Round The World in 600 Words: Inter slip up but Juve can't fully capitalise

Champions League / Ben Lyttleton / 19 January 2009 / Leave a Comment

Ben Lyttleton talks us through the main weekend results and talking points from Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 and the Dutch Eridivisie - including a shock loss for Inter Milan and more exhibition football from unstoppable Barcelona.

It's not often that Jose Mourinho is rendered speechless but the Inter coach, under-fire after recent poor performances against Siena, Cagliari and Genoa, had little to say about his side's 3-1 capitulation at Atalanta. It was Inter's first league defeat since September and left the Portuguese boss fuming. "Normally I like to talk about the merits of my opponents when my team loses, but this time we played so badly I'd prefer to say we gave them the result inside the first period, and we conceded ridiculous goals," he said. The fact that their late Zlatan Ibrahimovic consolation was Inter's first effort on target all match tells its own story.

Before then, AC Milan had closed the gap to three points after an emotional 1-0 win over Fiorentina. The fans used the occasion to show their support for Kaka, and the Brazilian played the full 90 minutes, but it was his compatriot Pato whose curling shot with the outside of his boot proved the match-winner. Pato has now scored five in three games and his goals are leading Milan's late title charge.

Juventus missed the chance to move one point behind Inter after they could only draw Sunday night's game 1-1 at Lazio. Olof Mellberg scored their equaliser and coach Claudio Ranieri, who pointed out that his team were missing almost another entire first-team in Giorgio Chiellini, Gigi Buffon, Dario Knezevic, Zdenek Grygera, Mauro Camoranesi, Jonathan Zebina, Hasan Salihamidzic, Vincenzo Iaquinta and David Trezeguet, insists they are still
in good shape. "We are cutting Inter's lead and think we can catch them."
They remain an excellent ([4.5]) price for the title, with Inter drifting to [1.75].

Elsewhere, Genoa jumped to fourth after beating Lecce 2-0, while Roma are now within five points of the Champions League places after Julio Baptista's late overhead kick earned a 1-0 win over Torino.

Barcelona continued their record-breaking season with their 16th win out of 19 matches, and are the first team in Spain ever to reach 50 points at the half-way point of the season. They did so in style, smashing improving Deportivo 5-0 thanks to goals from Leo Messi, and two each from Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto'o. Eto'o is now a strong [1.35] favourite for the Pichichi, and is three goals ahead of David Villa, ([3.4]).

Real Madrid remain second but had to come from behind to beat Osasuna 3-1, with in-form Arjen Robben scoring for the third game running. The Madrid press have started comparing him to Messi, and although that seems a bit generous, he is undoubtedly reaping the benefits of his new physician, Dr Tschen La Ling.

Sevilla remain level in third and there is now a four-point gap to fourth-place Valencia, who led twice but lost 3-2 at Athletico Bilbao, and five points to Villarreal, who beat Real Mallorca 2-0. Sevilla are now [2.0] to finish in the top-three, with Valencia [1.51] and Villarreal
[2.8].

No change at the top in France, where Lyon won only their second game in seven to stay one point ahead of Bordeaux, who beat Nantes 2-1. Rennes slipped to fourth after losing their first match in 18, at Lille, while Marseille ended a difficult week off the pitch with a 2-0 win over Le Havre to move third, four points behind the leaders. Lyon, ([1.55]), still look shaky and Bordeaux are well-priced at ([4.7]) to win the title.

Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven are struggling to hold onto their crown and are now 13 points behind leaders AZ, after drawing 1-1 at relegation-threatened Roda, while Louis van Gaal's side beat Volendam and Ajax beat NEC. AZ are [2.16], Ajax [2.18] and PSV [11.0] for the Dutch
title.