Marking your card #9

As one door closes, another opens so the old saying goes. That's as true this week in football as it is in life.

The final round of Ligue 1 dominates Sunday and the cheeky upstarts of Montpellier need a point from a trip to Auxerre - already relegated - to seal a first ever championship. They may not even need that should PSG lose to Lorient, and with Lorient desperate for points to avoid relegation that can't be ruled out. Anyone from 12th-placed Valenciennes down are in a spot of bother. Ahead of Auxerre, Dijon are on 36 points, with Brest, Caen and Ajaccio two ahead of them and Sochaux, Lorient and Nice a point further clear. Valenciennes are on 40 and should be OK as it would take an extraordinary set of results to relegate them. The fixtures in this eight-way relegation battle are:
Evian v Brest
Lorient v PSG
Lyon v Nice
Sochaux v Marseille
Toulouse v Ajaccio
Valenciennes v Caen
Of the clubs in trouble, only VA and Caen face off directly. Their futures are in their own hands. Everyone else will have a radio pressed to the ear in the time-honoured fashion.

There were lots of cup finals in midweek - Basel completing a double in Switzerland and Fenerbahce thumping Bursaspor with a superb display in Turkey the picks - and more finals follow this weekend. The last two places in next season's Eredivisie are up for grabs as Willem II and Den Bosch - 0-0 in the first leg - and Helmond Sport and VVV - VVV lead 2-1 after the first - complete their ties. Vitesse, 3-1 up from the first leg, play RKC for the final Europa League place. Sporting CP and Académica contest the final of the Taca de Portugal, there's the Coppa Italia final between Juventus and Napoli - that should be a cracker - and Endinburgh rivals Hibernian and Hearts take part in the Scottish Cup final in Glasgow. There's also the small matter of the Champions League final. Bayern are at home to Chelsea, the game being played at the impressive Allianz Arena in Munich although without the usual number of Bayern fans, but both sides are missing key players through suspension. Bayern are the bookies favourites and by a fair chunk which is probably representative.

While all these competitions come to an end, the Brazilian national championship kicks off this weekend. After months of increasingly tedious and pointless state championships, Serie A gets underway. Two of the promoted clubs kick us off, Portuguesa away to Palmeiras and Sport Recife at home to Flamengo. Champions Corinthians start on Sunday at home to Fluminense, last year's runners-up Vasco da Gama are at home to Grêmio and favourites Santos are away to Bahia.

Elsewhere in South America, Newell's continue to lead in Argentina and take on third-placed Tigre this week. Boca, in third, are away to traditional rivals Racing Club. Universidad de Chile have lost the last two in the Primera División de Chile. They need to get back to winning ways and take on Huachipato, in seventh, this week. O'Higgins are poised to take advantage of any slip as they take on rock-bottom Cobresal.

England sees two particularly massive games at Wembley over the weekend. First up is the clash between West Ham and Blackpool for the chance to play in next season's Premier League. This will be hyped beyond all recognition as a consequence of so much money suddenly being made available to the winners, but no less important is the Conference play-off final for the right to play in the Football League. Former league sides York City and Luton Town are going for this one and while the numbers may be smaller, it's no less important for the two clubs. You lose funding for your youth teams after dropping out of the league and both have been down there a while - eight years in York's case - and getting back up is a big deal. They've played each other four times this season already, York winning three with one draw, but none of that will matter come 3pm on Sunday. That's where we're going. Come on York (impartiality be damned).

We will also have spies in Radom in Poland where Radomiak travel to take on neighbours Bron needing a win to secure promotion from the regional leagues to the national II Liga - the third tier of Polish football.

Awwwwww, poppet. Unbelievable Jeff #24

This has been everywhere so you've probably already seen it. Also, it's a rare example of the KNVB and their broadcast partners leaving a clip online for long enough for people to watch and share.

Basically, Graafschap got relegated after a defeat to Den Bosch in the second round of the play-offs that determine the final two places in next season's Eredivisie. Players slump to the floor in the time-honoured fashion, none moreso than skipper Rogier Meijer. His daughter comes over to see if he's OK.
Run VT:




It is almost - almost - enough to make me think that having kids might even be a worthwhile thing to do in case I ever have to cope with major disappointment in life  (if you never expect anything good to happen, disappointment is rarely an issue), rather than believe them to be harbingers of doom, impingers of lifestyle and drains on beer money that I have until now suspected them to be.

Unbelievable Jeff.

Now if you'll excuse me, I seem to have something in my eye.

TW3 #12

Well that was dramatic...

On a quite remarkable day in the Premier League, the title ended in the hands of Manchester City, Sergio Aguero's late, late goal capping a turnaround of quite large proportions. City were looking good to do something that only they ever could and chuck it all away, even after Joey Barton confirmed his idiot status by getting sent off after a contretemps with Carlos Tevez. Djibril Cissé, Lord of the Manor of Frodsham, kept up his record of either scoring or getting sent off in every game this season, but Edin Dzeko and Aguero struck in injury time to deny United who had won up at Sunderland.
At the bottom, Bolton join Blackburn and Wolves in relegation after conceding two sloppy goals - one to a clear foul as the keeper was charged into the net like it was 1899 and one a very dubious penalty - to draw at Stoke. Bolton are massively over-leveraged and what happens to them from here could be very painful indeed. Arsenal, after a shambolic start to the season, finish third and in the Champions League places with Tottenham fourth and sweating on the result of the Champions League final next weekend. If Chelsea win that, it's the Europa League for Spurs.

Speaking of Germany, Dortmund claimed a first ever league and cup double after a brilliant performance in Berlin's Olympiastadion against Bayern. From the off, they were unplayable. Shinji Kagawa, in what appears to be his last game for the Schwarzgelb, put them in front early on and, despite Arjen Robben equalising from the penalty spot, they looked in little danger from there. Mats Hummels bagged a penalty of his own, but Robert Lewandowski grabbed the headlines. The lanky Pole was unstoppable, countryman Kuba Blasczykowski similarly good and Kevin Grosskreutz also impressed. It was as complete a performance by any team in Europe this season.

Galatasaray are champions of Turkey after a 0-0 draw with Fenerbahce. It wasn't the most noteworthy of games other than that, though both sides finished a man short, Issiar Dia for Fener and Gala's Tomas Ujfalusi both cautioned twice and sent off.

Juventus completed a season without a defeat in winning Serie A. They beat Atalanta 3-1 and Alessandro del Piero, in his last game for the club, on the socresheet. Milan also bade farewell to a number of players - Gattuso, Nesta, Inzaghi, van Bommel, Zambrotta - after a 2-1 win over Novara. Udinese finish third and in the Champions League, another veteran helping them to a 2-0 win over Catania. Antonio di Natale, as if you couldn't guess. Lazio beat Inter to finish fourth and leave Inter outside the European places and Napoli finish fifth after Andrea Dossena scored twice in a 2-1 win over Siena. Genoa got the win that ensured survival - 2-0 against Palermo - which means that Lecce go down with Cesena and Novara. Lecce lost anyway, away to Chievo. Coming up are Pescara, but the other promotion and play-off places are to be decided in midweek.

