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Round The World In 600 Words

Football Betting: Around the world in 600 words

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As Barcelona put in their best performance of the season so far with a 6-1 demolition job of Atletico Madrid, Juventus were losing at home to Palermo and the inevitable calls for the resignation of Claudio Ranieri are coming thick and fast. Ben Lyttleton talks us through the other big stories from around the planet.

Barcelona are now [2.14] for La Liga after providing the stand-out performance of the weekend, scoring three goals in the first eight minutes to thump Atletico Madrid 6-1 at Camp Nou. Pep Guardiola's team are playing the kind of football that won them the 2006 Champions League and La Liga title, and though it doesn't always work ­ they needed late goals to beat Shakhtar and Espanyol ­ when it does, the result is terrifying. Guardiola called it "the best performance of the season" while president Joan Laporta added, "That's the kind of football we want to see." The fact they did it against Atletico, now ([46.0]) sounds a warning-sign to the rest of the league.

It was one not heeded by Real Madrid, now out to [3.0], who came from behind twice but dropped their first points since the opening day in a 2-2 draw with Espanyol. Villarreal, [11.0], and Valencia, [12.5], stay joint-top after winning, while Sevilla move ominously into third after a 4-0 thumping of Athletic.

In Italy, Claudio Ranieri is fighting for his job at Juventus after their winless run extended to four games with a home defeat to Palermo. Ranieri has denied reports that his players, who could only draw 2-2 with Belarussian side BATE Borisov in midweek, are agitating for Ciro Ferrara to
take over. It sounds bizarre considering Juventus, [10.5] for Serie A, are only four points behind joint-leaders Lazio [70.0], who drew with Lecce, and Inter [1.7] and Udinese [120.0], who both won. AC Milan's revival hit the skids with an away draw at Cagliari, who picked up their first point of the season.

If Bayern Munich are to deliver the Bundesliga title in Jurgen Klinsmann¹s first season there, they are determined to do so the hard way. They conceded two goals in the last seven minutes to help struggling Bochum to a 3-3 draw Bayern, now [2.38], are seven points behind leaders Hamburg [7.2] who, like Hoffenheim and Stuttgart just behind them, won this weekend. Rock-bottom Borussia Moenchengladbach's fourth straight loss was the end of the road for coach Jos Luhukay: sports director Christian Ziege has filled his position on a temporary basis.

"Pagis ignites Ligue 1" was the headline in L'Equipe after veteran Rennes striker Mickael Pagis hit a hat-trick to send Lyon spiralling to their first loss of the season. With the five teams behind them, Toulouse, Marseille, Le Mans, Bordeaux and Lille, the title-race might now be closer than people originally thought. Although don¹t get too excited, Lyon's squad depth
should be strong enough to see them win an eighth straight title. They are [1.62].

In Russia, a brace from Savo Milosevic helped Rubin Kazan to a 3-0 win over Spartak Nalchik to keep them seven points clear of CSKA and closing in on their first ever title in only their fifth season in the top-flight. Zenit were the biggest winners, though, smashing Luch-Energia 8-1 (with Fatih Tekke scoring a hat-trick) and while they are running out of matches to make up the 14-point deficit on the leaders ­ they are an optimistic [9.0] for the title ­ don't be fooled by their position at the bottom of Champions League Group H, a group they could yet qualify from.

The most obvious bet of the weekend, over 2.5 goals in the Dutch clash between Heerenveen and Ajax, also came in, with the home side shocking Marco van Basten with a 5-2 win (and it could have been worse, but Daniel Pranjic missed a late penalty for his hat-trick). The Eredivisie remains the league for the goals-over market.

Finally in Brazil, Gremio and Palmeiras both won at home and remain locked on 53 points in the race for the Campeonato. Sao Paulo, four points adrift, have moved out to [1.67], and with ten weeks of the season left to play, could be the value bet in the title run-in.