Round the world in 600 words: Barcelona and Inter Milan wrap up their domestic titles

Champions League / Ben Lyttleton / 18 May 2009 / Leave a Comment

As Inter Milan and Barcelona secure the La Liga and Serie A titles respectively, Wolfsburb move a step closer to doing the same in the German version. Ben Lyttleton talks us through the main weekend stories from the major leagues....

Barcelona and Inter Milan won their domestic leagues before they had even played but the big guns in Germany and France slipped up as the title drama was cranked up another notch this weekend.

Real Madrid's defeat at Villarreal, their third in a row, ensured Barcelona would complete the league and Cup double although they did not seal it in style, going down 2-1 at Malaga after Samuel Eto'o missed a last-minute penalty. Atletico Madrid took a big step to finishing in fourth, Diego Forlan's spot-kick enough for a 1-0 win over Valencia, who face Villarreal next. Six of the bottom seven teams all picked up points, leaving Recreativo bottom of the pile and looking doomed. Osasuna, who have to play Barcelona and Real Madrid, are currently out of the drop-zone but may fall back in. They are ([2.42]) to lay in that market.

The Bundesliga kicked off with two points separating four teams but that has now changed after joint-leaders Wolfsburg smashed Hannover 5-0 while Bayern Munich could only draw 2-2 at early-season pace-setters Hoffenheim. Third-placed Hertha Berlin also slipped up, drawing 0-0 at Schalke to allow Stuttgart, 2-0 winners at Energie Cottbus, to join Bayern in joint-second two points behind Wolfsburg.

Wolves coach Felix Magath now has a perfect opportunity to leave the club for Schalke on a dramatic high note: a draw at home to Uefa Cup finalists Werder Bremen should be enough to win the title, a ([1.16]) price although the winner of Stuttgart's match against Bayern, which is already a play-off for a Champions League spot, could take advantage if they slip up. Bayern
are now ([9.6]) with Stuttgart ([26.0]).

The goalscorers' race is also a tight one: Edin Dzeko's run of nine goals in his last four games has closed the gap on his team-mate Grafite to one goal with one game left to play. Dzeko is worth a look at [2.9] while Grafite is [1.42] to end the season on top.

Lyon may have failed to win an eighth straight title in France but they played a huge role in determining where it goes by beating Marseille 3-1 in a thriller on Sunday night. That has left Bordeaux, this column's tip for the last few months, [1.16], three points clear with two games left after coming from behind to beat Le Mans 3-2. Yoann Gourcuff was once again the hero, scoring a sixth goal in his last five games while setting up the winner with a shot that came off the post. Marseille are now ([4.2]). Lyon's win leaves them looking good for third place after PSG slipped up against Auxerre.

Udinese's 2-1 win over AC Milan was enough to hand Inter the title but they made sure by beating Siena 3-0 at the San Siro: Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored their final goal to keep on the heels of Marco di Vaio in the top-scorer race. Di Vaio is one goal ahead and a [1.51] price while Zlatan is [2.0]. Di Vaio scored again for Bologna in their 2-1 win over Lecce. They
stay in the bottom three, though, as Torino also won. Juventus drew with Atalanta and have slumped so badly that Fiorentina, one point back, can now catch them in third place.

Elsewhere, Steve McClaren ended his first season in Holland without a trophy after Heerenveen beat his FC Twente side on penalties in the Dutch Cup final; in Portugal, Benfica ensured they would finish third behind Porto and Sporting after beating Braga 3-1 while in Croatia, Dinamo Zagreb won their fourth straight title with a 2-0 win over Slaven Belupo.

In Argentina, Lanus are the new league leaders after beating Rosario Central 2-1 while Velez Sarsfield lost 3-1 Gimnasia de La Plata. The result of the weekend, though, was River Plate's 4-0 loss at Huracan, a defeat that ends any title hopes they had. Juan Roman Riquleme missed a penalty for Boca Juniors, who still beat Arsenal 2-1. An odd weekend in Brazil saw Gremio, Palmeiras and Cruzeiro all lose, while fancied sides Sao Paulo and Corinthinans could only draw against Atletico Paranaense and Botafogo repsectively.