Villarreal drop out of Spain top division after a dramatic final day. Sporting Gijón lost to Málaga and go down - Málaga make it to fourth and Champions League - while Villarreal were sunk by a late Radamel Falcao goal. With 88 minutes on the clock, they were safe. Even after the goal, they were OK, but then Raul Tamudo bagged a winner for Rayo Vallecano against Granada and they were down. Zaragoza completed a remarkable escape in a foul-tempered match against Getafe who finished with eight players. A fourth straight win for Zaragoza where once they couldn't buy one. Incredible.
Pep Guardiola's last league game in charge of Barcelona finished with a 2-2 draw against Real Betis while Real Madrid beat Mallorca to hit the 100-point mark. Falcao's goal gave Atléti fifth place and Levante beat Athletic to make it to sixth and Europa League football. Deportivo La Coruna are Segunda División champions, but there's one more round to go to decide the second promoted side and who goes into the play-offs.

Montpellier are almost champions of France after beating Lille with a last-minute Karim Ait-Fana goal. Lille will be third and in the Champions League places. Nene hit a hat-trick to ease PSG past Rennes, but a point next week against relegated Auxerre will be enough for the south coast team to lift the title. Auxerre's 3-0 loss at Marseille condemned them to the drop, but it's two from seven to join them after next week's last round. Bastia are Ligue 2 champions and Reims and Troyes are also promoted.

FC Twente have had a really poor end to the season, capped by a loss to RKC Waalwijk in the Europa League play-offs. RKC were promoted last season and this marks quite a rise. Furkan Alakmak got the only goal of the second leg after a 1-1 draw last Thursday to make it to the final where they'll face Vitesse who beat nine-man NEC 2-0 in the other game to overturn a one-goal deficit from the first leg.
De Graafschap are down after a loss to Den Bosch. VVV are still in with a chance of maintaining their Eredivisie status after beating Cambuur Leeuwarden 4-3. At 3-3 with seconds left, Cambuur were through on away goals, but Michael Uchebo ensured they live to fight on. Willem II and Helmond Sport also won and progress to the final stage. It's Willem II against Den Bosch and Helmond against VVV, the winners of which will be in next season's Eredivisie.

We marked your cards with a bit of South American football, but omitted to mention the Bolivian Clausura which came to a quite thrilling climax this weekend. San José led the way by a point from Oriente Petrolero and three from The Strongest and Real Potosí. Universitario and Blooming were only a point further back. The Strongest and San José went head-to-head with Luis Melgar sealing a 2-1 win with little over ten minutes to go. That wasn't enough as Oriente were leading by the same margin away to Nacional Potosí. But with five minutes of the season remaining, José Rios found an equaliser for Nacional and suddenly Oriente were dropped to third and The Strongest were top. The final table shows The Strongest win from San José and Oriente on goal difference, all three sides on 38 points. Universitario and Blooming are a point further back after both won, Blooming against Real Potosi who drop to sixth, but only three points from the summit. Incredible scenes, more than matching the drama in England.

TW3 #12

A busy weekend all over the place and for all sorts of reasons, so let's get to it.

For the first time since 2003, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is not a league champion. It was the Milan derby on Sunday evening and it turned out to be one of the games of the season. Having cut Juventus's lead to a single point in midweek, Milanese hopes were high, especially as a brace from Zlatan put the Rossoneri ahead after Diego Milito had put Inter ahead early. Two Milito penalties restored Inter to the lead and a complete thunderbastard from Maicon put the tin lid on it. As job interviews go, it was a pretty good one for Andrea Stramaccioni who now looks like being confirmed in the role full-time. More remarkably, with Inter three points from third, he could yet get them back into the Champions League. While it was all going off in Milan, Juventus were cruising to a 2-0 win over Cagliari in Trieste. Mirko Vucinic had them in front early on and an own goal from Michele Canini sealed the game and, as it turned out, the championship. The club, or elements within it, still claim it's their 30th Scudetto and another star needs adding to the badge, but that conveniently ignores the 2005 and '06 championships that were stripped for... well, y'know... that massive cheating scandal. They've earned this one though. Still unbeaten, they've conceded just 19 goals in the league all season.
At the bottom, Novara beat Cesena, but both were down anyway. Nine-man Genoa lost to Udinese and need a point from their last game at home to Palermo to make sure of survival. Lecce need a win to draw level with them and force a play-off. They're away to Chievo. Speaking of Udinese, Antonio di Natale gave hints that he will be finishing at the end of the season. Now 34, he has been fighting through injuries for a while and the sudden death of Piermario Morosini has seemed to give him pause to reflect on the potential issues inherent in carrying on.

Anderlecht are champions of Belgium after a 1-1 draw with Club Brugge left the gap at seven points between the two clubs with two games remaining. A last-minute penalty from Guillaume Gillet snatched a point after Maxime Lestienne had looked like wresting the initiative back. The top four in Holland all won, so Ajax finish top with Feyenoord in second and in the Champions League play-offs. PSV and AZ go into the Europa League directly with Heracles taking a spot after their cup final loss to the Eindhoveners. Heerenveen and Twente go into the play-offs for the remaining Europa League spot along with Vitesse and NEC, but the Eredivisie has an extra place through the fair play league. Twente will get it if they don't make win the play-offs. If they do, the extra place goes to Excelsior who were relegated. De Graafschap and VVV go into the promotion/relegation play-offs with Eerste Divisie sides Den Bosch, Cambuur Leeuwarden, Willem II, Sparta Rotterdam, Helmond Sport and FC Eindhoven. FC Zwolle replace Excelsior.

With things tied up at the top end of the Bundesliga, all eyes were on the bottom this week and big black clouds - metaphorically and literally - descended over Koln. Lautern were already down and they were joined by Koln who were thumped 4-1 at home by FC Bayern. Fans reacted by letting off smoke bombs leaving the pitch shrouded in thick black smoke causing the game to be called a few minutes early. Hertha BSC face a play-off to maintain their Bundesliga status as they beat ten-man Hoffenheim to leapfrog Koln. Greuther Furth sealed the 2.Bundesliga title after a 2-2 draw with bottom placed Hansa Rostock as Eintracht Frankfurt - also promoted - lost to Karlsruher, a win that gives Karlsruher a shot at survival in a play-off. The push for the promotion play-off place was a three-way affair with two sides facing each other, St Pauli beating Paderborn 5-0 at the Millerntor. It wasn't enough as Fortuna Dusseldorf drew 2-2 with MSV Duisburg to finish ahead on goal difference. St Pauli needed another five.

The title is sewn up in Spain as well, so again we look down the table for action. Racing are down already, but the other two spots are still open. Sporting and Zaragoza both won while Rayo - in horrible form - Villarreal and Granada were all beaten and could all go. Sporting have it all to do - They go away to Málaga next week needing a win and a run of results to go for them - but that final relegation place is wide open. Granada are away to Rayo in what appears the pivotal clash, but Granada will be depleted after having two sent off at the end of their defeat to Real Madrid on Sunday as tempers boiled over with the Zaragozan referee.
Valencia sealed third, but Unai Emery - as has been rumoured for some time - will be leaving the club. Mauricio Pellegrino will take over.

Intrigue in Portugal surrounds the fate of União de Leiria. Having olnly raised eight players last week, they at least had 14 for the loss to Benfica this week as players who have been unpaid for some time decided to withdraw their labour. Leiria are done as a Primeira Liga side. The other relegation place is a straight fight between Feirense and Académica. Feirense need a win on final day and hope Académica lose. Anything else and they're gone. Estoril are promoted with one of Moirense and Desportivo Aves joining them.

