International Round-up 4-5 May

A Round-up of this weekend in Europe.

Italy

Juventus beat Palermo in a 1-0 home victory to wrap-up a second successive Serie A title. Arturo Vidal scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot, to give the Bianconeri an unassailable lead over second place Napoli. This year’s triumph was their 29^th Serie A title; although fans argue it is actually their 31^st title, including their 2004-05 and 05-06 triumphs which were rescinded after the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal. An Edison Cavani hat-trick saw Napoli through to a 3-1 victory against a sorry Inter side, and all-but secure second place for the sky-blues. Cavani leads the top-scorers chart with 26-goals. Elsewhere veteran striker Miroslav Klose helped to turn-around Lazio’s recent form, by scoring five goals in a 6-0 victory over Bologna.

Germany

In a dress-rehearsal for the Champions League final, Champions Bayern Munich played out a heated 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund. Munich had Rafinha sent off for an elbow on Jakub Blaszczykowski, but were able to salvage a draw from Mario Gomez’ headed equaliser. Dortmund fans showed their disgust at Mario Goetze’s decision to leave the yellow’s for Munich, by taping over his name and number on replica shirts and chanting slogans condemning his decision to ‘sell-out’ to the more affluent Bayern. 20-year-old Goetze will become the most expensive German ever when he joins Bayern for £32m at the end of the season. Meanwhile at the other-end of the Bundesliga, Freiburg defeated Augsburg 2-0, to leave the strugglers in 16^th position and in danger of relegation.

France

Paris-Saint-Germain will have to wait until at least next weekend to wrap-up the Ligue 1 title after being held to a 1-1 home draw against Valenciennes, whilst nearest challengers Marseilles won 2-1 over Bastia. Andre-Pierre Gignac scored a lovely curling opener for Marseilles, before scoring the winner late-on. PSG had captain Thaigo Silva controversially sent off, which adds to their growing suspension list, which includes David Beckham. Elsewhere Nice beat Rennes to stay in the Champions league mix.

Spain

A Lionel Messi inspired Barcelona beat Real Betis 4-2 to leave the Catalan side on the brink of the title. Messi scored two late goals to give Barca an 11 point lead over Real Madrid, with only 4 games remaining. Real Madrid, who beat Real Valladolid in a seven goal thriller, need to win all of their remaining games and hope Barcelona lose theirs to defend their title. Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to help the capital side win 4-3 over Valladolid, with Kaka and Angel Di Maria also scoring.  

Will MataFollow @footyfriends