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England - Premier League

Chelsea back on song

Chelsea responded to their midweek defeat in Rome by winning 2-0 at Blackburn Rovers to remain top of the Premiership. Jose Bosingwa and Deco started for Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side, while Paulo Ferreira was an injury-time substitute, as a brace from Nicolas Anelka kept the Blues top of the pile.

Last season’s champions Manchester United are now eight points behind the leaders following a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal on Saturday lunchtime. Cristiano Ronaldo played the full ninety minutes, while Nani watched from the bench, on an afternoon that saw the Red Devils put in a good performance but ultimately lose to a Samir Nasri double.

Elsewhere in England, Luis Boa Morte started but was replaced short of the hour as West Ham United threw away a lead to go down 3-1 at home to Everton, who did not include Nuno Valente in their match day squad.

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Germany - Bundesliga

Petit on the up

Hugo Almeida was in the starting eleven, but was substituted with ten minutes left as Werder Bremen were held to a goalless draw at Bochum, who had Daniel Fernandes in goal. Ricardo Costa was an unused substitute for Wolfsburg’s 3-0 home win over Cottbus, while Armando Petit and Cologne were 2-1 winners at home against Hannover, with Sergio Pinto left on the sidelines for the visitors.

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Italy - Serie A

Tiago ovation

Inter are back on top of Serie A after another late winner gave them a 1-0 victory over Udinese at the San Siro. Julio Cruz struck in stoppage time for Jose Mourinho’s side, while Ricardo Quaresma’s unimpressive form in Italy continued as the former Porto winger was substituted at half time.

The Nerazurri go top because city rivals Milan were held to a 1-1 draw by Lecce, for whom Vitorino Antunes was a starter. Tiago Mendes continues to impress for Juventus, starting and helping the Bianconeri to their sixth consecutive victory, with Claudio Ranieri’s men beating Chievo 2-0. Manuel da Costa was not involved in Fiorentina’s 2-1 home win over Atalanta.

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Spain - La Liga

Fernandes and Eliseu on the mark

Manuel Fernandes scored the opening goal as Valencia recorded a much-needed victory to stay in touch at the top of La Liga. The former Benfica man set Los Ches on their way to a comfortable win a right-footed drive from just inside the area on 28 minutes, while Miguel was also in the starting line-up for Valencia, who stay in third place.

Eliseu scored for Malaga against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, but could not prevent his side from going down 4-3 to the champions in the capital. The Portuguese put his side, which also included Helder Rosario and Duda, ahead after just five minutes, but Real, without the injured Pepe, went on to win a seven-goal thriller.

Portuguese international duo Maniche and Simao both played from the start but were left frustrated as their Atletico Madrid side were held to a 0-0 draw at Osasuna, while Deportivo La Coruna are up into sixth place, with Ze Castro taking his place in defence as the Galician side edged past Espanyol 1-0 at the Riazor Stadium.

Nelson played ninety minutes of Real Betis’ 4-2 win at Numancia, Jose Nunes’ Mallorca drew 3-3 with Athletic Bilbao, and Recreativo Huelva, with Roberto Beto in defence, were beaten 1-0 at Sevilla. Jorge Goncalves watched from the bench as Racing pulled themselves up into 10th place with a 1-0 win over Sporting Gijon.

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Others

France

St Etienne’s disastrous form in Ligue 1 continued with yet another defeat, this time a 3-0 home reverse at the hands of Rennes on Sunday. Paulo Machado came on after 62 minutes for Les Verts, who by that time were already three goals down and on their way to a fourth consecutive league defeat, leaving them in the relegation zone.

Greece

Fernando Santos’ PAOK Saloniki are up into second place in the Greek Super League after a 2-0 win over Panionios on Saturday. Sergio Conceicao was in Santos’ side, while Lourenco was an unused substitute for the away side, as PAOK moved to within a point of leaders Olympiakos.