The gap in Turkey is down to one point, Galatasaray leading despite being held by Besiktas this week. Fenerbahce beat Trabzonspor to close the gap so it's all on next week's Fener/Gala clash next week. Manchester City's Yaya Touré bagged a crucial brace against Newcastle to leave his side ahead of United in the race for the EPL with a game to go while Chelsea won the cup. Shakhtar Donetsk completed the first part of what they hope is a double with a cup win over city rivals Metalurh. A draw on the final day of the league will seal that double. Still two games to go in France and little is decided. Any one of seven sides could still go down while the top three all won, so Montpellier still lead by three from PSG who are two clear of Lille. Lille go to Montpellier next week.

Another big week awaits, the headline event being Wednesday's Europa League final between Athletic Club and Atlético Madrid in Bucharest. Atlético are the nominal home side and will wear the red and white stripes.

TW3 #11

That was the (mid)week that was. Lots of action all over the place with more champions decided and a whole host of quite outstanding goals. Oh, and a manager cuffing a player.

Real Madrid were crowned champions of Spain after beating Athletic in Bilbao. With a couple of huge Cup finals, Athletic did rotate their squad and had Javi Martinez sent off, but it's doubtful whether it would have made a huge amount of difference. Indeed, had Real not won, it would only have been delaying matters. They've been comfortably the best side all season long. Earlier in the evening, Barcelona beat Málaga 4-1 with Lionel Messi bagging yet another hat-trick and going past Gerd Muller's goals in a season record in the process. The little feller is on 68. Valencia took advantage of Málaga's downfall by stuffing Osasuna to take a grip on third. Sporting Gijón are all but down after a loss to Villarreal, but Zaragoza won again - 1-0 over Levante - and can still save themselves.

While Real Madrid were celebrating title number 32, Ajax made it 31 after a win over VVV. Siem de Jong got both in a 2-0 win and they're six clear of Feyenoord with a game to go. Yes, Feyenoord, whose revival this year has been the big story. They duffed up Heracles, but PSV remain on their heels after tubbing ADO. The second coming of Steve McClaren at FC Twente is turning into a bit of a nightmare and they blew a 2-0 lead - Luuk de Jong with both - before going down 4-3 at home to upwardly mobile Heerenveen. Twente slump to sixth, one place behind AZ who were held by NEC. The European places are complicated, to say the least, not helped by PSV's Cup win over Heracles. Rather than go through it here, we'll just wait for events to unfold next weekend and see where we are. Totalfootballnl.com had a look ahead of this round of fixtures and the picture hasn't become much clearer after it.

Juventus's lead in Serie A is down to a point after a blunder by Gianluigi Buffon allowed Luis Muriel to snatch an equaliser for ten-man Lecce. His first touch on a routine back-pass was awful, showing far too much of it to the diminutive Colombian who nipped in to equalise Claudio Marchisio's early opener. Milan won 2-0 at home to Atalanta to close the gap. Lecce's point keeps them in with a shout of stopping up, but a win for Genoa and a draw for Novara consign the latter to Serie B. But the big story of Novara's game was the sideline shenanigans between Delio Rossi and Adem Ljajic. After being subbed off, Ljajic gave his manager a sarcastic round of applause. Rossi reacted the only way that can be expected - by diving in windmilling and slapping the cheeky bastard. Rossi has been sacked, so we know where the power lies at that club.

PSG close the gap to Montpellier at the top of Ligue 1 to three points, MHSC effectively having their mulligan this week in a fiery draw at home to Evian. They had a chance to win it after winning a last-minute penalty that sparked a scuffle that ended with four players sent off. Souleymane Camara missed. PSG beat St Etienne 2-0 the following day. Lille remain in touch, two points back from PSG. Auxerre - seemingly dead and buried a couple of weeks ago - play Dijon tonight (Thursday) and a win would move them out of the bottom three. Dijon are in the worst form of anyone in Ligue 1.

Anderlecht and Club Brugge both won - at home to Gent and Standard Liege respectively - meaning the gap between the two remains seven points. They play each other on Sunday and a draw will win the title for Anderlecht. Dynamo Kiev dropped points in a 0-0 draw at Zorya while Shakhtar won again, 2-1 away to Metalist. That means a draw will do for Shakhtar against rock bottom Oleksandria in the final round of games this weekend. Galatasaray were held by Trabzonspor in the Turkish championship play-offs which gives Fenerbahce the opportunity to go top on goal difference if they beat Besiktas tonight (Thursday).

A range of stunning goals were scored all over the place, but the top three and this screamer from Seattle's Fredy Montero and these two from Newcastle's Papiss Demba Cissé. That's 13 in 12 for the ex-Freiburg man. And there's only one word for that: Woof!

TW3 #10

The weekend in review.

Cup joy for Lyon, 1-0 winners over Quevilly who will forever be called 'plucky', and Olympiakos who sealed a league and cup double.

League joy for Porto where their win over Marítimo and Benfica's draw with Rio Ave meant that the gap is out to six points. With Porto shading the head-to-head record, they cannot now be caught in the final two games. League joy for Basel who beat Lausanne while Luzern could only draw with Grasshopper. No joy for Christian Gross, offed by Young Boys after defeat to embattled Servette.

Almost impossible to interrupt league joy for Ajax. A win over FC Twente - who slump to sixth as a result - leaves the Amsterdammers six points clear of Feyenoord who move up to second. But with a goal difference superior to the tune of 24, it's pretty much a done deal. Quite a start to the managerial career of Frank de Boer. At least one, maybe two, of the top six will miss out on European football for next season. There's a hell of a scrap on for second, third and fourth. The final European spot is decided by play-offs.

So close to league joy that you can almost smell it in France. Montpellier scraped past Toulouse on Friday night and sat back while PSG took on Lille and lost. The gap is out to five points now, as big as it's been all season, but four games remain.

Three games and three points; so goes the equation in Italy. Juventus remain unbeaten and beat lowly Novara easily. Milan did likewise in Siena, maintaining the status quo. Behind them, four teams - Lazio, Napoli, Inter and Udinese - are locked on 55 points in the scramble for third.

European places are settled in Germany. Dortmund are champions, Bayern are second, Schalke - who bade a home farewell to Raúl - are third. Gladbach are fourth and go into the Champions League qualifiers. Levekusen and Stuttgart go into the Europa League. Hertha were battered by Schalke and now must win their final game to stand a chance of staying up through the relegation play-off. Koln will go into that play-off with any other outcome, the opponents being Fortuna Dusseldorf, Paderborn or St Pauli. The latter two play each other next week, Fortuna against mid-table MSV Duisburg.

Delayed league gratification in Spain. El Real comfortably beat Sevilla and then hoped Rayo could take something from their home game with Barcelona. They couldn't, emphatically so. 7-0 it finished. And so we go to Wednesday and El Real's trip to the Basque country and Marcelo Bielsa's Athletic. In the race for third, Málaga beat Valencia by a goal to nil to go level on points. Wins for both Sporting Gíjón - 3-0 away to Espanyol - and Zaragoza - 2-0 over Athletic - kept their survival hopes alive for now. Another win for Villarreal will end it for both. On Tuesday, the Yellow Submarine go to Gijón.

