There were stalemates for Barcelona, Real Madrid, Marseilles and PSG, but Inter triumphed in the San Siro derby, and Bayern marched on to their seventh win from seven.
Spain: Well El Clasico lived up to its billing. Two goals for each side, scored by the two best players in the world. The pick of the bunch was Messi’s superb curling freekick, but both of Ronaldo’s finishes showed a frighteningly clinical edge.
There was no decisive difference between the teams, but Barcelona will be pleased they maintained their gap to Mourinho’s side at eight points. The draw was Barcelona’s first dropped points of the season, and Atletico Madrid capitalised, winning 2-1 at home against third placed Malaga with the returning Falcao scoring after 6 minutes. Athletico are now level on points with Barcelona at the top. Elsewhere Valencia lost 1-0 at Levante and sit 14th, whilst Athletic Bilbao picked up their second win of the season, 1-0 at home to Osasuna.
Italy: Inter came out on top in the ill-tempered Milan Derby, a fourth minute Walter Samuel goal proving enough to win the match despite Nagatomo seeing red in the 48th minute.
Inter are in fourth, level with third placed Lazio, who beat Pescara 3-0. In the other big game on Sunday night Napoli beat Udinese 2-1 to stay level on points with Juventus. The Old Lady left it until the 85th minute to secure a 2-1 win at Siena and extend their remarkable unbeaten run to 46 matches.
Germany: After Barcelona’s draw, Bayern are the only team in Europe’s major leagues with a 100% record, something they continued by beating Hoffenheim 2-0 at the weekend. Ribery’s brace earned them the points, and put them five points clear at the top of the table as Frankfurt lost their first match of the season, 2-0 at Monchengladbach.
Champions Dortmund stumbled again, with Hannover cancelling out Lewandowski’s goal in the 86th minute to earn a 1-1 draw. Dortmund are fourth in the table, with Schalke climbing to third after beating Wolfsburg 3-0 at home
France: The top four faced off on Sunday night, but no-one emerged victorious as PSG drew 2-2 at home to leaders Marseilles, and Lorient drew 1-1 with Lyon. In Paris a sublime brace from Ibrahimovic matched an almost equally good one from Gignac, with all the goals coming in the first 32 minutes.
Gignac has been in top form this season with five goals, the imperious Zlatan now has 9 from 8 league games. The ex-Arsenal man Aliadiere got the equaliser for Lorient to cancel out Gomis’s opener and ensure it’s as you were in the French top four.
image: © Jan S0L0
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