Nine-man Roma shock Fiorentina

German Oliver Bierhoff had a penalty saved as AC Milan slipped to a 0-1 defeat at Cagliari while Juventus drew 1-1 at Vicenza – Alessandro Del Piero equalising with his first league goal in six months. Spain: Real Madrid beat last week’s leaders Real Zaragoza 4-3 in thrilling match to returnto the top in Spain. Fernando Hierro, Roberto Carlos and Raul Gonzales had Madrid 3-1 up. Gustavo Lopez narrowed the gap after 63 minutes, Predrag Mijatovic netted Madrid’s fourth after 74 but four minutes later Kily Gonzales headed in to set up a storming finish.

England: Manchester United cut Aston Villa’s lead at the top of the Premier League to four points by thrashing Wimbledon 5-1 at Old Trafford. With Villa drawing 0-0 at West Ham United, in-form United closed the gap thanks to goals from Andy Cole (2), Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and Dwight Yorke.

Villa have 21 points from nine games, United have 17 and have played one game less.

France: Girondins Bordeaux and Olympique Marseille both won 2-0 to maintain the status quo at the top. Bordeaux, one point ahead of Marseille, beat Nantes with two goals in less than two minutes in the first half from midfielder Johan Micoud and striker Kaba Diawara, both goals laid on by playmaker Ali Benarbia. Florian Maurice scored once in each half forMarseille, 2-0 winners away to Strasbourg. Germany: Leaders Bayern Munich extended their unbeaten run to eight matches with a convincing 3-1 victory at Schalke 04. The win left Bayern three points clear of city rivals TSV 1860 Munich, who held on to their second place by beating VFL Bochum 2-1.The Netherlands: A first half hat-trick by Greek international Nikos Machla gave Vitesse Arnhem a 3-2 victory over Willem II Tilburg and sent them level on points with Feyenoord at the top of the Dutch league. Ajax finally found their form to thrash Twente Enschede 5-0.

Leading Results

Roma 2 bt Fiorentina 1

Lazio 5 bt Inter Milan 3

Cagliari 1 bt AC Milan 0

Juventus 1 drew Vicenza 1

Real Madrid 4 bt Real Zaragoza 3

Barcelona 1 drew Salamaca 1

Atletico 2 bt Tenerife 0

Manchester United 5 bt Wimbledon 1

Aston Villa 0 drew West Ham 0

Girondins Bordeaux 2 bt Nantes 0

Olympique Marseille 2 bt Strasbourg 0

Bayern Munich 3 bt Schalke 1

TSV 1860 Munich 2 bt VFL Bochum 1

Vitesse Arnhern 3 btWillem II Tilburg 2

Feyenoord 0 drew Roda JC Kerkrade 0

Ajax 5 bt Twente Enschede 0