EUROPEAN FOOTBALL ROUNDUP 4/2/2020

PREMIER LEAGUE (HIGHLIGHTS IN THE HEADLINES)
Lethal Liverpool move 22 (twenty-two) clear. Steven and Son make City pay for Zinchenko’s sins. Rudiger rescues a point at Leicester. Blades looking good for a European spot. Watford’s relegation worries return. West Ham worries deepen too. Breathing space for Bournemouth. European yawn. Mid-table yawn. Relegation yawn. (TABLE)

LA LIGA WEEK 22 HIGHLIGHTS
Benzema brushed Atletico aside in the Madrid derby, but Real’s lead remains a mere three points thanks to an Ansu Fati double for Barca. An impressive win at San Mames put Getafe in the dreamland of third spot level on points with Sevilla, who were held at the Sanchez Pijuan. Fifth-placed Valencia left it late to claim all three points against Celta, who remain deep in relegation trouble alongside Espanyol and Mallorca (who lost) and Leganes (who picked up a crucial three points thanks to a 94th minute strike against Sociedad). Elsewhere, Villarreal won comfortably at La Ceramica and Eibar drew at home with Betis. (TABLE)

SERIE A WEEK 22 HIGHLIGHTS
A pair of highly suspect spot kicks made it 9 scoring games in a row for Ronaldo and left Fiorentina fuming. Inter and Lazio kept pace with Juve as a Lukaku brace gave the Nerazzurri 3 points at Udinese, while the Biancoceleste ran riot at home to SPAL. Roma fell to a shock defeat to the Neroverdi allowing La Dea to slip into fourth, despite their failure to defeat Genoa. The Europa League battle remains as tight as ever with the teams from sixth to ninth all drawing with each other. Napoli and Bologna took advantage to catch up with wins over Samp and Brescia respectively. In the remaining fixture, Torino shipped another four unanswered goals against Lecce leaving Mazzarri nowhere to go but out. (TABLE)

BUNDESLIGA WEEK 20 HIGHLIGHTS
Dortmund are the new Leipzig, bashing in another five this week, but Haland had to settle for just the two in his first start. Bayern won at Mainz to move top, taking advantage of RB’s comeback draw after the Foals were reduced to ten men. Paderborn also lost a man, but battled gamely against the Wolves before going down 4-2. They returned to the bottom after Fortuna managed a draw with Eintracht. Werder remain deep in trouble after a loss in Augsburg, but Koln have now moved well clear of the drop, showing off their newfound confidence with a dismantling of Freiburg. Elsewhere, Hoffenheim defeated Bayer and Hertha Schalke ended goalless.(TABLE)

LIGUE 1 WEEK 22 HIGHLIGHTS
PSG whipped Montpellier to increase their lead to 12 points at the top as Marseille failed to end their incredible 42 year hoodoo at Girondins. The Breton derby was taken in dramatic fashion by third-placed Rennes, who trailed Nantes as late as five minutes into injury time. Lille moved into fourth with a win in Strasbourg, while OL slipped to a Dolberg double defeat in Nice. The champagne was on ice for Reims, too, as they ran out 4-1 winners at Angers. At the other end, wins for Dijon and Metz have left the bottom three marooned. The Crocodiles did manage to pick up three points at least as Monaco’s miserable season took another turn for the worse. Amiens and Toulouse, their basement buddies, played out a goalless draw at the Stade de la Licorne. (TABLE)