Round The World In 600 Words / Ben Lyttleton / 06 April 2009 / Leave a comment

Ben Lyttleton talks us through Wolfsburg's thrashing of Bayern Munich, why everyone is making life easy for Inter Milan in Italy and how Benzema put Lyon firmly on track to winning yet another Ligue 1 title.

You have to hand it to Felix Magath: he is coach, sporting director and CEO at Wolfsburg, who this weekend trounced his former club Bayern Munich, the team that sacked him after he won two doubles for them, to go top of the Bundesliga table.

No matter that the 5-1 scoreline was Bayern's worst for 70 years, or that Wolfsburg have now won eight league matches in a row, only dropping two points in their last 13 at home; no, Magath claims he is still not even interested in Champions League qualification. "Our aim is still to finish in fifth place," he said, but with Wolfsburg now joint-top with Hamburg, who beat Hoffenheim 1-0, their title price of ([3.35]), in from ([13.0]) a month ago, is now justified. And Magath must surely be a contender for Europe's coach of the year.

Hamburg still seem long at ([5.2]) and Bayern are ([2.62]), despite being three points back and with coach Jurgen Klinsmann admitting concerns about recovering in time for Wednesday's European tie at Barcelona. Bayern are ([4.8]) to come away from Nou Camp with a draw: their afternoon was summed up when Grafite, now Germany's top-scorer, bagged his second of the game by dribbling around two defenders and the goalkeeper before turning round to backheel the ball home. Hertha dropped to third place after losing 3-1 at home to Borussia Dortmund.

If the title race is thrilling in Germany, it is less so in Italy, where Juventus made life easy for leaders Inter by twice coming from behind and then conceding a last-minute equaliser in a 3-3 draw with Chievo, for whom Sergio Pellisier scored a hat-trick. Inter stretched their lead at the top to nine points by winning 1-0, thanks to a lucky Mauricio Isla own goal, at Udinese, and their ([1.05]) price suggests they are now uncatchable.

The race for third is in Milan's hands after Pippo Inzaghi and Ronaldinho scored in injury-time to beat Lecce 2-0. They are ([1.25]) to finish in the top-three, and are four points ahead of Genoa, ([3.55]), who won 1-0 at Reggina. Fiorentina, ([4.1]), are two more points back after two late goals saw off troubled Atalanta.

Barcelona warmed up for the visit of Bayern with a comfortable 1-0 win at Real Valladolid, with Samuel Eto'o, linked in the weekend press with a move to Manchester City, scoring their winner. They were briefly six points clear of Real Madrid, but soon pegged back to three when Real beat Malaga 1-0; and with the reigning champions only needing to concentrate on the league, there may be value in their ([7.4]) price. Sevilla look secure in third: they beat
Recre 1-0 through a Fredi Kanoute penalty, while Villarreal stay nine points back after a 3-0 loss at Almeria in which Robert Pires was red-carded.

In France, Karim Benzema scored twice in Lyon's 3-1 win at Le Mans just days after he was dropped from the France starting line-up; Lyon, ([1.6]) for the title, remain a point clear of Marseille, ([4.1]), and three from Bordeaux, ([6.8]), who needed a last-minute Marouane Chamakh effort to beat Nancy. In Portugal, Porto, ([1.15]), are still four points ahead of Sporting, ([7.5]), after beating Guimaraes 3-1.

In Argentina, Lanus beat Independiente 5-1, with Jose Sand scoring four goals, to stay top of the league, a point clear of Colon, who beat Huracan 1-0. Champions Boca Juniors are stuck in ninth after drawing 1-1 with Godoy Cruz. Internacional beat Gremio 2-1 in the Porto Alegre derby in Brazil, while Santos beat Ponte Preta 3-2 to join Sao Paulo, Corinthians and Palmeiras in the Paulista championship semi-finals.