Euro review - Barcelona rip Sevilla apart
Europe has provided plenty of talking points over the last few days, as Barcelona responded to Real Madrid's recent form with a sensational performance, Lazio passed one of their toughest tests yet and new pacesetters emerged in Germany, Holland and France...
Spain
Barcelona ([2.08]) outscored Real Madrid ([1.96]) for the first time in October as Lionel Messi and David Villa both struck twice in a ridiculous 5-0 destruction of Sevilla. Real Madrid came from behind to beat Hercules and stay above their rivals though thanks to two more Cristiano Ronaldo goals. Any lingering doubts that those two sides won't finish first and second were probably extinguished this matchday courtesy of Villarreal's defeat to Sporting Gijon and Valencia being held by Real Zaragoza.
Italy
13 goals in this week's ten matches will have the "Serie A is dull" crew out in full force but try telling fans of Lazio ([13.5]) that nothing of note happened. The Biancocelesti's dream start continued with a brilliant 1-0 win in Palermo, which coupled with AC Milan's home loss to Juventus ([7.2]), saw them extend their lead to four points. Inter ([2.14]) are up to second despite another unconvincing display - an Eduardo error handing them a 1-0 victory away to Genoa - while Roma are into the top half ahead of the derby after beating Lecce 2-0, though Francesco Totti controversially saw red.
Germany
Borussia Dortmund ([2.56]) were big winners on the Bundesliga equivalent of Grand Slam Sunday after a 2-0 win away to Mainz ([15.5]) saw them leapfrog the shock leaders. Third-placed Hoffenheim also had a great afternoon, destroying Hannover 4-0, yet they remain seven points off the pace. Earlier in the weekend, Bayern Munich ([3.15]) jumped to seventh with a flattering 4-2 triumph over Freiburg as Danijel Pranjic went assist crazy, while Leverkusen ([10.0]) won on the road at Schalke.
Holland
FC Twente ([3.6]) are the only remaining unbeaten team in the Eredivisie after a magnificent victory away to PSV ([2.54]) and consequently replaced them in first place. Both PSV and Ajax ([2.1]), impressive 4-1 winners at Heracles, are just a point behind in what is shaping up to be an exciting three-horse title race. Elsewhere, bottom club Willem II earned their second point of the campaign at home draw specialists Roda, while Feyenoord were 2-1 losers on their travels against AZ.
France
There was another twist in this strangest of Ligue 1 seasons as Brest ([130.0]), last year's Ligue 2 runners-up, went top with a 2-0 triumph over St Etienne, the newcomers taking advantage of the top-of-the-table clash between Marseille ([2.1]) and Rennes ([22.0]) being called off to climb from fourth. There were no major surprises for a change, unless you count second favourites Lyon ([3.9]) leaping to ninth with a 2-1 success against Sochaux as an upset.
Catch any games? Tell us what you made of the weekend's action below...
Published: 1 Nov 2010
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