They did just that, winning their 20th Premier League title with a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Monday night. Further down the league, and Arsenal are back into third place after a nervy 1-0 win over Fulham, combined with Chelsea’s concession of a last minute equaliser against Liverpool at Anfield to draw 2-2. Tottenham remain very much in the mix after a superb 3-1 win over Manchester City. Everton lost 1-0 to Sunderland to practically end their Champions League dreams.
In Spain Barcelona won 1-0 against Levante thanks to a late Cesc Fabregas goal, whilst Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over Real Betis keeps them second. Atletico Madrid beat Sevilla 1-0 to remain in with a chance of catching their city rivals. Real Sociedad remain fourth after a 0-0 draw with Osasuna. Valencia crushed Malaga 5-1 and Real Valladolid drew 1-1 with Granada.
In Italy Juventus beat AC Milan 1-0 to stay 11 points clear and closing in on back to back scudetto titles. Napoli are seven points clear in second place now after a 3-2 win over Cagliari, meaning they are set to secure Champions League football. Fiorentina won 4-3 against Torino to remain fourth whilst Inter are fifth after beating Parma 1-0. Roma drew 1-1 with Pescara, and city rivals Lazio were beaten 1-0 by Udinese.
In France Saint Etienne won the Coupe de la Ligue as they overcame Stade Rennes 1-0 in the final on Saturday. In the league, they were overtaken by Lille for fourth place. Lille beat Bastia 2-1. But St Etienne can still finish third and overtake Olympique Lyonnais, who won 2-1 at champions Montpellier. At the top Paris St Germain beat Nice 3-0 to remain in control of the title race, nine points ahead of Marseille, who beat Brest 1-0. Bordeaux drew 2-2 with Sochaux, Toulouse lost 1-0 at home to Lorient.
In Germany Bayern Munich won 6-1 for the second time in a week as they crushed Hannover. Borussia Dortmund beat Mainz 2-0 and Bayer Leverkusen remain in control of third after a 5-0 win over Hoffenheim. Fourth place is still in Schalke’s hands, although their defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 means they are only one point clear of them. Also well in the race for fourth are Freiburg, who lost 2-1 to Stuttgart, Borussia Moenchengladbach won 1-0 against Augsburg and Hamburg won 2-1 against Fortuna Dusseldorf.
In Portugal Porto beat Moreirense 3-0 to stay four points behind Benfica, who beat local rivals Sporting 2-0 to remain in control of the title race. CSKA Moscow’s charge to the Russian title was held up by city rivals Spartak in a 2-2 draw. Zenit St Petersburg beat FC Krasnodar 1-0 and Anzhi Makhachkala drew 3-3 with Dinamo Moscow. Shakhtar Donetsk dropped points for only the second time in 25 Ukrainian league matches this season as they were held 1-1 by Dnipro.
In the Netherlands Ajax remain top although their lead is reduced after drawing 1-1 with Heerenveen. PSV Eindhoven beat AZ Aalkmar 3-1, whilst Feyenoord won 2-0 against Vitesse, meaning both are four points behind the Amsterdam giants.
Newell’s Old Boys went top of the Argentine Clausura at the weekend with a 3-1 win at Velez Sarsfield. River Plate won 2-1 against Godoy Cruz to remain in touch at the top. In the USA LA Galaxy beat Sporting Kansas 2-0, and New York Red Bulls beat New England Revolution 4-1.
