Barca were held, Gers need just two points to seal the title while Roma continued their fine form.
Barca draw; Roma lead; Gers and FC Twente nearly there
Barcelona were held to allow Real Madrid to close the gap at the top in Spain, Rangers need just two points to seal the SPL title while Serie A leaders Roma continued their fine form.
Elsewhere, Marseille closed in on a ninth crown, Bayern Munich scored seven goals while FC Twente are within touching distance of the Eredivisie title.
Primera Division
Real Madrid closed within a point of Barcelona after Pep Guardiola's side played out a goalless draw with Espanyol in a game that saw Dani Alves sent off.
Real took full advantage on Sunday as they saw off Valencia 2-0 thanks to goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Elsewhere, fourth-place Sevilla returned to winning ways with a
comfortable 3-0 success against nine-man Sporting Gijon, Villarreal edged out Atletico Madrid while Tenerife boosted their survival hopes thanks to a hat-trick from Juan Francisco Nino.
SPL
Rangers are now
within two points of securing a sixth SPL title after they defeated Hearts via goals from Kyle Lafferty and Kenny Miller. Celtic, meanwhile, had to rely on a late strike from Morten Rasmussen as they beat Hibernian 3-2.
Dundee United kept up their fine form to make it eight games unbeaten as they beat Motherwell at Fir Park, while Aberdeen ended a run of
three straight losses by edging out Falkirk 1-0.
Serie A
Roma notched a
sixth victory on the spin to maintain their one-point lead at the summit as they beat rivals Lazio 2-1. Inter Milan, meanwhile, were successful on Friday with a splendid Maicon strike setting them on their way to a 2-0 win over Juventus.
AC Milan lost ground on the leading pair following a late 2-1 loss against Sampdoria, with Giampaolo Pazzini scoring in the 90th minute, Atalanta boosted their survival hopes while Chievo sealed
a first win in eight attempts.
Ligue 1
Marseille still hold a
five-point lead at the summit in France following their dramatic 2-1 success against Boulogne as Taye Taiwo netted a 90th minute penalty. Second-placed Auxerre were also triumphant as they comprehensively beat Lorient 4-1.
Bordeaux and Lyon played out a terrific four-goal encounter that ended in a 2-2 draw with three players sent off, lowly Le Mans recorded back-to-back league victories while
Lille thrashed Monaco 4-0.
Bundesliga
Bayer Munich claimed an
astonishing 7-0 win versus Hannover, with Arjen Robben among the goals with a hat-trick, to maintain their two-point advantage over Schalke, who downed Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1.
Elsewhere, Werder Bremen saw off Wolfsburg 4-2 in a thrilling game at the Volkswagen Arena, Stuttgart overcame 10-man Bayer Leverkusen as Cacua scored a brace while Hoffenheim
salvaged a point at Borussia Dortmund.
Eredivisie
Ajax notched a
13th successive win against Heracles to keep up the pressure on pace-setters FC Twente, whose 2-0 victory over Feyenoord means they are just one three-point haul away from the title.
PSV Eindhoven
remain comfortable in third position after they came from a goal down to beat FC Groningen 3-1 while ADO Den Haag gave their survival hopes a shot in the arm with a 4-0 scalp of RKC.
Best of the rest
Benfica were made to fight hard for victory in Portugal as they beat Academica 3-2, Helsingborgs IF continue to lead the way in Sweden, RB Salzburg were held against LASK Linz as their lead at the summit in Austria was cut to six points, Danish pace-setters FC Kobenhavn lost versus FC Midtjylland while in Turkey, Bursaspor remain top of the tree.
