Sports Pundit
Football

Weekend Developments From Europe's Top Leagues 30/4

Weekend Developments From Europe's Top Leagues 30/4

Juventus moved ever closer to the Scudetto, while Real Madrid did the same in Spain, and the pressure in the Champions League races in England and Italy turned up a notch.

Juventus moved ever closer to the Scudetto, while Real Madrid did the same in Spain, and the pressure in the Champions League races in England and Italy turned up a notch.

Italian Serie A

Weekend Results, Saturday; AS Roma 2 Napoli 2, Palermo 1 Catania 1, Cagliari 0 Chievo Verona 0, Sunday; Udinese 2 Lazio 0, Siena 1 AC Milan 4, Novara 0 Juventus 4, Lecce 1 Parma 2, Internazionale 2 Cesena 1, Atalanta 2 Fiorentina 0, Bologna 3 Genoa 2

Pos Team Pts
1 Juventus 74
2 AC Milan 71
3 Napoli 55
4 Udinese 55
5 Internazionale 55

Juventus remain unbeaten and on their way to the title after a 4-0 trouncing of struggling Novara, while AC Milan managed to stay in touch with a 4-1 triumph over Siena. In the race for Champions League football, four teams are now locked on 55 points in third, after Lazio’s 2-0 loss to Udinese.

Pos Team Pts
16 Fiorentina 41
17 Genoa 36
18 Lecce 35
19 Novara 28
20 Cesena 22

Cesena were relegated after their loss to Internazionale, while Novara edged even closer to the drop after a big loss to Juventus. Lecce went down 2-1 to Parma to remain in the bottom three, but Genoa also fell short, going down to Bologna.

Topscorers, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan) 26 goals, Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 22 goals, Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 21 goals, Diego Milito (Internazionale) 20 goals, Rodrigo Palacio (Genoa) 18 goals

Spanish La Liga

Weekend Results, Saturday; Villarreal 1 Osasuna 1, Real Sociedad 3 Racing Santander 0, Levante 3 Granada 1, Getafe 1 Real Mallorca 3, Espanyol 0 Sporting Gijon 3, Sunday; Real Betis 2 Atletico Madrid 2, Malaga 1 Valencia 0, Real Zaragoza 2 Athletic Bilbao 0, Real Madrid 3 Sevilla 0, Rayo Vallecano 0 FC Barcelona 7

Pos Team Pts
1 Real Madrid 91
2 Barcelona 84
3 Valencia 55
4 Malaga 55
5 Levante 52

Real Madrid remained on track for the title with a comfortable win 3-0 over Sevilla with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema on the scoresheet. Barcelona showed they’ve put behind them a poor week with a 7-0 rout of Rayo Vallecano, while the battle for Champions League football remains exciting with Malaga knocking off Valencia 1-0.

Pos Team Pts
16 Granada 39
17 Villarreal 38
18 Sporting Gijon 34
19 Real Zaragoza 34
20 Racing Santander 26

Racing Santander were relegated over the weekend after their 3-0 defeat to Real Sociedad. Elsewhere, Sporting Gijon and Real Zaragoza both grabbed victories which keep alive their hopes of survival. Villarreal are still looking over their shoulders after only managing a 1-1 home draw with Osasuna.

Topscorers, Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 43 goals, Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 43 goals, Radomel Falcao (Atletico Madrid) 23 goals, Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid) 21 goals

German Bundesliga

Weekend Results, Saturday; VfL Wolfsburg 3 Werder Bremen 1, Hoffenheim 2 Nurnberg 3, Schalke 04 4 Hertha BSC 0, SC Freiburg 4 FC Koln 1, Kaiserslautern 2 Borussia Dortmund 5, Hamburg SV 0 FSV Mainz 0, Borussia Moenchengladbach 0 Augsburg 0, Bayern Munich 2 VfB Stuttgart 0, Bayer Leverkusen 1 Hannover 96 0

Pos Team Pts
1 Borussia Dortmund 78
2 Bayern Munich 70
3 Schalke 04 61
4 Borussia Moenchengladbach 57
5 Bayer Leverkusen 51

Borussia Dortmund moved closer to the Bundesliga record points tally with a comfortable 5-2 win over Kaiserslautern, while Schalke 04 sealed their spot in next term’s Champions League with a big win over Hertha Berlin. Moenchengladbach take the UCL play-off spot with a goalless draw against Augsburg.

Pos Team Pts
14 Hamburg SV 36
15 Augsburg 35
16 FC Koln 30
17 Hertha BSC 28
18 Kaiserslautern 23

Hamburg SV and Augsburg secured their top flight status for next term with goalless draws, while FC Koln and Hertha Berlin will battle it out for the relegation play-off spot where they’ll face the third-ranked 2.Bundesliga team. Koln host Bayern Munich and Hertha entertain Hoffenheim on the final day.

Topscorers, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Hamburg SV) 27 goals, Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich) 26 goals, Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 20 goals, Lukas Podolski (FC Koln) 18 goals, Martin Harnik (Stuttgart) 17 goals

English Premier League

Weekend Results, Saturday; Everton 4 Fulham 0, Stoke City 1 Arsenal 1, Sunderland 2 Bolton 2, Swansea City 4 Wolverhampton 4, West Bromwich 0 Aston Villa 0, Wigan 4 Newcastle 0, Norwich City 0 Liverpool 3, Sunday; Chelsea 6 QPR 1, Tottenham 2 Blackburn 0, Monday; Manchester City v Manchester United

Pos Team Pts
1 Manchester United 83
2 Manchester City 80
3 Arsenal 66
4 Newcastle 62
5 Tottenham 62

The Manchester derby will take centre stage on Monday evening, however in the meantime the race for Champions League remains hot, with Newcastle’s 4-0 loss to Wigan, opening up the hunt for both Tottenham and Chelsea who claimed wins on Sunday over battling Blackburn and QPR.

Pos Team Pts
16 Wigan 37
17 QPR 34
18 Bolton 34
19 Blackburn 31
20 Wolverhampton 24

Wigan continued their stunning recent form with a 4-0 trouncing of Newcastle which moves them well clear of the drop zone. QPR were hammered 6-1 by Chelsea, while Blackburn barely fired a shot in their loss to Tottenham, but Bolton grabbed a handy 2-2 draw at Sunderland and have a game in hand too.

Topscorers, Robin van Persie (Arsenal) 28 goals, Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 26 goals, Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) 22 goals, Demba Ba (Newcastle) 16 goals, Clint Dempsey (Fulham) 16 goals, Yakubu Aiyegbeni (Blackburn) 16 goals