European review

Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund picked up big wins, while Celtic earned a crucial three points against Aberdeen.

Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund enjoy memorable weekends

Cristiano Ronaldo was on form as Real Madrid thrashed Malaga in Spain to go above Barcelona, while Inter Milan picked up a much-needed win. Celtic battled to victory over Aberdeen while Borussia Dortmund won in Germany, as Bayern Munich lost to Hannover.

Primera Liga

Real Madrid produced an impressive performance to thrash Malaga 4-0 and go second in the La Liga table, above Barcelona. Lionel Messi has been hitting the headlines with his performances in recent weeks but Cristiano Ronaldo was the man of the weekend, the Portuguese attacker netting a hat-trick in the rout, with Gonzalo Higuain scoring the other. Barcelona, though, were held by Sevilla at Camp Nou, with the Andalusians battling valiantly for a 0-0 draw. Levante are top of the pile as their remarkable start continued with a 3-0 success at Villarreal, Juanlu scoring two in the comfortable victory.

Serie A

Udinese cruised to a 3-0 victory over Novara at Stadio Fruili and are top of the pile thanks to a brace from Antonio Di Natale and an effort from Maurizio Domizzi. The game of the weekend in Italy was played out at Lecce where a thrilling encounter ended with AC Milan edging out the home side 4-3. It was a sublime performance from Kevin-Prince Boateng who came off the bench to score a hat-trick for the Rossoneri. Inter Milan had made their worst start to the season for 28 years but Claudio Ranieri's side picked up a much-needed 1-0 victory at home to Chievo - Thiago Motta scoring the only goal of the game.

Bundesliga

Champions Borussia Dortmund caught the eye in Germany as they thrashed Cologne 5-0 at Signal Iduna Park, Robert Lewandowski getting two goals. Bayern Munich remain top of the table despite going down 2-1 at Hannover, in what was a heated affair. Bayern defender Jerome Boateng was sent off in the first half while Hannover's Steve Cherundolo followed him down the tunnel after 63 minutes. Elsewhere, Schalke earned a 1-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen while Wolfsburg drew 1-1 at Hamburg on Saturday.

SPL

Celtic remain 10 points behind Rangers in the SPL but were made to work for a 2-1 success against Aberdeen at Parkhead, with the Dons reduced to 10 men late on. It was an important victory for the Hoops because Rangers had won 2-0 at Hearts earlier on Sunday - Steven Naismith and Nikica Jelavic with the goals. The other notable result came as St Mirren lost 3-2 at home to Hibernian, with all five goals coming in the first half.

Ligue 1

Joe Cole scored as French champions Lille overcame Lyon 3-1, with the home side going above Lyon in the table after the victory. There were 2-0 home triumphs for Marseille and Paris St Germain, while second-placed Montpellier won 3-1 at Caen.

Eredivisie

Ajax and Feyenoord played out a 1-1 draw at the Amsterdam Arena but the away side will have been left more disappointed at the final whistle, as Ajax goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer was sent off in the second half. Heerenveen thrashed FC Utrecht 4-1 away from home, as PSV drew 1-1 at Vitesse.

Best of the rest

In Turkey, Fenerbahce could not take advantage of Galatasaray drawing on Friday night as they were held to a 0-0 stalemate by Samsunspor. Porto thrashed Nacional Madeira 5-0 in Portugal and they are level on points with Benfica who beat Beira Mar 1-0.

Ranking	Player	Team	Competition	Rating (10)	Key stats
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	La Liga	10	Scored his 10th hat-trick in La Liga
2	André Ayew	Marseille	Ligue 1	10	Attempted 10 shots, scored a brace
3	Kevin-Prince Boateng	AC Milan	Serie A	10	Scored a hat-trick in just 45 minutes played vs Lecce
4	Alessandro Matri	Juventus	Serie A	10	Attempted nine shots, scored a brace
5	Royston Drenthe	Everton	Premier League	10	Scored a goal and made an assist
6	David Silva	Manchester Cuty	Premier League	10	Scored a goal and made an assist
7	Edin Dzeko	Manchester Cuty	Premier League	10	Scored a brace and made an assist
8	Antonio Di Natale	Udinese	Serie A	9	Scored a brace and made an assist
9	Robert Lewandowski	Borussia Dortmund	Bundesliga	9	Attempted seven shots, scored a brace
10	Mario Balotelli	Manchester Cuty	Premier League	9	Attempted four shots, scored a brace