He dropped Iker Casillas, and his team are now seven points behind Atletico Madrid, who beat Celta Vigo 1-0 at home. They are the only team with a 100% record at home still, although Barcelona remain nine points clear after winning 3-1 at Real Valladolid. They have won 16 of 17 games.

Real Betis lost 2-1 at home to Real Mallorca, to lose ground on the top four, while Levante lost 3-0 at Rayo Vallecano. Sevilla were beaten again, 2-1 at Real Sociedad, and Valencia beat Getafe 2-0.

In France, three teams are tied at the top of the table after they all won this weekend. Paris St Germain were comfortable 3-0 winners at Brest, whilst Lyon enjoyed a similarly comfortable 3-0 win over Nice. Marseille won 1-0 against St Etienne to remain joint on 38 points with both sides.

Lille beat Montpellier 4-1 to get back towards form, whilst Rennes won 4-2 at Ajaccio to stay fourth. Valenciennes beat Evian 2-1, Lorient drew with Reims 2-2, and Toulouse beat Sochaux 2-0.

In Italy Juventus won again, 3-1 at Cagliari, to remain clear at the top of the table. Lazio’s 1-0 win at Sampdoria puts them second, above Inter Milan, who were held 1-1 by Genoa at home. Napoli beat Siena 2-0 to remain in the mix, with Roma crushing AC Milan 4-2 at home. Fiorentina beat Palermo 3-0.

Manchester United dropped two points in England as they were held 1-1 by Swansea on Sunday. That meant a last minute winner for Manchester City helped them narrow the gap at the top to four points after beating Reading 1-0. Chelsea thrashed Aston Villa 8-0, Arsenal beat Wigan 1-0, Tottenham were held 0-0 by Stoke City and Everton won 2-1 at West Ham. West Brom beat Norwich 2-1, and Liverpool won 4-0 against Fulham.

Galatasaray drew 0-0 at Trabzonspor in Turkey, and stay clear of Besiktas, 3-0 winners over Kayserispor. Antalyaspor beat Eskisehirspor 2-1, and Fenerbahce lost 3-1 at home to Karabukspor. In Scotland Celtic crushed Ross County 4-0.

PSV beat NAC Breda 6-1, Twente won 3-0 against AZ and Ajax drew 0-0 at Utrecht in the Netherlands. Feyenoord beat Gronigen 2-1, and Heerenveen beat Vitesse 2-1.Central Coast Mariners drew 1-1 with Wellington Phoenix in Australia, and second place Adelaide were thrashed 6-1 by West Sydney Wanderers. Emile Heskey scored as Newcastle Jets beat Alessandro del Piero’s Sydney FC 2-1.