Derby joy for Wisła Kraków and Manchester City. The former doesn't really ignite the race for the Ekstraklasa title - that's a five-way scrap between Legia, Slask, Ruch, Lech and Korona - but, coupled with Lechia's win over Widzew Łódź, confirms Cracovia's relegation. It didn't help that Cracovia finished with nine men. Vincent Kompany and some strangely negative tactics from Alex Ferguson helped City to a win over their neighbours United and leaves the EPL title race on a knife-edge.

Finally, title joy for the Brisbane Roar, recipients of one of the worst calls in refereeing history. With the game locked at 1-1 and in the fifth of four minutes of added time at the end, a complete airshot in the box from Roar striker Besart Berisha ended with him falling over and claiming a penalty. To the incredulity of most of the 50,000+ in the ground, it was given. You know it's a dodgy call when the recipient of the penalty runs off celebrating like Marco Tardelli. After a bit of a scuffle, for which Perth defender Billy Mehmet was booked for slapping Berisha, the man 'fouled' slotted home the spot kick to win the title for his side. The referee Jared Gillett is a Brisbane man. The final was played in Brisbane. Gillett's other half works for the Roar. Why the A-League put him in charge is a mystery. Not for one moment are we suggesting it was anything other than an error, but when you have the opportunity to nip conspiracy theories in the bud, why not take it? It's as much to be seen as being beyond reproach as actually being it. Needless to say, the head of the refereeing board backs his man to the hilt, reckoning that even after replays, he saw enough contact - we saw none, incidentally - to warrant the penalty. Rubbish.

Still lots to play for around the leagues and a busy midweek schedule to come.

Marking your card #7

Herewith our picks of the more interesting games around Europe this weekend.

After the fun and games of title deciders last weekend, there could be a few more this week too. There are also some cup final shenanigans.

First to Russia, where long-time leaders Zenit just need a point at home to second-placed Dinamo Moscow to seal the title. They're 12 points clear with four games to go including this one, so Dinamo need to win everything while hoping Zenit lose everything. If not this week for Zenit, it will surely come soon. They've been the best all season by some distance. The chase for second place and a Champions League spot is perhaps more interesting. Dinamo are a point ahead of Spartak with CSKA two further back. Spartak are away to CSKA this week.

Ajax need a win to seal a second successive championship in the Netherlands. When all around have faltered, they've kept on keeping on. Frank de Boer has already been spoken about in terms of the Barcelona job should Pep Guardiola step down (not confirmed at time of writing) and two Eredivisie soup dishes isn't a bad way to start your managerial career, especially given the state Ajax were in when he took the reins. They are in Enschede this week to play FC Twente who are in a similar hunt for points to make it to that second Champions League spot. It's third v second at De Kuip where Feyenoord host AZ and PSV aren't out of the hunt for second either. They're in Kerkrade to play Roda JC. Heerenveen are still in with a shout of European qualification and are away to Heracles this week.

It's the French Cup final on Saturday with minnows US Quevilly playing the giants of Lyon. Quevilly getting this far has been one of those feel-good stories that cup football throws up occasionally and it's sure to be quite a party in the tiny Norman village whatever the outcome. It's all on Lyon, a no-win situation in many respects.
Ligue 1 continues as well and PSG's trip to nearby Lille is the big clash of the round. Lille need the points to maintain a Champions League spot and any hope of overhauling their near neighbours. PSG need points for their title push. Montpellier have a tough Friday night assignment in Toulouse, though TFC have dropped off the pace a little of late.

Olympiakos sealed the Greek championship a while back and get the opportunity to make it a double this weekend in the Cup final against Atromitos. Olympiakos have only lost one of their last twelve against domestic opposition while Atromitos - fourth place in the Super League table - haven't won for a month. It should be a formality. Should be...

Basel are technically champions of Switzerland at the moment, but for an appeal by second-placed Luzern over points docked in relation to FC Sion's ineligible player row, specifically points they think they should have been awarded for a game against Sion. Basel, diplomatically and sensibly, aren't claiming anything, but a win over eighth-place Lausanne will be enough no matter what happens to Luzern either at CAS or away to Grasshopper this weekend.

The Spanish title is all but decided after last week's clasico and it would take a choke of spectacular proportions to deny El Real now. The big race is on for third place and Valencia go to Málaga this weekend. Málaga trail Los Che by three, but Valencia beat them 2-0 in the Mestalla. Málaga therefore need to win this by three to go ahead on the head-to-head. Should Valencia win, there's a real push for fourth with Levante, Athletic, Atlético and Osasuna all in the frame.

The English championship could be decided in all but name on Monday where the two Manchester clubs meet at City's ground. A draw will pretty much do for United, allowing them a mulligan in the final two games. City have to win and, at home, the onus is very much on them. It promises to be quite a game.

Us? Well it's the final round of games in the Blue Square Premier. We're off to York's home game with Forest Green Rovers. York are sealed in the play-off places, but who they play is open to question. It could be Mansfield - safe in third - or it could be Wrexham - ina lonely second. Who the fourth team in those play-offs is yet to be decided as well. Luton are fifth at the moment and are away to runaway champions Fleetwood. Kidderminster are two points behind them and play Mansfield at home. Intrigue right the way through. Who Fleetwood plus one replace in the football league is two of Macclesfield, Hereford and Barnet. That picture won't become a lot clearer until five o'clock tomorrow.

TW3 #9

Protests. Two of them this weekend and for very different reasons. Sevilla fans weren't taking the fact their game at home to Levante was held back until 10:30 - meaning it finished the following day - so that TV could analyse every last second of the clasico that went before it. With banners such as "stop the game, Mou is talking", a shower of tennis balls rained down onto the field in scenes reminiscent of those at FC Basel when their game was held back because Roger Federer was playing tennis. Heaven help us if the World Snooker Championships ever takes precedence over a football game. You could really hurt someone with a cue ball.

A protest of a different sort in Genoa where they're in all sorts of trouble at the wrong end of Serie A having spent a fair wedge to get there. Supporters launched fireworks onto the field which left the referee with no option but to take the players from the field. The Genoa players stayed out to remonstrate with the fans, but a number demanded that the players hand over their shirts as they were not worthy of them. Ten shirts were handed over, Giuseppe Sculli the refusenik. Eventually, the fans were persuaded to return to the stands where they observed the remainder of the game with backs turned to the pitch. Siena ran out 4-1 winners and on Monday morning Alberto Malesani was sacked. To be sacked from a club once in a season is bad. For the same club to sack you twice is perversely impressive. Genoa sit one point and one place above the drop zone.

On to the actual football and that clasico then. Real Madrid won it against a tired looking Barcelona. El Real are not about to drop eight points in the remaining four games and the title will be theirs. Valencia strengthened their grip on third place after thumping woeful, nine-man Real Betis, but are a whopping 33 points behind El Real. Racing are down after losing to Athletic. A win for Granada and a point for Villarreal means that Sporting and Zaragoza are going to join them before too long.

Dortmund sealed their second successive championship with a 2-0 win over Gladbach. Bayern came from behind to beat Bremen with Franck Ribéry scoring a last-minute winner, but it mattered not with Dortmund's win. Bayern will finish second, Schalke and Gladbach are fighting for third while Stuttgart need a series of events to go their way to pip Gladbach for fourth. Lautern won for only the fourth time this season, a 2-1 win in Berlin against Hertha, a result that leaves Hertha in deep trouble. The problem for Lautern is that Koln's point against Stuttgart was enough to condemn them to 2.Bundesliga football next season. They'll be replaced by Greuther Fürth whose point against FSV Frankfurt on Friday was enough to seal promotion and they're joined by Eintracht Frankfurt who beat bottom side Alemannia Aachen on Monday.

