Euro football roundup 25/03
Luca Toni scored twice for German leaders Bayern Munich
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Tuesday, 25, Mar 2008 04:59
A comprehensive roundup of all the action from the top leagues in Spain, Italy, Germany, France and the Netherlands begins with news from southern Europe.
In Spain, leaders Real Madrid's hopes of retaining their Primera Liga title dealt a blow when they slumped to a 3-2 home defeat to midtable Valencia at the weekend.
Raul's double strike either side of half-time was cancelled out by David Villa's brace, the second from the penalty spot, and Javier Arizmendi's late winner at the Bernabeu.
That result enabled Barcelona to close the gap at the top down to four points with a convincing 4-1 home victory over Real Valladolid thanks to Samuel Eto'o, Andreas Iniesta and a brace from Bojan Krkic.
Villarreal remain third, two points behind Barca, after a 2-1 victory away to bottom side Levante.
The race for the Serie A title, which looked all but over a couple of months ago, is now bubbling up nicely.
Leaders Inter Milan suffered another setback in their quest to retain their title, losing 2-1 at home to Juventus in what was only their second defeat of the season and their first at the San Siro.
Mauro Camoranesi and David Trezeguet gave the visitors a 2-0 lead in the second half, before Maniche pulled a goal back for Inter seven minutes from time.
However, they could not find a way through the packed Juve defence to force an equaliser and have seen their advantage at the summit cut to just four points by AS Roma, who won 2-1 at home to Empoli despite having Gianluca Perrotta dismissed.
After their win Juventus remain third in the table, with Fiorentina in fourth.
In contrast, the Bundesliga title race looks to be much clearer as Bayern Munich extended their lead to remain on course to wrestle the crown back from Stuttgart after a disappointing season last time out.
The Bavarian giants, who beat third-placed Leverkusen 2-1 thanks to a Luca Toni double, now hold a seven-point advantage over Hamburger SV, who could only draw 1-1 at Wolfsburg.
Both Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 are now level on points with Leverkusen in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Bremen also drew, 1-1 away to Armenia Bielefeld, while Schalke earned a solid 2-1 away win over Hertha Berlin.
Ligue 1 also looks close to being done and dusted, as Lyon are now running away from the pack towards a seventh consecutive title.
Their lead at the top is nine points after a 4-2 home win over Paris St Germain, in which Brazilian striker Fred scored twice, was coupled with second-placed Bordeaux's 3-1 loss at Valenciennes.
AS Nancy remain third and in touch with Bordeaux after a late goal from Moncef Zerka earned them a narrow 2-1 win over Metz.
And finally, the pendulum of the Eredivisie title race took a decisive swing over the Easter weekend as PSV Eindhoven extended the gap at the top over Ajax to seven points.
The Eindhoven outfit beat European challengers FC Groningen 3-0, thanks mainly to Danny Koevermans' double strike, while Ajax slumped to a 2-1 defeat at FC Twente when the home side's striker Eljero Elia scored a late winner in injury time.
Heerenveen moved up to third, displacing Feyenoord on goal difference, after a rollercoaster 4-3 home win over Roda JC.
Feyenoord themselves stuttered to a 3-2 defeat away to Sparta, which leaves them ten points adrift of PSV and almost eliminates any hopes they had of catching their rivals at the top of the table.