Paris St Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his first Ligue 1 goal this season before missing a penalty as they beat En Avant Guingamp 3-0 to extend their lead to four points on Tuesday.
Exhausted Inter Milan risked surrendering their long-held Serie A lead after drawing 1-1 at fourth-placed Palermo on Saturday.
Inter Milan's title challenge faltered when they were held 1-1 at Atalanta in Serie A on Saturday but goalkeeper Samir Handanovic at least saved them from suffering a defeat. The home side took the lead in the 17th minute when JeisonMurillo scored an own goal. Inter equalised in the 25th when Atalanta defender Rafael Toloi repeated the feat by slicing the ball past his own goalkeeper. The draw meant Inter missed the opportunity to replace Napoli as Serie A leaders, if only briefly. Instead, they are in second place on 40 points, one behind the leaders who were meeting Sassuolo later on Saturday.
Hamburg SV and Werder Bremen stayed on course for an all-German UEFA Cup semi-final clash with 3-1 victories over Manchester City and Udinese respectively in their quarter-final, first legs on Thursday. Shakhtar Donetsk beat visitors Olympique Marseille 2-0 while Dynamo Kiev drew at Paris St Germain in a lacklustre goalless affair leaving open the possibility of a Ukrainian semi-final if the French clubs fail to put in improved performances.
Like Chelsea, the humble Hertfordshire club, whose only season in European football was 35 years ago, completed their third victory from three games on Sunday, when they beat Crystal Palace 2-1 to add to victories over Brighton and Burnley.
Inter Milan retained their Serie A title with three games to spare after second-placed AC Milan put in a weak performance to lose 2-1 at Udinese on Saturday. Inter's triumph, in former Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho's first season in charge, is their fourth straight scudetto and their 17th overall.
Carlo Ancelotti is expected to confirm on Saturday that he will be taking over as Chelsea's new coach this summer. Sources close to the Italian coach believe he will make the announcement if his AC Milan side clinch a Champions League place by beating Udinese, The Sun reports.
Images from football matches played across Europe.
AS Roma and Juventus lost on their domestic returns from midweek UEFA Champions League action as their miserable starts to the season continued. In England, frontrunners Liverpool and Chelsea fared better with wins while Valencia top the table on goal difference in Spain and Lazio, Udinese and champions Inter Milan share the lead in Italy.
Serie A champions Inter Milan are holding talks to sign Genoa's Argentina striker Diego Milito, coach Jose Mourinho said Sunday.
The UEFA Cup final will be contested by German and Ukrainian teams after Werder Bremen and Hamburg SV along with Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk set up domestic semi-final showdowns. The semi-final first legs take place on April 30 with the return matches on May 5. The final is in Istanbul on May 20.
Thousands of fans and dozens of players turned out on Thursday to say goodbye to Fiorentina captain and Italy international Davide Astori, who died suddenly at the age of 31 on Sunday.
Hamburg SV will play Manchester City in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals and could meet Bundesliga rivals Werder Bremen in the last four. Shakhtar Donetsk will play Olympique Marseille and Dynamo Kiev face Paris St Germain with the winners lined up to meet in the semis after the draw was made by UEFA on Friday.
Olympique Marseille let 10-man Ajax Amsterdam off the hook in a UEFA Cup first leg meeting of former European champions on Thursday, while holders Zenit St Petersburg suffered a 2-0 defeat at Udinese. The only other emphatic victory in the first legs came from ambitious Manchester City, 2-0 winners at home to Danish club AaB Aalborg.
Inter Milan moved six points clear at the top of Serie A by beating Catania 2-0 with 10 men on Wednesday, while David Beckham's second goal in two games could not stop AC Milan being held 1-1 at home by Genoa. Second-placed Juventus lost ground with a 2-1 defeat at Udinese, while Milan are two points further behind them after the draw.
Mario Mandzukic scored a trademark first-half header as Juventus defeated Empoli 1-0 on Saturday to provisionally extend their lead at the top of Serie A to six points.
Martinez struck inside two minutes before Domenico Berardi equalised, but Lukaku gave Inter breathing space with a powerful strike and a penalty before half time.
Brazilian Ronaldinho struck deep into injury time to give favourites AC Milan a 1-0 UEFA Cup group stage win at home to Braga on Thursday while twice winners Sevilla suffered a 1-0 defeat at Standard Liege.
A bizarre own goal briefly gave Serie A leaders Juventus the jitters, triggering memories of last week's dramatic collapse at Verona, before they recovered to beat lowly Chievo 3-1 on Sunday.
The world champions face Belgium in a friendly in Florence on Friday ahead of their Euro 2008 Group C matches against the Netherlands, Romania and France.
Merseyside Police is reportedly investigating racist abuse received by Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli on Twitter after he tweeted 'Man Utd...LOL' after the crushing 5-3 defeat met by Manchester United at the hands of Leicester on Sunday.
Top two teams in each group qualify for the first knockout round. Third placed team to play in the UEFA Cup.
AC Milan scraped a 1-0 win over third tier Alessandria thanks to a Mario Balotelli penalty, his first goal for four months, in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final.
Holders AS Roma will meet Inter Milan in the Italian Cup final for the fourth consecutive season after drawing 1-1 at Catania on Thursday to progress 2-1 on aggregate. Serie A leaders Inter and second-placed Roma are assured of a Champions League place next season so Italy's third UEFA Cup spot will now go to the seventh-placed team in the league.
Juventus coach Massimo Allegri says Cristiano Ronaldo is ready to play for the Serie A team against Udinese on Saturday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Troubled AC Milan slipped back to sixth in Serie A on Sunday after they lost 2-1 at home to Atalanta and rivals Udinese beat Fiorentina 3-1.
Real Madrid took full advantage of slip-ups from the chasing pack by beating Villarreal 3-2 to move nine points clear in the Spanish Primera Liga.
Genoa handed Serie A leaders and titleholders Juventus a dramatic first league defeat of the season when Luca Antonini scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time to give them a 1-0 win on Wednesday.
Inter Milan began their Serie A title defence with a 1-1 home draw with Udinese on Sunday after an Ivan Cordoba own goal in injury time, while AC Milan won 3-0 at promoted Genoa helped by Kaka's brace.
Inter Milan went on a rare scoring spree to thrash Serie A newcomers Frosinone 4-0 and go clear at the top on Sunday, the first time Roberto Mancini's team have won a league match by more than one goal this season.
Napoli booked a clash with AS Roma in the Italian Cup semi-finals after a late instinctive Gonzalo Higuain backheel lifted Rafael Benitez's side to a 1-0 win over Lazio on Wednesday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Although Ronaldinho scored a hat-trick in Barcelona's 4-1 victory over Udinese, it was the club's Argentine youngster who attracted the biggest cheer of the night.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Twice former winners Benfica came from behind to beat the English side 2-1 to reach the last 16 of the tournament.\nA round-up of Wednesday's matches.
Leading striker Samuel Eto'o will also miss the Champions League Group C match at Udinese because of a bruised ankle.
A round-up of weekend action in the main European leagues.
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