Euro Round up

October 27, 2008

Both Valencia and Lyon were held to draws and saw their league leads reduced this weekend in Spain and France.
The Bundesliga, Serie A, Eredivisie and the Liga Sagres all have an unusual look to the at the top.

In Spain, Valencia travelled to lowly Recreativo who took a surprise point from the early pace-setters. Guardiola’s Barcelona are now looking like they should, winning 5-0 for the second time in less than a week, this time hammering Almeria.
Reigning champions were tested and pushed for the points at home to Athletic Bilbao, but eventually triumphed thanks to a brace from Higuain.
Villarreal are the current kings of entertainment, following up their 6-3 win in Europe by sharing eight goals with ten-man Atletico Madrid.

Anderlecht’s 7-1 demolition of Mechelen means their slow start to the season seems to have been forgotten now, and they are second - one point behind Standard Liege who could only draw 0-0 at Genk.

Lyon have continued their rocky form, by dropping more points at Auxerre - but Laurent Blanc’s Bordeaux failed to capitalise when they drew 2-2 with Nice.
Sochaux again failed to register their first win of the campaign, after giving away a one nil lead, but midweek UEFA cup heros Nancy levelled 15 minutes from time.
The team from the capital, PSG have had an unstable and disappointing decade, but appear to be experiencing something of a renaissance this year. The Parisians came from 2-1 down, to grab an impressive 4-2 away win against big rivals Marseille.

In Portugal, Porto were humbled 3-2 by high-flying Leixoes in Portugal, while Nacional kept pace at the top with a 1-0 success against Vitoria Setubal. Lisbon giants Benfica won, whilst Sporting were held 0-0 by potential relegation fodder Pacos de Ferreira.
Inter Milan have slipped from 1st place in Serie A, so in-form Udinese moved back to the top on goal difference with a 3-1 mauling of last season’s runners-up Roma. Inter kept a cleansheet, but couldn’t make their mark at the San Siro against Genoa.
Napoli and AC Milan both continued to chase the leaders with 1-0 away wins at Lazio and Atalanta respectively.
In the North, Juventus won the Turin derby with Brazilian Amauri, scoring just after the break to sink Torino.

In Holland Groningen joined NAC Breda on the summit after an impressive victory against Sparta, and big boys PSV and Feyenoord continued to struggle. Ajax bounced back from their loss to Aston Villa with a good 2-0 win at home to fellow UEFA Cup hopefuls NEC.
The Bundesliga lead changed hands this weekend, after the top of the table clash between Martin Jol’s team and the new boys. Hamburg were three goals down before half-time and were lucky it wasn’t more when Salihovic hit the upright from a free-kick. Home team Hoffenheim, faced an HSV side in mood to come-back, but in the end held on comfortably to take top spot.
Bayern Munich now seem to be finding their stride and climbed to within four points of the leaders by beating Wolfsburg 4-2.
Leverkusen won in the Rhine derby to go first for a day, but now lay second after Sunday’s games.

Russia, the league is drawing to a close with all the teams having only 4 games to go after tonight’s fixtures. Suprise leaders Rubin Kazan beat European hopefuls Krylia Sovetov 3-0 to go ten points clear. CSKA Moscow have the chance to reduce the gap tonight against city rivals and 3rd placed Dinamo Moscow this evening.
UEFA Cup winners Zenit, have not lived up to expectations this year but are unbeaten this month and can jump to 4th if they win on Wednesday night.

Besiktas head the Turkish Super Lig despite being held on Friday, with Trabzonspor now leading their closest challengers.
Fenerbahce managed a comprehensive win, and Galatasaray a disappointing loss, both are still languishing in mid-table.

In Greece, Olympiakos are already well in pole position, only seven games into the campaign, with Panathinaikos and AEK Athens still well off the pace.

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