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European roundup - Chelsea, Barcelona maintain lead

November 09, 2009 09:38 IST

Chelsea took a five-point lead at the top of the English Premier League after beating champions Manchester United 1-0 in Sunday's show piece match. In Spain, Barcelona retained their one-point lead over Real Madrid.

ENGLAND

Chelsea won Sunday's Premier League showdown against champions Manchester United 1-0 after a 76th-minute John Terry header settled a disappointing game.

The west Londoners now have 30 points, five clear of Arsenal, who won 4-1 at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, and United.

Tottenham Hotspur beat Sunderland 2-0 to stay fourth on 22, one ahead of Aston Villa after the Midlanders thrashed Bolton Wanderers 5-1.

SPAIN

Champions Barcelona retained their one-point lead over Real Madrid when Pedro netted twice and Thierry Henry scored his first of the season in Saturday's 4-2 home win over Real Mallorca.

Real went 3-0 up at struggling city rivals Atletico and just managed to hold on for a 3-2 victory despite having Sergio Ramos sent off midway through the second half and conceding goals to Diego Forlan and substitute Sergio Aguero.

Sevilla held on to third with a 3-2 comeback win over Villarreal and Valencia swept to a 3-1 home win over promoted Real Zaragoza as David Villa moved top of the scoring charts with his eighth goal of the season.

ITALY

Juventus trimmed Inter Milan's lead in Serie A to five points by beating Atalanta 5-2 in Bergamo with the help of two goals in as many minutes by Italy midfielder Mauro Camoranesi.

Champions Inter had Samuel Eto'o's angled effort to thank for a 1-1 home draw with AS Roma, after Mirko Vucinic had headed the visitors in front.

AC Milan moved up to third with a 2-1 win at lowly Lazio with goals by Brazilians Thiago Silva, who also deflected in the Rome side's score, and Alexandre Pato.

FRANCE

Olympique Lyon failed to make the most of Bordeaux's 2-0 defeat at Lille when a Jeremy Toulalan own goal handed Olympique Marseille a 5-5 draw at Gerland in a spectacular Ligue 1 game on Sunday.

Bordeaux appeared weary and clueless at Lille but the French champions still lead the standings with 25 points from 12 games, with Lyon one point adrift.

GERMANY

Leaders Bayer Leverkusen went three points clear at the top of the table with a 4-0 demolition of Eintracht Frankfurt, scoring three goals in the first 11 minutes.

Unbeaten Leverkusen set a blistering pace with goals from Stefan Kiessling, Stefan Reinartz and Toni Kroos before substitute Lars Bender completed the rout with a fine solo effort in the second half.

Second-placed Werder Bremen on 23 points had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Borussia Dortmund while Hamburg SV, also on 23, drew 2-2 with Hanover.

NETHERLANDS

Costa Rican international Bryan Ruiz headed home a second-half winner to earn Twente Enschede a 1-0 home win over third-place Ajax Amsterdam, who fell six points behind the leaders

Ola Toivonen hit four goals in PSV Eindhoven's 5-1 thrashing of nine-men ADO Den Haag to remain two points behind Steve McClaren's Twente.

PORTUGAL

Leaders Braga lost their unbeaten record with a 1-0 away loss to regional rivals Guimaraes on Saturday.

Braga's Mossoro headed against the bar and Guimaraes broke fast, with Nuno Assis crossing for Desmarets to rifle in on 30 minutes.

Champions Porto missed the chance to close in on the leaders, losing 1-0 away at Maritimo following an own goal by defender Rolando in the 30th minute.

GREECE

Panathinaikos beat Levadiakos 2-0 away on Sunday to take advantage of a slip by second-placed Olympiakos and move two points clear at top of the Greek Super League.

The first goal of the match came from an unlikely source as Panathinaikos defender Loukas Vintra rose to head a 67th minute corner against the legs of Levadiakos goalkeeper Nikos Karakostas before seeing the ball bounce into the net.

French striker Djibril Cisse grabbed the second goal in the 81st minute when he raced on to a Gilberto Silva pass and slotted the ball past Karakostas.

SCOTLAND

Bottom club Falkirk held leaders Celtic to a 3-3 draw which allowed Rangers to close back to within two points with a 2-1 home win over St Mirren.

Celtic have 24 points, two clear of Rangers, after two goals by Kris Boyd got them past St Mirren and back above Hibernian (21), who were goalless in the Edinburgh derby at Hearts.

RUSSIA

Champions Rubin Kazan, chasing a second successive league title, defeated CSKA Moscow 2-0 to go four points clear at the top of the league with two games remaining.

Rubin have 59 points from 28 matches while Spartak Moscow, who have 55, dented their own title hopes through a 2-1 defeat at mid-table Krylya Sovietov Samara.

Zenit St. Petersburg stayed third, nine points off the pace, after a 2-0 home win over Terek Grozny while Kuban Krasnodar look set to join already relegated Khimki in the second division after a dramatic 3-3 home draw with fourth-placed FC Moscow.

SERBIA

Brazilian midfielder Savio scored his first league goal for leaders Red Star Belgrade, sweeping in a Slavko Perovic cross from close range to give them a 1-0 home win over Hajduk Kula.

Partizan Belgrade stayed second, four points behind their bitter foes, after first half goals from Radosav Petrovic and Almami Moreira handed them a 2-0 win at promoted Metalac Gornji Milanovac.

POLAND

Champions and front-runners Wisla Krakow succumbed 1-0 at home to traditional rivals Legia Warsaw, allowing Ruch Chorzow to close the gap to three points with a 5-2 home rout of Jagiellonia Bialystok.

Serbian winger Miroslav Radovic struck in the 34th minute for third-placed Legia, who are now four points behind Wisla.

An Andrzej Niedzielan hat-trick coupled with a brace from strike partner Artur Sobiech kept Ruch well placed to challenge for their first league title since 1989.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Leaders Teplice went three points clear of Jablonec after beating them 1-0 at home thanks to a 48th-minute goal by Bosnian forward Ajdin Mahmutovic.

Banik Ostrava stayed third, a further point adrift, after a goal in each half from Miloslav Strnad and Radim Reznik helped them to a 2-0 home defeat of Kladno.

Source: REUTERS
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