Geraldo Alves and Edinho were both selected on the bench for AEK Athens’ 1-1 draw at Skoda Xanthi, with forward Edinho introduced for the final ten minutes. Francisco Zuela played the full ninety minutes for Xanthi.

Asteras Tripolis, managed by former Vitoria Setubal boss Carlos Carvalhal, were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Panthrakikos, with Ricardo Estevez not called from the bench by the Portuguese and Manuel Lopes playing the full match for Panthrakikos.

Romania

Dani scored for the second consecutive match, earning FC Cluj a 1-1 draw at Brasov. The former Pacos de Ferreira midfielder struck five minutes before the break to cancel out Brasov’s fifth-minute opener. Dani was joined in the Cluj line-up by Ricardo Cadu, while Brasov selected Rui Duarte and Paulo Adriano.

Jose Peseiro’s Rapid Bucharest dropped down to 8th place after the Portuguese boss selected Ricardo Fernandes and Joao Paulo Andrade for their 0-0 draw with capital rivals Steaua Bucharest in the weekend’s big match. Tiago Gomes and Antonio Semedo, who was replaced with less than an hour played, started for Steaua, who are in fourth place.

Carlos Milhazes was in the Poli Timisoara defence as his side lost 3-0 at Dinamo Bucharest, while Luis Dias, Diogo Silva, Miguel Russiano and Jorge Tavares all started Gloria Buzau’s 2-0 home defeat to Universitatea Craiova. There was a Portuguese on either side as Otopeni (Nuno Diogo) lost 2-0 at home to Vaslui (Hugo Luz) on Sunday.

Russia

Zenit St Petersburg’s faint hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League all but ended with a 1-1 draw at Amkar Perm. Portuguese international Danny was not involved for Zenit, who are now relying on CSKA Moscow to lose all three of their remaining games to give them any hope of second place and qualification for Europe’s premier club competition.

Scotland

Rangers were in impressive form on Sunday, beating Kilmarnock 4-0 away from home, with Pedro Mendes starting before being replaced just after the hour mark. Elsewhere, Bruno Aguiar played the full ninety minutes in midfield for Hearts as the Jambos won 1-0 at St Mirren, while Hibernians were without Filipe Morais as they were beaten 2-1 at home by Inverness.

Serbia

Partizan Belgrade moved eight points clear at the top of the Serbian league, after winning 2-0 at Banat Zrenjanin. Almani Moreira played the full ninety minutes for his side, who have won nine of their twelve matches so far this season in the league, conceding just five goals along the way.

Switzerland

FC Basel won 2-0 at Vaduz on Sunday to maintain their two-point lead at the top of the Swiss Super League. Portuguese forward Carlitos started and played the full match for Basel, helping his side to their 11th win from 14 league matches this campaign. Elsewhere, Nelson Ferreira was on the score sheet as bottom of the league FC Luzern ran out 3-0 winners over Aarau, with the Portuguese getting the first on the night in a surprise win.

Turkey

Fernando Meira’s Galatasaray endured a nightmare evening on Sunday, losing 4-1 to rivals Fenerbahce at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium. Meira started for Gala, who having gone behind on two minutes quickly levelled through Selcuk, but conceded three more times, with former Sporting man Deivid getting the final goal in stoppage time. Neca did not play in Ankaraspor’s 2-0 home win over Eskisehirspor.

Ukraine

Defender Mario Sergio and midfielder Ricardo Fernandes both started as Metalurh Donetsk put an end to a three-match winless run in the Ukrainian league with a 3-1 home victory over Metalurh Zaporizhya. With fourteen games of the current campaign played Metalurh, who were the early pacesetters, trail leaders Dynamo Kiev by eight points.

Star Performer

Tiago Mendes (Juventus)

The Portuguese midfielder was applauded off the field by the Juventus fans after impressing in their 2-0 win over Chievo, capping a quite remarkable turnaround for the former Benfica man who endured a horrendous year in Turin, before recently establishing himself in Claudio Ranieri’s side.

Earlier Round-ups