Around The World In 600 Words: Iniesta could miss Champions League final

European Leagues / Ben Lyttleton / 11 May 2009 / Leave a Comment

The champagne is still on ice in Italy and Spain as Inter Milan and Barcelona failed to clinch their titles this weekend. Meanwhile, there is a new team in the Bundesliga race after Wolfsburg received a dose of their own medicine at Stuttgart, writes Ben Lyttleton.

Late drama in La Liga was the highlight of the weekend as Barcelona let slip a 3-1 lead at home to Villarreal after Eric Abidal, for the second time in five days, was sent off and so ruled out of the Copa del Rey final.

More worryingly for Barcelona, who need one more point to win La Liga, was the injury sustained to the Champions League hero Andres Iniesta, who tore a thigh muscle and is now a doubt for the Champions League final in just over a fortnight. Barcelona are still [1.82] favourites to beat Manchester United, but the Iniesta factor is worth bearing in mind.

Barcelona had extra breathing-space after Valencia brushed aside Real Madrid 3-0 to stay in fourth place, though they are only one point ahead of Atletico Madrid, who somehow recovered from two goals and one man down to beat Espanyol 3-2. Diego Forlan, who scored a left-foot cracker from 25 yards followed by a delicate chip in the third minute of injury-time, has now scored eight in his last seven games and is just two goals behind Samuel Eto'o to finish Pichichi, the top-scorer. Forlan is [1.53] to overhaul Eto'o, who remains [1.37] favourite.

Forlan's scoring run is not the best in Europe, though: currently that accolade goes to Stuttgart's Mario Gomez, whose four goals in the 4-1 thumping of top-of-the-table Wolfsburg moved his side into third, and only two points off joint-leaders Bayern Munich and the Wolves. With Stuttgart having won six of their last seven games, and facing Bayern on the last day of the season, it's no surprise their title price has come in from [19.5], tipped here just a week ago, to [11.0]. Wolfsburg are [3.55] and Bayern still favourites at [2.1], thanks to a 3-1 win at Energie Cottbus. Gomez has now joined Grafite on 23 goals in the top scorers' charts and is a short [1.13] to finish top-scorer; Grafite is [2.2].

The top four is almost settled in Italy, where Inter drew 2-2 at Chievo while AC Milan are secure in second place following their 1-1 draw with Juventus. Clarence Seedorf opened the scoring before Vicenzo Iaquinta equalised, while Giuseppe Favalli was sent off late on. Fiorentina now seem secure in fourth spot after beating Catania 2-0 while Genoa and Roma could only draw with Atalanta and Cagliari respectively.

The shock of the weekend came in France, where second division En Avant Guingamp came from behind to beat Rennes 2-1 in the French Cup final, and became the first side from outside the top-flight to win the trophy since Le Havre did it 50 years ago. Elsewhere, Porto were crowned champions of Portugal for the fourth year running after a 1-0 win over Nacional, while in Ukraine, Dynamo Kiev got over their Uefa Cup semi-final defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk, by clinching their domestic title too.

In Brazil, champions Sao Paulo started their title defence with a 1-0 defeat to Fluminense while in-form Ronaldo was rested for Corinthians' 1-0 loss to Internacional. Former Inter striker Adriano is set to make his Flamengo debut next week after watching his team lose 2-0 at Cruzeiro. In Argentina, Velez Sarsfield came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Racing Club and stay top of the Clausura.