When is a championship not a championship? When it's mired in the increasingly odd world of Swiss football. Basel took an unassailable 16-point lead in the standings after a 3-0 win over Sion, but refused to celebrate as second-placed Luzern are appealing against a decision regarding two competition points they feel should be theirs after the Sion ineligibility row. Basel have said they'll only celebrate when they're out of range even should the points be reinstated. Meanwhile Young Boys and FC Zurich have been refused licenses to operate next season, joining Servette and Neuchatel Xamax in that regard. Seven second-tier clubs are also subject to the same penalty.

Sint-Truiden were relegated from Belgium's top flight after losing the fourth game of their play-off with Westerlo. The fifth game will not now be needed, Westerlo having won three of the first four. Anderlecht opened up a five-point gap in the championship play-offs by beating Club Brugge. Five games remain there. In the Turkish championship play-offs, Galatasaray were beaten by Fenerbahce, closing the gap to two points with four games to go. Besiktas and Trabzonspor cannot win it - it's a straight fight between Gala and Fener. Ajax need one more win for a second successive Eredivisie title as the top five all won. They're six clear of AZ, but one point covers second to fifth in the chase for Champions League football. A draw for Heerenveen at home to Vitesse sees them drop back. The French title race rumbles on as Montpellier and PSG both won - the Parisians 6-1 at home to Sochaux - leaving the gap at two points. Zenit's lead in Russia was trimmed to 12 points after a draw with Kuban Krasnodar, but with just four games to go, one more point will do it. They're at home to second-placed Dinamo Moscow next week as well.

Marking your card #6

What we'll be looking out for this weekend. We feel quite sure there's a big game going off somewhere on Saturday evening. Errmmm.... errrr.... Oh, it'll come to us. Onward...

Lots of things can be resolved in Germany this weekend. A win for Dortmund over Gladbach in the big Borussia derby will seal the championship for the second year running for the Schwarzgelb no matter what FC Bayern do at Bremen. Gladbach need a win to secure at least fourth place and the Champions League qualifying berth and Schalke, away to Augsburg, need a win to be safe in that top four. Anything other than a win for Lautern will condemn them to relegation and even that might not be enough if Koln get anything out of their game against Schalke. In the division below, Greuther Fürth just need a point for promotion and play away at FSV Frankfurt tonight. Eintracht Frankfurt need a win to seal an immediate return to the top flight and are also away, to Alemania Aachen on Monday. Paderborn, Fortuna Dusseldorf and St Pauli are all still in the mix for third and the promotion play-off against the 16th placed team in the Bundesliga which looks like being either Hertha BSC or Koln.

Ajax opened up a six-point gap at the top of the Eredivisie last week, not a decisive lead, but one big enough to make one think they're almost home. Four games to go here and everyone else is looking for them to slip up at home to Groningen this weekend. Twente are away to Excelsior, Feyenoord - all of a sudden in third place - got to Den Haag, AZ have VVV at home, PSV - outside the European places now - play NEC at home and Heerenveen host Vitesse. With only one down automatically, one of Excelsior and De Graafschap - at home to Heracles - look doomed. There's a point between them.

Still six games remaining in Ligue 1 which means nobody from 12th down can consider themselves safe. Auxerre are beginning to be cut adrift though and look like one of the three to go down. The top two look clear, Montpellier leading from PSG, and they are both at home this week to Valenciennes and Sochaux respectively. A midweek loss for Lyon has all but ended their hopes of Champions League football and locked with Toulouse for fourth. Lille run in a lonely third.

If Genoa beat Siena on Sunday, Cesena will be relegated from Serie A even if Cesena manage to beat Palermo. Novara - away to Napoli this week - also need to start picking points up before it's too late. A point continues to seperate Juventus and Milan at the top. Milan are at home to Bologna this weekk while Juve have the game of the round, at home to Roma who still have chances to make the Champions League places.

Another big game in Turkey this week with Fenerbahce going to Galatasaray. A win for the latter and they'll have an almost decisive lead.

Spain now and if Villarreal beat Real Sociedad and Granada beat Getafe, Racing will be relegated. Even if not, it's a long road back for Racing who host Athletic on Sunday. Sporting Gíjon and Zaragoza also remain deep in the mire and are at home to Rayo and away to Mallorca respectively.

And that's it for this week.

Oh no, wait. There's the small matter of Barcelona v Real Madrid on Saturday. The Catalans are four points behind. Both come off Champions League defeats. A draw will probably do for El Real. Nothing but a win will suffice for Barcelona. It will probably be a pissy, whiny bitch-fest, but some football could break out. Strap in.

Us? Well we're off to Huddersfield v Scunthorpe, so you don't have to. Enjoy the game wherever you end up.

TW3 #8

The weekend's football was largely overshadowed by the tragic death of Piermario Morosini in a Serie B clash between Livorno, with whom he was on loan from Udinese, and Pescara. The Lega Calcio immediately cancelled the rest of Italian programme for the weekend - Milan and Genoa learning this during their pre-match warm-up - with nobody in the mood for a game. Questions are being asked. There is a rigourous testing regime in place, but all the screening in the world isn't going to help, especially if pitchside treatment isn't up to scratch or ambulance staff are prevented from accessing a stricken player by a badly parked traffic officer's car.

Morosini has been talked about in glowing terms in the aftermath and seems a genuinely liked person. Not that he'd had it easy. Both his parents died when he was still a teenager, his severly disabled brother committed suicide in between. And yet at no point does it appear to have affected him negatively, rather to spur him on. If anyone had the right to dwell on things and wear 'why always me?' t-shirts, it was Morosini. That he took such a philosophical outlook on things only serves to increase the sense of tragedy. He leaves behind a physically handicapped sister, but just when you thought you couldn't respect Antonio di Natale any more, he goes and pledges to ensure she's looked after. When tragedy strikes, real heroes emerge. Di Natale has always been a footballing hero. He's so much more than that now.



Football does pale in light of that, but it did go on as it always will, the unstoppable behemoth that it is. We'll have a whizz round the leagues very quickly.

Cup joy for both Marseille and Benfica. Brandao's extra-time goal settled a dull Coupe de le Ligue final in St Denis while a late Javier Saviola strike snatched glory for Benfica just after Zé Luís had equalised for Gil Vicente. In Ligue 1, Montpellier still lead despite losing to Lorient as PSG were held by bottom club Auxerre.

Dortmund won the big derby in Germany at the home of their rivals Schalke. Bayern and Mainz struggled to a goalless draw, opening the gap out to eight and almost certainly ensuring that the salad bowl remains at the Westfalenstadion. Gladbach hammered sorry Koln - without a manager after offing Stale Solbakken in the week - to all but seal a place in the Champions League qualifiers. In 2.Bundesliga, Greuther Fürth and Eintracht Frankfurt are all but promoted. It would take a monumental collapse to deny either as with Fortuna beaten by Dynamo Dresden on Monday night, Greuther need one point, Eintracht two.

AZ losing to PSV and Twente drawing with NAC has allowed Ajax to pull out a six-point gap at the top of the Eredivisie. Zwolle will be promoted after a 0-0 draw with FC Eindhoven sealed the Eerste Divisie title. In Spain, wins for the top two left everything as was, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi both moving on to 41 league goals for the season.

