatea Cluj knowing a victory will secure a first ever league title, after Tony, Dani and Antonio Semedo started in a 1-0 win over Gloria Bistrita on Saturday. Andre Leao and Manuel Jose both came on as substitutes for Cluj.

Russia

Dynamo Moscow lost for the second successive match – their third without a win – as they went down to a 2-0 defeat at Shinnik Yaroslavl. Danny played the full ninety minutes for Dynamo, who began the season with four wins and one draw from their opening five matches, before their recent poor form.

Scotland

Filipe Morais started but was replaced on 84 minutes as Hibernian held title hopefuls Rangers to a 0-0 draw at Easter Road Stadium. Falkirk, of Pedro Moutinho, host Jose Goncalves’ Hearts on Monday evening.

Serbia

Partizan Belgrade are still three points clear at the top of the Serbian Super Liga after a 1-0 win at Smederevo on Saturday. Ednilson and Almani Moreira both started for Partizan, who are not just four matches away from a 20th Serbian title.

Switzerland

It was a great weekend for Swiss title hopefuls FC Basel as they beat Zurich 4-0 and rivals Young Boys Bern surprisingly lost 3-1 at home to Neuchatel Xamax. Carlitos played 80 minutes for Basel, who now lead the Super League by three points with two matches remaining. Ze Vitor was replaced after 50 minutes as St.Gallen lost 2-1 at home to Sion.

Turkey

Ankaraspor are up to eighth in Turkey after 1-0 win at Caykur Rizespor, with Neca Fernandes playing 70 minutes in midfield for the club from the capital. Konyaspor drew 1-1 with Gaziantespor to move up to 14th in the Turkcell Süper Lig, although Portuguese defender Ze Gomes was not included in the match squad.

Ukraine

Ricardo Fernandes played the full ninety minutes as Metalurh Donetsk were beaten 2-0 at Vorskla Poltava, leaving them tenth in the table with two matches left to play. Metalurh can still finish anywhere between 10th and 14th place in the Ukrainian Premier League.

Star Performer

Ronaldo (Manchester United)

Ronaldo took his season goal tally to an incredible forty with an early double in United’s 4-1 win over West Ham at Old Trafford, putting his side well on their way to another victory which sees them edge closer to clinching the Premiership title.

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