LONDON, (Reuters) – Unheralded Leicester City remained on course for their first top-flight title with a shock victory at Manchester City while Barcelona won to stay ahead of the pack and Bayern Munich drew but are still eight points clear.
ENGLAND
Surprise package Leicester City extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points with a stunning 3-1 victory at Manchester City, who dropped two places to fourth.
Foxes defender Robert Huth scored twice and league-leading scorer Jamie Vardy rounded off a great day for the Midlands club by signing a new four-year contract.
Tottenham Hotspur went into second place for the first time this term by beating visiting Watford 1-0 and local rivals Arsenal stayed level on points with them by winning 2-0 at Bournemouth.
Manchester United were denied a victory at Chelsea when Diego Costa scored in added time to earn a 1-1 draw. That left United six points behind neighbours City.
SPAIN
Barcelona won 2-0 at Levante, equalling a club record 28 matches unbeaten, to regain a three-point lead at the top of La Liga after Atletico Madrid joined them for less than 24 hours.
Atletico won 3-1 at Eibar with substitute Fernando Torres scoring his 100th goal for the club with an added-time strike.
Real Madrid remained four points off the pace with a laboured 2-1 win at Granada, Luka Modric’s brilliant first goal of the season securing victory five minutes from time.
Valencia lost 1-0 at Real Betis, going a 12th league match without winning and ninth under coach Gary Neville.
GERMANY
Lacklustre Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich struggled to a 0-0 draw at Bayer Leverkusen but maintained an eight-point advantage over Borussia Dortmund, who where also held to a goalless draw at third-placed Hertha Berlin.
The Bavarians looked distracted as the club deals with the fallout from coach Pep Guardiola’s decision to join Manchester City next season while also struggling with injuries to central defenders.
Schalke 04 jumped into fourth spot, two points behind Hertha, after crushing out-of-form VfL Wolfsburg 3-0 with goals from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Johannes Geis and substitute Alessandro Schoepf.
The Wolves, last season’s runners-up who are still competing in the Champions League, have dropped to eighth after failing to win in their last seven matches.
ITALY
Napoli stayed top of Serie A by beating 10-man visitors Carpi 1-0 for a club-record eighth consecutive league win, while Juventus defeated Frosinone 2-0 to extend their own record winning streak to 14 matches.
Inter Milan recovered to salvage a point in a thrilling 3-3 draw at bottom club Hellas Verona while AS Roma downed visiting Sampdoria 2-1 and 10-man Fiorentina were held 1-1 at Bologna.
After 24 matches, Napoli are top on 56 points with Juve two points behind in second. Fiore are in third on 46 points, Inter have 45 in fourth and Roma are fifth on 44.
FRANCE
PSG continued their march towards the French title when Angel Di Maria’s second-half goal gave them a 2-1 win at bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the first goal and set up Argentina forward Di Maria for the second to put PSG on 69 points from 25 games.
They lead second-placed AS Monaco, who beat Nice 1-0, by 24 points. Nice are third on 39 points, level with St Etienne after Les Verts thrashed Girondins de Bordeaux 4-1 away.
NETHERLANDS
PSV Eindhoven won 2-0 at Utrecht to stay a point ahead of Ajax Amsterdam as the Dutch championship turned into a two-horse race.
PSV’s Colombian defender Santiago Arias and new signing Marco van Ginkel scored in the first 20 minutes to take their team to 53 points.
Ajax put Feyenoord all but out of contention for the title with a 2-1 home win that left their opponents in fourth place, 17 points off the pace. Heracles Almelo are up to third after a 2-0 win over PEC Zwolle but are still 15 points behind PSV.