Unseemly goings-on in Turkey where Didier Zokora accused Emre Belozoglu of racially abusing him during the Fenebahce v Trabzonspor game. Emre coughed to it and apologised, in fairness. In the big game, Galatasaray triumphed over Besiktas and remain five points clear.

The Champions League semi-finals take centre stage in midweek while Lega Calcio have confirmed that Italian football resumes next weekend.

Marking your card #5

Herewith the highlights of the coming weekend around Europe.

Biggest game of the weekend is the Ruhr derby as Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund make the short trip to Gelsenkirchen to take on rivals Schalke. Dortmund built up a six-point buffer by beating FC Bayern midweek and the Bavarians are at home to Mainz awaiting a slip-up by the Schwarzgelb. And if it's derby action you want, try Galatasaray travelling to face Besiktas in the Turkish league. Slightly more tame than that is the game on Sunday in Vienna between Rapid and Austria.

Saturday is League Cup final day in France and Portugal as Lyon take on Marseille - the Olympique derby - at the Stade de France and Benfica meet Gil Vicente in Coimbra. Marseille go into it in stinkingly rotten form and Lyon are huge favourites to take the first silverware of the year. Benfica are even stronger favourites in their final.

Inter travel to Udine in a big clash in terms of the minor European placings. Udinese have just gone off the boil a little lately while Andrea Stramaccioni has had a solid start to his Inter career, already taking more points in four games than Claudio Ranieri did in his last ten.

The Eredivisie became a lot more clear-cut after the midweek matches. PSV are at home to AZ in the one clash between the top six. Twente are at home to NAC, Heerenveen go to Nijmegen and Feyenoord face their feeder club Excelsior at De Kuip. Anyone hoping for a slip-up from leaders Ajax will be disappointed - they're at home to De Graafschap.

The top two in Spain are both in action on Saturday ahead of Champions League assignments midweek with Real Madrid at home to Sporting Gíjon and Barcelona with the marginally tougher assignment of playing away at Levante.

And in English non-league football, Fleetwood Town can confirm their promotion to the football league with a win over Lincoln City at Highbury tonight. They will win that. Lincoln are rubbish.

Enjoy the game wherever you end up.

TW3 #7

That was the (mid)week that was. And what a midweek. So much going on, we'll rattle through as best we can.

Where to start? France, probably, where third-tier Quevilly made it through to the final of the Coupe de France by beeating Rennes. The Ligue 1 side were ahead early on through Julien Féret, but couldn't find a second. Karim Herouat equalised midway through the second half and, with the game heading for extra-time and Quevilly under massive pressure, they broke quickly and Anthony Laup slid one past Benoit Costil for a sensational late win. They take on Lyon in the final on the 28th of this month after they beat Gazelec Ajaccio on Tuesday. In Ligue 1, Montpellier eased past an increasingly shambolic Marseille side 3-1 to take a three-point lead in the standings over PSG.

On Tuesday, Barcelona took Getafe apart at a stroll to move within a point of Real Madrid who had a derby clash at the Calderon the following day. A Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick helped the leaders past their city rivals with a 4-1 win. Atléti were level, briefly, but El Real were rarely in serious danger of dropping points. The battle for the league rolls on. Valencia were also big winners, 4-1 over Rayo, and move back to third with Málaga in action on Thursday.

A potentially decisive clash in Dortmund saw BvB place one hand on the championship plate with a 1-0 win over nearest challengers Bayern. Despite the Schwarzgelb dominating the first half, the sides turned round at 0-0, Robert Lewandowski with the best chance as he crashed a thunderous header off the post with Manuel Neuer - the ex-Schalke keeper getting dogs abuse all evening from the local fans - well beaten. Bayern were better after the break, but Dortmund still created the better chances and went ahead as a short corner routine ended with Lewandowski getting a vital touch onto a Kevin Grosskreutz shot. Arjen Robben was playing the big Pole onside and later had a tame penalty easily saved by Roman Weidenfeller, the keeper atoning for his brain explosion that caused him to give it away in the first place. Neven Subotic played the Martin Keown role in reminding Robben of what he'd done and the Dutchman's night got worse when he missed an alomst open goal from all of a couple of yards. Lautern lost again and are nine points from the relative safety of the relegation play-offs with four games remaining.

In Serie A, Milan went back to the top after Sulley Muntari's early goal was enough to beat Chievo, but a late winner from the ageless Alessandro del Piero helped Juventus beat Lazio and return to the summit a day later. Inter beat Siena and move within three points of Udinese in fourth, though Roma and Napoli sit in between.

It was a good midweek for Ajax, 5-0 winners over 10-man Heerenveen who had goalkeeper Brian Vandenbussche sent off early on. Theo Janssen converted the resultant penalty and Ajax strolled to a win. PSV lost at Waalwijk to leave themselves and Heerenveen seven points off Ajax with five games to go and all but out of the race. Feyenoord were held 0-0 by Roda JC and are six points back from the Amsterdammers while AZ and Twente drew 2-2, Emir Bajrami with a late equaliser for the Tukkers, leaving them three and five points adrift.

A surprise defeat for Manchester United at Wigan sees the latter pull themselves out of the relegation places in England for the first time since September. It's also caused a frisson of intrigue at the top, but United's lead over city rivals City remains at five points - a gulf. With QPR winning as well as Wigan, it was a bad midweek for Bolton and Blackburn who were both beaten and both slip into the bottom three along with the doomed Wolves.

Finally to Scotland where it's congratulations to Ross County on making it to the SPL for the first time. Playing in the Highland League up until 1994, they've slowly been building towards this, coming via a Scottish Cup Final in 2010. Not in action this week, their promotion was confirmed when Dundee were held at home by Queen of the South. This isn't a case of cashed-up Gretna or a financial basket-case like Livingston. It's been slow, steady progress and more power to their elbow for that.

TW3 #5

Rounding up last weekend into a neat little package.

What a game in Dortmund on Friday night. Leading 2-0 early in the second half, BvB were looking good for win number 17 from their last 18 games. But Stuttgart turned the game on it's head with a Julian Schieber double helping them into the lead. Back came Dortmund only for a defensive mix-up deep in stoppage time to allow Christian Gentner to snatch a dramatic 4-4 draw. Bayern's fourth win in a row sees them close within three points. Dropped points for both Schalke and Gladbach leave it a two-horse race. Leverkusen, on the fringes of the European places, sacked Robin Dutt after their fourth successive league defeat. Sami Hyypia takes temporary charge. Down in Regionalliga Nord, the Magdeburg fans arrows clearly worked and backed up their goal from last week with two more this week, and it was enough for a win which lifts them off the bottom.

More goalfests in Italy where Inter won their first game under Andrea Stramaccioni by the odd goal in nine in a game that featured four successful penalties and two red cards. Genoa scored three of the penalties - two by Alberto Gilardino - but still came up short. Diego Milito bagged a hat-trick for the Nerazzuri. Genoa responded by sacking coach Pasquale Merino and replacing him with Alberto Malesani who previously coached the club as long ago as last December before being replaced by Merino. There were seven more goals in Roma's game against Novara, Luis Enrique's side running out 5-2 winners. Milan were held by the quietly effective Catania and Juventus were comfortable winners over Napoli. The gap at the top is down to two.
All of that was rather overshadowed by events elsewhere as nine former Bari players were arrested as part of match-fixing investigations, Andrea Masiello admitting to scoring a deliberate own goal after being offered €50,000 to lose a game against Lecce. This one will run and run.

