Chelsea and Tottenham continued their head-to-head battle for the Premier League title, but who excelled in European football this weekend?
La Liga provided us with some fantastic fixtures, with the Madrid derby taking precedence, although the feisty encounter ended in a 1-1 draw. Pepe’s opener means Real have now scored for the 52nd game in succession in all competitions; however, Griezmann levelled the tie with his 15th league goal this season. Meanwhile, Barcelona blew their chance to join Real Madrid at the top as they lost 2-0 at Malaga, with Neymar receiving the club’s first red card since October 2015. Elsewhere, Villarreal overcame Athletic Bilbao 3-1 in the battle for fifth place in a game which included nine yellow cards, seven of which came in a heated second half, with the victors also picking up a red fifteen minutes from time. Sevilla cemented their fourth place spot by defeating Deportivo La Coruna 4-2 at home, with ex-City striker Stevan Jovetic scoring within a minute, while former Chelsea youngster Gael Kakuta scored a brace for the struggling away side.
In Germany, Lewandowski now has 46 goals in 45 games for club and country this season after netting a brace as Bayern thumped Dortmund 4-1, and the forward has now scored in seven successive home matches for the league leaders. RB Leipzig did their best to keep up the pace in second place, yet required a 90th-minute winner to overcome Leverkusen 1-0. Schalke meanwhile also picked up a 4-1 win at the hands of Wolfsburg, while Monchengladbach edged out Cologne in a 3-2 thriller, and Hoffenheim remain in third despite a 2-1 loss at Hamburg. As Lewandowski netted his 26th league goal this season in Bayern’s win, Modeste, Gomez and Kramaric all scored to keep their goal tallies ticking, although notably all were on the receiving end of disappointing defeats.
Juventus are just six points ahead of Roma in Serie A, with both sides gaining important victories. Higuain scored a brace as Juventus beat ChievoVerona 2-0, while Dzeko was once again among the goals as Roma beat Bologna 3-0. Torino’s Belotti scored his 24th league goal of the season in their 3-2 win over Cagliari, and AC Milan now find themselves on the edge of European contention as former Merseyside youngsters Suso and Deulofeu scored in their 4-0 victory over Palermo.
Monaco went three points clear in Ligue 1 as Falcao’s goal was enough to see off Angers; however, PSG remain their nearest rivals after thumping Guingamp 4-0. Cavani bagged a brace and an assist in the rout, while Balotelli similarly scored two in third-place Nice’s win over Lille. Lyon massively slipped up with a shock 4-1 home loss to 18th placed Lorient, while Bordeaux are hot on their heels in fifth and picked up a fine 3-0 win over Metz, who had former Spurs defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto sent off in the last minute of the game.