There were wins for the league leaders in England, France, Germany and Italy this weekend. The title race in Spain tightened as Iker Muniain scored the only goal to give Athletic Bilbao a 1-0 win over Barcelona, to send Gerardo Martino to their first domestic defeat of the season.
Bundesliga
Bayern Munich continue to play on a different level from everyone else in Germany as they picked up their ninth straight win in all competitions, a 2-0 win ever Eintracht Braunschweig courtesy of two goals from Arjen Robben. Bayern end the weekend as they started it: four points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen, who beat1. Nurnberg 3-0, and seven clear of Borussia Dortmund, 3-1 winners at Mainz. Fourth-placed Borussia Mönchengladbach prevailed 1-0 against SC Freiburg.
Premier League
Arsenal consolidated their four-point lead at the Premier League summit as Aaron Ramsey inspired the Gunners to a 3-0 win at his former club, Cardiff City. Chelsea are now Arsenal’s closest rivals after beating Southampton 3-1, because Liverpool surprisingly lost 301 at Hull City. Manchester City are third after beating Swansea City 3-0, while Manchester United dropped two more points as they drew 2-2 atTottenham Hotspur.
Serie A
AC Milan picked up their first away league victory of the season, 3-1 at Catania, but neighbors Inter Milan were held to a draw at San Siro by lowly Sampdoria. AS Roma drew their fourth game in succession, this time against Atalanta, meaning the weekend’s big winners were Juventus, whose 1-0 defeat of Udinese sent them three points clear at the top of Serie A.
La Liga
Iker Muniain scored the only goal as Athletic Bilbao gave Barcelona their second defeat of the week and first in the Liga since 2 March. Consequently, the leaders stay level on points with Atlético Madrid – who had closed the gap by winning 2-0 at Elche on Saturday – and three ahead of Real Madrid, the last side to have beaten Barca in domestic competition. Gareth Bale scored a hat-trick as Madrid put four without reply past visitors Real Valladolid.
Lique
Fourth-placed Olympique de Marseille got over their Champions League defeat by Arsenal with a 2-0 home win against Montpellier on Friday. On Saturday, Lille and Monaco, second and third respectively, both prevailed, keeping up the pressure on the pacesetters. Paris Saint-Germain, though, hit back in style on Sunday night, cruising to a 4-0 success against Olympique Lyonnais in the capital to restore their four-point advantage.
