It was a big weekend in England as the Manchester pair both were victorious, while Bayern Munich slipped up as the Bundesliga resumed.
English Premier League
Weekend Results, Saturday; Norwich City 0 Chelsea 0, Everton 1 Blackburn Rovers 1, Fulham 5 Newcastle 2, QPR 3 Wigan 1, Stoke City 1 West Bromwich 2, Sunderland 2 Swansea City 0, Wolverhampton 2 Aston Villa 3, Bolton 3 Liverpool 1, Sunday; Manchester City 3 Tottenham 2, Arsenal 1 Manchester United 2
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 54 |
| 2 | Manchester United | 51 |
| 3 | Tottenham | 46 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 41 |
| 5 | Arsenal | 36 |
It was a massive weekend for the top two in England as Mario Balotelli’s last-minute penalty helped Manchester City defeat Tottenham 3-2. Manchester United kept up the pressure in the chase with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Arsenal. The big losers of the weekend are Tottenham who slipped eight points behind the leaders and well adrift.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | QPR | 20 |
| 17 | Bolton | 19 |
| 18 | Blackburn | 19 |
| 19 | Wolverhampton | 18 |
| 20 | Wigan | 15 |
While all the spotlight was on the action at the top, there was some significant results down the bottom with Mark Hughes guiding QPR to a much-needed 3-1 win over struggling Wigan. Bolton also celebrated a 3-1 victory over Liverpool which takes them out of the drop zone, as Blackburn drop down after their 1-1 draw with Everton.
Topscorers, Robin van Persie (Arsenal) 19 goals, Demba Ba (Newcastle) 15 goals, Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) 14 goals, Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 13 goals, Yakubu Aiyegbeni (Blackburn) 12 goals
German Bundesliga
Weekend Results, Friday; Borussia Moenchengladbach 3 Bayern Munich 1, Saturday; Hoffenheim 0 Hannover 96 0, Schalke 04 3 VfB Stuttgart 1, VfL Wolfsburg 1 FC Koln 0, SC Freiburg 1 FC Augsburg 0, FC Nurnberg 2 Hertha BSC 0, Kaiserslautern 0 Werder Bremen 0, Sunday; Hamburg SV 1 Borussia Dortmund 5, Bayer Leverkusen 3 FSV Mainz 2
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bayern Munich | 37 |
| 2 | Borussia Dortmund | 37 |
| 3 | Schalke 04 | 37 |
| 4 | Borussia Moenchengladbach | 36 |
| 5 | Werder Bremen | 30 |
The Bundesliga resumed after the winter break and suddenly there’s a three-way tie at the top, with Borussia Moenchengladbach not far behind. Indeed, the Foals stunned the leaders Bayern Munich 3-1 on Friday evening to blow the race wide open. Borussia Dortmund thrashed Hamburg SV 5-1 to move level on points, while Schalke eased past Stuttgart 3-1 too.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Hamburg SV | 19 |
| 15 | FSV Mainz | 18 |
| 16 | Kaiserslautern | 17 |
| 17 | SC Freiburg | 16 |
| 18 | FC Augsburg | 15 |
Matthias Ginter’s 88th-minute goal moved SC Freiburg off the foot of the Bundesliga table as they won 1-0 over new cellar dwellers FC Augsburb. Elsewhere, Kaiserslautern claimed a useful home draw with Werder Bremen, while FC Nurnberg moved well away from the danger zone with a 2-0 win over Hertha Berlin.
Topscorers, Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich) 16 goals, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Hamburg SV) 15 goals, Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 14 goals, Lukas Podolski (FC Koln) 14 goals, Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen) 12 goals
Italian Serie A
Weekend Results, Saturday; AS Roma 5 Cesena 1, Atalanta 0 Juventus 2, Sunday; Bologna 0 Parma 0, Lecce 2 Chievo Verona 2, Novara 0 AC Milan 3, Palermo 5 Genoa 3, Siena 1 Napoli 1, Udinese 2 Catania 1, Cagliari 0 Fiorentina 0, Inter Milan 2 Lazio 1
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juventus | 41 |
| 2 | AC Milan | 40 |
| 3 | Udinese | 38 |
| 4 | Internazionale | 35 |
| 5 | Lazio | 33 |
Inter’s gradual climb towards the summit continued with a 2-1 win over Lazio on Sunday evening, however the top three clubs all won as well. Juventus recorded a fine 2-0 win at Atalanta, while AC Milan scored three second-half goals to take care of struggling Novara with Zlatan Ibrahimovic the star again. Udinese’s hero Antonio Di Natale also netted in their 2-1 victory over Catania.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Bologna | 20 |
| 17 | Siena | 19 |
| 18 | Cesena | 15 |
| 19 | Lecce | 13 |
| 20 | Novara | 12 |
None of the clubs in the bottom half of the Serie A table won over the weekend, meaning there was little movement down the wrong end. Bologna did stretch their unbeaten run to three games with a goalless draw against Parma, while Siena claimed a commendable point with a 1-1 draw against Napoli, although it could’ve been all three had they no let Goran Pandev equalise with four minutes to go.
Topscorers, Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 14 goals, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan) 14 goals, German Denis (Atalanta) 12 goals, Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 11 goals
Spanish La Liga
Weekend Results, Saturday; Racing Santander 1 Getafe 2, Espanyol 3 Granada 0, Real Sociedad 0 Atletico Madrid 4, Real Betis 1 Sevilla 1, Osasuna 1 Valencia 1, Rayo Vallecano 0 Real Mallorca 1, Sunday; Malaga 1 Barcelona 4, Levante 0 Real Zaragoza 0, Real Madrid 4 Athletic Bilbao 1, Monday; Villarreal v Gijon
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Real Madrid | 49 |
| 2 | Barcelona | 44 |
| 3 | Valencia | 35 |
| 4 | Levante | 31 |
| 5 | Espanyol | 28 |
Cristiano Ronaldo hit a brace as Real Madrid maintained their grip on top spot with a 4-1 win over Athletic Bilbao, who had gone ahead through Fernando Llorente early on. Elsewhere, Barcelona stayed in touch with a 4-1 victory at Malaga with Lionel Messi netting a sublime hat-trick.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Racing Santander | 20 |
| 17 | Granada | 19 |
| 18 | Sporting Gijon | 18 |
| 19 | Villarreal | 16 |
| 20 | Real Zaragoza | 12 |
Real Mallorca’s 1-0 win away to Rayo Vallecano moved them away from the drop zone and up to 14th, while there were defeats for struggling Real Sociedad, Racing Santander, Granada and Villarreal. Bottom club Real Zaragoza claimed their second consecutive draw, 0-0 at Levante but they remain well adrift.
Topscorers, Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 23 goals, Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 21 goals, Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid) 14 goals, Radomel Falcao (Atletico Madrid) 14 goals, Roberto Soldado (Valencia) 12 goals