Valencia celebrate in Madrid
Real Madrid and Internazionale both slumped to disappointing defeats to ensure that the title races in Spain and Italy remain competitive.
Bayern Munich will be confident of reclaiming the Bundesliga title they surrendered to Stuttgart last season following a weekend of favourable results.
Lyon continue to dominate in France following another comfortable win, while PSV moved further clear at the top of the Eredivisie as their nearest challengers suffered problems on the road.
Primera Liga
Real Madrid suffered a fourth defeat in six games as a last-minute Angel Arizmendi winner gave Valencia a 3-2 win at the Santiago Bernebeu.
Barcelona moved to within four points of their great rivals after a Bojan Krkic inspired 4-1 victory at home to Real Valladolid, and could yet claim a memorable domestic and European double.
Villarreal remain very much in the title hunt after Guillermo Franco grabbed a winner for the Yellow Submarines in a 2-1 win away at Levante.
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid hold on to the fourth UEFA Champions League spot following an impressive 2-1 victory away at Sevilla.
Serie A
Inter suffered a second league defeat of the season as they went down 2-1 at home to Juventus. Mauro Camoranesi and David Trezeguet were the heroes for the vistors and ensured that Maniche’s late strike was nothing more than a consolation.
The surprise result at the Giuseppe Meazza therefore allowed Roma to close the gap at the top to just four points. Luciano Spalletti’s side had to play much of the second half of their game against struggling Empoli with 10 men, but were still able to grind out a vital 2-1 win.
Fiorentina remain in the top four after Giampaolo Pazzini grabbed the only goal in a 1-0 win against Lazio, a result which ensures that Milan remain on the fringes of the Champions League places despite Alexandre Pato giving the Rossoneri a 1-0 victory at Torino.
Bundesliga
Bayern Munich extended their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to seven points after a brace from Luca Toni saw them edge past fellow title hopefuls Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 at the Allianz Arena.
Bayern are now in pole position to take the title as their nearest challengers Hamburg and Werder Bremen could only manage a point apiece against Wolfsburg and Arminia Bielefeld.
Ligue 1
Lyon are now nine points clear of the chasing pack in France following a thrilling 4-2 victory over Paris St Germain at Stade Gerland. Two goals from Brazilian striker Fred and one each for Juninho and Sidney Govou ensured that the visitors left empty handed.
Nancy kept their faint title hopes alive with a 2-1 win at home to Metz, but second place Bordeaux went down 3-1 away at Valenciennes and now have just eight games to try and close the gap on the runaway leaders.
Eredivisie
PSV are now seven points clear in Holland after cruising to a 3-0 win against Groningen.
Heerenveen were the only other side in the top five to pick up maximum points in the Eredivisie as they took the spoils in a 4-3 thriller with Roda JC.
Ajax and Feyenoord will still have aspirations of taking the title but away defeats to Twente and Sparta respectively have hardly helped their cause.
Best of the rest
The title race in Turkey remains wide open following the weekend’s results, with just two points separating the top four.
Joint leaders Fenerbahce and Galatasaray both picked up vital victories, ensuring that Sivasspor and Besiktas were unable to close the gap.
Olympiakos stretched their advantage in Greece to four points as they picked up a 3-1 win away at Levadiakos.
Their nearest challengers Panathinaikos could only manage a draw against Iraklis, while AEK Athens cemented their spot in the European places with a 1-0 victory at Apollon Kalamarias.
European review
Euro review
European review