Messi and Ronaldo again

Messi (4 goals) and Cristiano Ronaldo (hat-trick) set the Primera Liga on fire as Real Madrid starts to eye the runners-up place and vow to win the Champions League. Man United, Barça, Juve, Bayern, PSG, CSKA, FC Porto are the big names in the main leagues as the season enters its second half.

Premier League 23 games

Manchester United lead by five points over City (56 points to 51); Chelsea is third on 45 and Tottenham Hotspur fourth on 41.

La Liga 21 games

FC Barcelona leads by 11 points ahead of Club Atlético de Madrid (47) and Real Madrid CF on 43. Messi scored four times in Barça´s drubbing of Osasuna (5-1); Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in Real's demolition of Getafe (4-0) and Atlético lost 3-0 at Athletic Bilbao. Real is closing on Atlético and eyeing second place.

Serie A 22 Games

 Juventus (49), Napoli (46), Lazio (43). A good weekend for Lazio, making the three points from an away victory at Parma (2-1), while Lazio lost at home to Chievo 0-1 snf Juve was held at home by Genoa in a 1-1 draw.

Bundesliga 19 games

 It's still Bayern (48), Leverkusen (37) and Dortmund (36). Bayern beat Stuttgart 2-0 away; Leverkusen came away from Freiburg with a goalless draw and Dortmund received and beat Nurnberg 3-0.

Ligue 1 22 games

Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais on 45 points, Olympique de Marseille three points behind in third place. PSG beat Lille 1-0 in Paris, Lyon beat Valenciennes 2-0 away; Marseille drew 2-2 at Rennes.

Russian Premier League 19 games

CSKA (43), Anzhi Makhachkala (41) and Zenit St. Petersburg (38) are 1,2,3 in the Russian Premier League. CSKA beat Mordovia 2-1 in Moscow; Zenit and Anzhi drew 1-1 in St. Petersburg.

Portuguese Premier League 16 games

 FC Porto back on top after beating Gil Vicente 5-0, equal on points (42) with Benfica, 2-1 winners at Braga (third, on 29).

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru