Real Sociedad’s lead now whittled down to two points
The Basques have 44 points from 21 games, two ahead of Real Madrid who beat Real Betis 4-1 on Saturday.
The league leaders were unable to break down Espanyol’s resolute defence although Darko Kovacevic had a header against the crossbar just a minute after half-time.
Valencia lost ground on the leading two in Spain after drawing 1-1 with lowly Recreativo Huelva. The reigning Spanish champions remain third with 39 points from 21 games. There was disappointment also for fellow title challengers Deportivo La Coruna, who were held 1-1 at home by Osasuna.
Celta Vigo bounced back after their recent spell of poor form with a convincing 2-0 win at Real Mallorca, both their second half goals coming from Brazilian striker Edu.
Real Madrid were the only team in Spain’s top four to get all three points over the weekend. Second half goals from of Raul, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo gave the European and world champions a big boost after three successive draws in the league.
In last night’s late game, Barcelona drew 2-2 with Athletic Bilbao having lead by two clear goals at half time. Javier Saviola and Marc Overmars put the under-pressure Barca into a commanding lead before the quarter hour. However Santi Ezquerro and Francisco Yeste secured a share of spoils with second half efforts.
Meanwhile, Inter Milan returned to the top of Italy’s Serie A after thrashing Reggina 3-0 at the San Siro, while city rivals AC Milan crashed to a surprise 1-0 defeat at Perugia.
The architect of Milan’s downfall was Fabrizio Miccoli, who celebrated his first call up to the Italy squad last night by scoring the winner nine minutes from half-time.
Milan, who were top at the start of play, dropped to second following Inter’s easy victory over the Calabrians.
Inter have 45 points from 20 matches, three more than Milan and third-placed Juventus, who won on Saturday.
Lazio remain fourth but lost ground in the race for the championship after being held to a disappointing 1-1 draw by bottom club Torino.
Argentine midfielder Diego Simeone converted Enrico Chiesa’s corner to give Lazio the lead, before Torino veteran Marco Ferrante leveled.
On Saturday, reigning champions Juventus made sure they stayed in the hunt with a scrappy 1-0 win at home to Empoli.
In Germany, reigning champions Borussia Dortmund crashed to a 1-0 defeat to VfB Stuttgart which saw them drop further behind Bayern Munich in the race for the German title.
Bayern were held 1-1 by SV Hamburg after Naohiro Takahara scored with an injury-time header past Bayern keeper Oliver Kahn.
Kahn was beaten for the first time in 802 minutes of football, breaking his own Bundesliga record of 736 minutes set in the 1998/99 season.
Meanwhile, Bayer Leverkusen coach Klaus Toppmoller could be out of a job after his former club VfL Bochum administered a 2-1 away defeat on Saturday. A double strike from Bochum’s Iranian international Vashid Hashemian completed Leverkusen’s journey from Champions League finalists last season to relegation candidates.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
