Eto’o brace helps to end Barcelona’s away blues
The Catalan giants were in sparkling form and were ahead after just three minutes through their prolific Cameroon forward Samuel Eto’o.
Gianluca Zambrotta (40) then made it two, before Eto’o (42) grabbed his second shortly before half-time. Lionel Messi (86) wrapped up the victory close to end to fire the defending champions back to the summit.
Barca coach Frank Rijkaard had mixed emotions afterwards.
“I am happy with the result, but not the play,” he said. “After going 1-0 up we have been comfortable, but I think that we have not had a great game.”
Sevilla kept level with Barcelona as they battled to a 2-0 win over Celta Vigo in last night’s late game.
Fredi Kanoute grabbed the first goal for Tottenham’s UEFA Cup opponents with a 53rd-minute penalty. In the final minute strike partner Alexander Kerzhakov secured the win.
Real Madrid kept in touch with an uninspiring home victory over 10-man Gimnastic Tarragona last night. In the second half Robinho and an own goal by Nastic defender David Garcia saw Madrid home.
Valencia meanwhile suffered a huge blow to their title hopes as they were beaten at home by Racing Santander.
The hosts were upset by goals in either half from Pedro Munitis (20) and Lozano Farran Oriol (63).
Antonio Barragan’s super strike 10 minutes from time was enough to hand 10-man Deportivo La Coruna a slender 1-0 win over Getafe at the Estadio Riazor.
Espanyol saw their European hopes damaged with a 1-1 draw with Levante.
Real Zaragoza stay in the hunt for Europe with a fine 1-0 victory at home to high-flyers Atletico Madrid.
Athletic Bilbao’s chances of avoiding relegation suffered a setback after they were thrashed 3-0 at home by fellow strugglers Osasuna.
In Italy, Zlatan Ibrahimovic hit a brace as Inter Milan beat struggling Ascoli to edge closer towards clinching their 15th Scudetto title.
The Swede twice got on the end of Adriano assists to help Roberto Mancini‘s team extend their lead at the top to 18 points after Roma‘s goalless draw at Fiorentina.
Ascoli‘s 15th defeat of the campaign leaves them six points away from safety.
Massimo Ambrosini came to the rescue with a first-half header to give a lacklustre AC Milan a 1-0 victory against Atalanta.
Parma moved away from the foot of the Serie A table after winning their first game since January 21 by defeating Siena on Sunday. Andrea Gasbarroni’s 19th-minute goal gave coach Claudio Ranieri his first win in charge of Parma.
Udinese ended a mini-slump with a convincing 4-0 win at the expense of Livorno.
Torino boosted their chances of Serie A survival with a comprehensive 3-0 win over relegation rivals Messina at the Stadio San Filippo.
Chievo’s relegation battle received a welcome boost with a 2-0 victory at Cagliari while Catania were thumped 4-1 by Reggina.
In Germany, the pendulum swung back towards Schalke in the race for the Bundesliga as the leaders beat title rivals Stuttgart 1-0 on a day notable also for a single-goal defeat for champions Bayern Munich at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt.
A second-half strike from Mladen Krstajic helped Schalke move closer to a first-ever title in the Bundesliga era, and dealt a blow to Stuttgart, who now trail in third place some seven points off the pace.
A spectacular late goal from Christoph Preuss earned Frankfurt a 1-0 win against Bayern, who are nine points adrift.
Werder Bremen kept the pressure on Schalke as goals from Jurica Vranjes and Diego saw off Mainz and left Bremen just three behind.
Liverpool-bound Andriy Voronin’s goal helped Bayer Leverkusen see off Monchengladbach.
In France, Lyon were back to their dominant best as they brushed aside Nancy to move 16 points clear at the top of Ligue 1 on Saturday.
They dispatched their hosts 3-0 with goals from Milan Baros (35), Kim Kallstrom (76) and Fred (80).
Thomas Kahlenberg scored as Auxerre beat second-placed Lens 1-0 last night.
Elsewhere, Sedan inched closer to their relegation rivals by taking a point off high-flying Bordeaux, who climbed a place to third despite the 1-1 draw.
In Holland, Ajax sparked fresh life into the Eredivisie title race yesterday by thrashing leaders PSV Eindhoven 5-1 at the Philips Stadion.
Ajax took the lead after 17 minutes through Klaas-Jan Huntelaar while Wesley Sneijder doubled the advantage for Henk ten Cate’s men a minute before the interval.
Patrick Kluivert reduced the deficit for the hosts , but another strike from Huntelaar and further efforts from Gabri and Kenneth Perez sealed an emphatic win for the visitors.
Ajax closed the gap on PSV to five points, with third-placed AZ Alkmaar — who were held to a goalless draw at Heracles — a further two points adrift with five games to go.
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