As you were at the top of La Liga as Real Madrid came away from Pamplona big winners. Barcelona beat Athletic shortly afterwards to retain the status quo. El Real's five goals against Osasuna took them to the 100 mark for the season. Valencia dropped more points with a draw at home to Levante who are still right on their heels. Málaga couldn't take advantage with a home defeat to Real Betis where a win would have sent them third. A third straight win for Zaragoza pulls them within four points of safety. The greatest of escapes is still on. Defeats for Sporting and Racing make them look doomed.

In the Eredivisie AZ were held at home by Vitesse which allowed Ajax, who stuck six past Heracles, to go top by a point. FC Twente are two points further back from the Alkmaarders, one point ahead of the next three - PSV, Feyenoord and Heerenveen - who all won.

Benfica beat Braga, bringing the latter's brief leadership of the Liga Zon Sagres to an end. However, it's Porto who now lead the way after a comfortable 2-0 win over Olhanense. Benfica are a point behind, Braga one point further back. Marítimo and Sporting CP look certain to finish fourth and fifth - the Europa League spots - one way round or t'other.

Montpellier weren't in Ligue 1 action, but stay top after PSG were beaten by Nancy. Lille laboured to beat Toulouse to close within four points and give themselves breathing space back to the chasing pack.

Celtic have to wait a week for the Scottish title. Rivals Rangers won as did the hooped half of Glasgow, but one more point will do it for Neil Lennon's men. Olympiakos did seal the deal in Greece, beating Panaitolikos 1-0. Despite Panathiaikos beating Aris by the same score, Olympiakos are ten points clear with three games to go. Manchester United put one hand on their 20th English championship by beating Blackburn as rivals City were held by Sunderland. The gap is five, but it feels like 50 such is the difference in momentum between the two sides.

Midweek sees the intra-continental competitions take over with Champions League and Europa League quarter-final second legs and the Copa Libertadores centre stage - Godoy Cruz v U de Chile looks a cracker - before a packed Easter schedule.

TW3 #4

The weekend in a nutshell.

Inter go down in Turin, Ranieri offed as a result though in reality it had long been coming. Milan continue to lead, that man Zlatan with both goals in a 2-1 win over Roma. Cesena are almost down, but it is just a matter of time.

Real Madrid's little wobble is over following a 5-1 thumping of Real Sociedad. Barcelona also won, away to Mallorca, so the gap remains six points with a Clasico still to come. Málaga are the new incumbents of fourth and it could get better yet for the nouveau riche Los Boquerones as Valencia's second straight loss means it's tied on 47 points for third. At the bottom, Zaragoza's second straight win has pulled them level with both Racing and Sporting Gíjon, albeit still six points adrift of Granada and Villarreal. A fighting chance, nothing more.

Montpellier return to the top of Ligue 1 with a win over St Etienne combined with PSG being held 1-1 by Bordeaux. Lille remain third after cruising past Evian. Auxerre are in all sorts of trouble and hit the bottom after defeat to fourth-placed Toulouse.

A good weekend for Ajax in the Eredivisie who continued their great run with a win over PSV. They're a point behind AZ - 1-0 winners over RKC Waalwijk - but Twente fall away after a draw with ADO. Big wins for Feyenoord and Heerenveen see them make up a trio on 51 points with PSV a point further behind Steve McClaren's team.

New leaders in Portugal where Benfica and Porto both drew - Pablo Aimar sent off in a 0-0 draw for the former against Olhanense, the latter pegged back late on by Paços de Ferreira - and Sporting Braga beat Académica to go past them both.

The Belgian regular season has ended and now they go into their play-off frenzy. Anderlecht finished top and Kortijk sneak into the top six who play off for the championship as Cercle Brugge buggered it up against Lokeren and drop into the Europa League play-offs for the teams finishing 7th to 14th. Westerlo and Sint-Truiden play-off to avoid relegation. Clear? As mud.

Celtic have to wait at least a week for the Scottish title after defeat to Rangers in a feisty, tempestuous game, but they will be champions. So will Manchester United, south of the border, after rivals City extended their worrying run of complete inability to win away from home.

The fall-out from the trouble at the Panathiaikos-Olympiakos game saw the Greek FA award the match as a 3-0 to Olympiakos, fine Panathinaikos and order them to play four games behind closed doors. Both sides won this weekend - a 7-2 thumping of Asteras for Olympiakos for whom Kevin Mirallas got three - which leaves Olympiakos ten points clear.

Finally, Germany. Wins for the top three leaves the status quo intact, but a surprise loss for Gladbach at home to Hoffenheim sees them fall away and their season is in danger of fizzling out. They are a long way clear of Leverkusen though, so a top four finish is still very much on. 2.Bundesliga is finally taking shape. Of the top five, only Greuther and Eintracht Frankfurt won - Greuther against an increasingly dismal Lautern, Eintracht 4-0 away to Union Berlin - and they're away and over the hill now.

A busy midweek sees the Champions League quarter-finals hog the headlines and an emotional return to White Hart Lane for Bolton in the rearranged FA Cup tie, the game that was abandoned after Fabrice Muamba's heart attack.

That was the (mid)week that was #3

It's now a fully blown crisis at Marseille as they were dumped out of the Coupe de France by third-tier Quevilly. The game was played in Caen rather than at the tiny, 2,500 capacity Stade Amable Lozai and Marseille needed a late Loic Remy equaliser to take it into extra-time. He scored again in the extra half-hour, but only in between two strikes from John Ayina, the last a couple of minutes from the end of the 120 minutes. An upset too on Corsica where 3rd division Gamélec Ajaccio beat Montpellier. PSG are also out, beaten by Lyon, and Rennes progressed against Valenciennes.

No such cup joy for Greuther Fürth of 2.Bundesliga, but they did give Borussia Dortmund a real fright. They dragged their semi-final through to extra time, but a last-miute goal from Ilkay Gundogan denied them at least a penalty shoot-out. A shoot-out was what we had in the other semi, Bayern edging out Gladbach.

The semi-final of the Coppa Italia between Milan and Juventus also went to extra-time having ended 2-1 to Milan after the 90 minutes which left it all square on aggregate. Six minutes into the additional period, Mirko Vucinic blasted in a stunner and Juve held firm for the remaining time in a heated game. Napoli join the Old Lady there after beating Siena.

PSV eased past Heerenveen for the second time in a matter of days to reach the KNVB Beker final. PSV are joined in the final by Heracles who beat AZ in extra-time. The little club with the plastic pitch are almost certainly in the Europa League next year. Twente struggled past ten-man De Graafschap in a delayed league game from the cold snap in January. Graafschap were extremely unlucky not to grab a point. Luuk de Jong was carried off after turning his ankle and that could be key to Twente's fortunes for the remainder of the season.

The NextGen series sees Ajax joined in Sunday's final by Internazionale after a 2-0 win over Marseille at Brentford's Griffin Park. The final is also in London, at Leyton Orient's Brisbane Road ground.

