It was an interesting weekend of action across Europe with the Milan Derby, the debut of David Beckham in France’s Le Classique as well as victories for league leaders Bayern Munich, Juventus and Manchester United.
France
PSG remain three points clear at the head of Ligue 1 thanks to a 2-0 victory over bitter rivals Marseille in Paris, Nicolas N’Koulou’s own goal setting them on their way before Zlatan Ibrahimović struck in added time. David Beckham came on in the last 15 minutes to much fanfare, and assisted on Ibra’s late goal.
Elsewhere in Ligue 1, Olympique Lyonnais kept the pressure on PSG by battling back to beat Lorient 3-1, while fourth-placed Nice downed Stade de Reims 2-0 and Saint-Étienne, in fifth, won 3-0 at Nancy-Lorraine.
Italy
The Milan derby took centre stage in Serie A on Sunday and the spoils were shared in a 1-1 draw at San Siro. Stephan El Shaarawy put Milan ahead in the first half, but Inter, who would have leapfrogged their city rivals into third with a win, pulled level via substitute Ezequiel Schelotto 19 minutes from time.
The draw left Milan six points behind second-placed Napoli, who will look to close the seven-point gap to leaders Juventus when they visit Udinese tonight. Juve pulled clear by overwhelming struggling Siena 3-0.
Spain
Barcelona, who are not firing on all cylinders at the moment, came from behind to beat Sevilla 2-1 at Camp Nou courtesy of second-half strikes from David Villa and Lionel Messi. Sevilla’s gola meant that Barcelona have conceded a goal on their last 11 games, not a defensive performance that inspires confidence head of two el clasico’s and the Champions League second leg with AC Milan.
Second place Atlético Madrid remain 12 points back after beating who Espanyol 1-0 with ten men. Real Madrid also had to dig deep to complete a 2-1 victory against Deportivo La Coruña, who led for more than 70 minutes.
Germany
Bayern continue to demolish everyone in Germany, as they thrashed Werder Bremen 6-1 on Saturday to chalk up their eighth win in a row in all competitions.
Borrussia Dortmund are 17 points back in second after drawing 1-1 at Borussia Mönchengladbach, with Bayer Leverkusen a further point back after they were held 0-0 at Greuther Fürth. That was also the scoreline between fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt and SC Freiburg in fifth.
England
A spectacular strike from Rafael and a late Ryan Giggs effort earned Manchester United a 2-0 win at Queens Park Rangers. Sir Alex Ferguson’s team remain 12 points clear of Manchester City, who beat Chelsea 2-0.
In the League Cup final, meanwhile, Swansea swatted aside fourth-tier Bradford City 5-0 to claim their first ever major cup success, Nathan Dyer and Jonathan de Guzmán both scoring twice at Wembley.
