England

They were calling it the biggest Premier League game in years, perhaps ever. Liverpool vs Manchester City at Anfield. The winner goes a long way towards sealing the EPL title. So much hype, so much excitement. They even had live radio commentary of the Liverpool team bus arriving.

Well, unlike so many similarly important EPL games, this one actually lived up to the hype. It was a thriller. Liverpool came out of the blocks in a hurry and looked to immediately punish a cagey City side. They dominated early possession, no doubt spurred by the 25th anniversary memorial for the Hillsborough Disaster, and after only 6 minutes they were able to grab that crucial first goal through Raheem Sterling. They weren’t done there though, Martin Skrtel adding a second 20 mins later. City failed to start with anything like the same enthusiasm as the home team did, and things got worse when Yaya Toure was forced off with an injury just before half time. But if any Scousers thought this one was a foregone conclusion (and I doubt many did), it wasn’t. City came out fired up after the break, and David Silva took the game by storm. Soon the scores were tied, leaving a desperate 25 circuits of the clock for someone to earn the win. As it was, the win was gift wrapped in the form of a terrible attempted clearance from Vincent Kompany, so often City’s saviour but forced to play injured here with the Sky Blues lack of depth at the back. His shank fell to the impressive Coutinho who made no mistake. 3-2 final score. Jordan Henderson was sent off for a shocker of a tackle late on, though that didn’t take any shine off what this victory meant. There’s still a lot of work to do – they have to beat Chelsea as well in a couple weeks, but this was a massive statement from the Reds. Stevie G was in tears afterwards!

Chelsea themselves were far from convincing, yet managed to put away 10-man Swansea in Wales thanks to a second half Demba Ba goal. It was a welcome goal from a striking corps not exactly firing on all cylinders. The win keeps them in check in the title race, so that’s all that counts.

There were some massive tremors at the other end of the table too. Fulham bagged a 1-0 win over Norwich, putting just 2 points between the two teams. Fulham still need a couple more results to edge out of the drop zone, but with Norwich’s final four games being: Liverpool (H), Man Utd (A), Chelsea (A), Arsenal (H), things look grim for the Canaries, who have only scored 26 goals in 34 EPL games. Sunderland lost at home to Everton, so they’re pretty likely to be headed for the drop too, while Cardiff’s 1-0 win at Southampton at least keeps their hope alive.  Blowing a 3-0 lead against Spurs may well cost West Brom in the long run. That was an exhilarating game, with a missed penalty and a final minute equaliser. Stoke City won to guarantee another year in the top flight, giving Newcastle a fourth straight loss in which they’ve failed to score. Crystal Palace also had a crucial win over Aston Villa. 

Spain

Better check those insurance policies folks, because we had an upset in La Liga. Barcelona, with Messi, Iniesta, Neymar and Fabregas all in tow, failed to score, and fell 1-0 away to Granada, which if that team name sounds familiar, it’s probably from Homer Simpson’s Allan Sherman tape and not from their exploits on the footy field. Despite attempting 29 shots, Barca were unable to get one into the back of the net, costing them their first league loss in over a month. Algerian Yacine Brahimi scored the deciding goal after 16 minutes (below). 

That result opened the gates for the Madrid pair to go surging onwards and they did just that. Real were first up, kicking off just as that result went final which must have been a huge boost. With Ronaldo still missing, Angel Di Maria, Gareth Bale, Isco and Alvaro Morato all scored for a comfortable 4-0 win over Almeria at home. Karim Benzema set up a couple of those goals and looked threatening throughout. Real’s last three Liga games have been won by scorelines of 4-0, 4-0 and 5-0. This result puts them up to second, now a point above Barca. Atletico are the big winners of the weekend though. With a 3 point lead over rivals Real, it’s now theirs to lose – even with that massive trip to Barcelona in the final game. If they win their next four games, then a draw will be all they need from that one to secure the title and rip it from the grasps of the Clasico pairing.

Atletico’s game was far from comfortable, even if they emerged with the win. In a fiery game, Diego Godin gave Atletico the lead in the 40th. Opponents Getafe were reduced to 10 men when Angel Lafita was given the marching orders for a foul in the box. Diego Costa stepped up to take the penalty, but missed – perhaps distracted by the home fan that went down-trou and mooned the Atletico star as he ran in. Bad taste? Maybe. But let’s be honest, it was damn funny! Some may even say cheeky…

Unfortunately Diego Costa, who is a major transfer target of Jose Mourinho and Chelsea, was subbed off late on with a nasty injury, although not before he added a critical second goal for the 2-0 win. He slid into the post trying to add another goal, and came away with an ugly gash on his shin. The 25 year old is still expected to be fit for the Champions League semi-final first leg against Chelsea. There’ll be plenty of eyes on him there, with a rumoured £50m price tag hanging around his neck.

Italy

The top three teams in the Serie A all had wins over the weekend, with Juventus defeating Udinese 2-0, AS Roma beating Atalanta 3-1 and Napoli beating Lazio 4-2 . Juve were too good for Udinese with Sebastien Giovinco and Fernando Llorente both getting on the score sheet giving Juve a eight point buffer at the top of the table. AS Roma, who sit in second, had put some pressure on Juve beating Atalanta 3-1 before Juve played Udinese. Roma got the win thanks to the ever great Francesco Totti who had an assist in all three goals as Rodrigo Taddei, Adam Ljajic and Gervinho (yes he's still battling away) bagged the goals. It was a great game for Totti who has been a staple in Italian football for yonks and he's making a pretty solid case for a World Cup berth. Napoli won thanks to three goals from Gonzalo Higuain but a red card to Lazio's Lorik Cana sealed the destiny of the game. It was Higuain's first hat trick for Napoli following his move from Real Madrid.

Germany

It’s basically all over but for the formalities in Germany. Bayern wrapped the title up a few weeks back and have spent their time working on wining the Champions League again – which they are doing so far so good at. Manchester United proved a tougher task than hoped, but the Germans pulled through. Their league form is suffering with the change in priorities though. After losing their first Bundesliga game since October 2012 last week, they dropped another one – getting pummelled at home by Borussia Dortmund, who themselves were knocked out of the UCL by Bayern’s next opponents Real Madrid. 3-0 was the score, Rafinha getting sent off late for Bayern.

The rest of the European challengers all won too, meaning that very little changed on the table. The three teams in the relegation zone all lost as well. Stuttgart putting a point of difference between themselves and those selves with a 1-1 draw vs Borussia M.Gladbach, who in 6th were the highest placed team to drop points aside from the champs this week.

France

In France, PSG suffered a shock loss to 5th place Lyon, going down 1-0 which was only their second loss of the season. Jordan Ferri grabbed the winner for Lyon before half time and PSG gave up an opportunity to wrap up the title race. Had PSG beaten Lyon and 2nd placed Moncao not won at Rennes (Monaco won 1-0), the title would have been PSG's. Instead both results went the opposite way and PSG now have a 10 point lead with five games remaining. Lille, sitting in third managed to defeat Valenciennes 1-0 which looks to have secured them the third spot. All eyes will be on PSG and whether they can wrap up the title race or if there are a few more twists and turns in this tale. 

Champions League Semi Final Draw

First Legs

Wednesday, Apr 23 2014 – 6.45am:

Atletico Madrid vs Chelsea

Thursday, Apr 24 2014 - 6:45am:

Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich

Second Legs

Wednesday, Apr 30 2014 - 6:45am:

Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid

Thursday, May 1 2014 - 6:45am:

Chelsea vs Atletico Madrid