Finally, Spain. Lionel Messi. He's now scored three or more in a game on nine occasions this season. It's difficult to think of anything else to say about him. El Real finished with nine on the field and Aitor Karanka and Jose Mourinho sent from the bench at El Madrigal where Marcos Senna's wonderful free-kick denied Los Blancos a win. The gap is down to six points at the top. Game on? Levante continue to stake a claim for fourth place, but Málaga have kept it to one goal difference.

That was the week that was #1

Taking over from the Vague round-up, something a bit more in-depth...

Last week was a European week with Barcelona and that Lionel Messi bloke grabbing all the headlines. That was a shame as APOEL's penalty shoot-out win over Lyon got a bit shouldered out of things and Athletic Club's trip to Manchester United in the Europa League was one of the games of the season. With APOEL reaching the quarters, Arsenal not quite managing to overturn the four-goal deficit against Milan and Chelsea 3-1 down going into this week's return leg against Napoli, Cyprus look likely to have more clubs in the quater-finals than England. Effort.

Onto matters domestic and in Spain, the one-horse races for first, second and third places all remained exactly that, even if Valencia - in a lonely third - could only draw with Mallorca, chucking a two-goal lead away in the process. More pain for Villarreal against Getafe on Monday night. Their survival hinges on finding three clubs worse than them. Fortunately Racing, Sporting and Zaragoza combine to fit that bill rather well. The only real race is for fourth and Málaga have that spot this week, Athletic conspiring to lose at Osasuna.

Napoli were stunning on Friday night in Serie A, thumping six past Cagliari. They conceded three though, a hat-trick for Joaquin Larrivey. Cagliari responded by sacking manager Davide Ballardini and re-hire former boss Massimo Ficcadenti who himself was sacked by the club four months ago. Clear? Milan won again to extend their lead at the top with Juventus - still unbeaten - only drawing in Genoa. Inter got back to winning ways against Chievo, but Ranieri is still on thin ice. The bottom three look done already, but Novara dented Udinese's Champions League hopes with something of a shock win.
Wins for the top two in France leaves that battle as it was, but both pull clear of third-placed Lille who were beaten by Lyon. St Etienne sneak into fourth after a win over VA. Four points cover the bottom seven meaning squeaky bums all round. In Ligue 2, Monaco finally pulled themselves out of the bottom three. It's still too early to talk of a resurgence.

The Eredivisie had one of it's bonkers weeks. Ajax went top briefly after a win of RKC Waalwijk, but AZ returned there in the late game on Sunday after beating Graafschap. PSV lost 3-1 at NAC Breda and fired Fred Rutten. Twente went and lost to NEC to stuff their chances of going top. Heerenveen also won to remain fifth, but a draw for Feyenoord sees them lose pace in sixth. AZ lead by three from Ajax, but one point covers second to fifth.

Porto stuffed up in the Liga Zon Sagres, drawing at home to Academica. Benfica's win over Paços de Ferreira and Braga's win over Leiria brings them both within a point. Sporting are a yawning eleven points further back in fourth.

Galatasaray are miles ahead in Turkey, likewise Basel in Switzerland. Olympiakos have opened up a bit of a gap in the Greek Super League after Panathinaikos were beaten by AEK. Legia opened up a bit of a gap in the Ekstraklasa after Slask were beaten by Korona. Warsaw derby next week.

Finally, Germany. Dortmund were held in Augsburg to a goalless draw, but remain four points ahead of Bayern, 7-1 winners against an increasingly shambolic Hoffenheim. Gladbach could only draw with Freiburg and they lose ground; Schalke move within a point of the Foals by beating Hamburg. But it's 2.Bundesliga where the real fun is. Three points covers the top five, still. Paderborn were held 0-0 by Bochum, the only ones in the top five not to win. Greuther beat Alemannia to remain top by a point from Eintracht Frankfurt who stuck five past Hansa. Then come Fortuna, 3-1 winners over Erzebirge. All that heaped pressure on St Pauli to win on Monday night and they did, 1-0 over Karlsruhe who remain in deep trouble at the wrong end.

PSV wtf

PSV were rubbish against NAC at the weekend. Despite going ahead early through Georgino Wijnaldum, NAC were ahead shortly afterwards as Santi Kolk equalised and Anthony Lurling wove through some poor defending for the second. Shortly before half-time, Stanislav Manolev was sent off after picking up a second yellow for what was about his sixth cautionable offence. Kolk increased the lead with a free header and NAC held onto it quite comfortably despite them being reduced to ten as well after an ugly challenge from Robbert Schilder. This came on the back of a 4-2 defeat to Valencia in the Europa League - they were 4-0 down after an hour - and a 6-2 snotting from title rivals FC Twente who themselves were a man short for almost the whole second half. It has not been a good week for PSV.

They have also lost up at Groningen in recent weeks - Manolev was sent off there too - and have won only three Eredivisie matches since the league resumed after the winter break. They've gone from top at Christmas to fourth. This prompted the board to act and Fred Rutten was sacked today.

Rutten was already going to leave at the end of the season. The club had been vocal about bringing Steve McClaren to Eindhoven, but with Twente dispensing with Co Adriaanse and the ex-England manager returning to Enschede, that is no longer an option. Perhaps that knowledge that Rutten was leaving and the public courting of other coaches has had an effect on the playing staff in terms of motivation. Whatever the reasons, they're in a funk at the moment and the title push has been derailed. They are four points back from leaders AZ, but the rot has set in and it needs to be turned around quickly if they're to salvage something from the season.

Philip Cocu and fellow alumnus Ernest Faber have been given the rescue job until the end of the season. Cocu has long been groomed for the role and this would appear to be an extended job interview. He's very highly thought of as a coach and continues to work with the national team alongside Bert van Marwijk and was strongly linked with the Australian national team job in recent times. The worry has to be that if he flunks the interview or decides it's not for him, where can PSV turn? The obvious candidates - Eric Gerets for example or the impressive Alex Pastoor - are already in work and the ability of PSV to pay compensation has to be questioned.

PSV remain a big club and have a superb pool of talent with the likes of Dries Mertens, Ola Toivonen, Tim Matavz and the exciting Zakaria Labyad. This is a real opportunity for one of the great Oranje players to make a real impression in the coaching career he's always seemed destined for. If he doesn't, a grand old club are in some trouble.

Vague round-up #7

Loads of goals, more firings, more hirings, more invented crises and even more real ones.
The Atomic Flea proved unplayable, it's a genuine six-way fight in the low countries and the Teutonic second division might just be the most exciting league on the planet.
Meanwhile, famous old English club have a new chap called Own Goals newly installed as their joint third-highest goal-scorer this season.

Unbelievable Jeff #10

Christian Eriksen, ladies and gentlemen:



EDIT: Crikey, the KNVB are very quick these days. Enjoy it courtesy of 101greatgoals.com here

Unbelievable Jeff!

Steve McClaren returns to FC Twente

The return today of Steve McClaren to the happiest of his former hunting grounds is the sort of thing you'd probably be expecting us to cover, perhaps even to take the piss.
Well we won't be taking the piss. We think it's a great move all round and hope that McClaren repeats the levels of success he enjoyed in his first stint at FC Twente. He's back at a well-run club with a talented and young group of players and good luck to the man.

As for covering it, we did over at the exemplary, award-winning Inbedwithmaradona.com. At the time of writing, Co Adriaanse was still in the job - he wasn't for much longer - and the rumours of McClaren's return were just that - rumours. We had a look at what lies in wait on the Yorkshireman's return to Holland.