Soccer latest

Soccer latest

FA Cup in England; Real maintains the ten-point lead in Spain; in Italy it's Milan and Juve; Dortmund edges ahead in Germany and in France, the top two draw two apiece. FC Porto closes the gap on rivals Benfica in Portugal, two weeks ahead of the showdown in Lisbon.

England Premier League

This week the FA Cup reached the last 16. Results:

Crawley Town 0 Stoke City 2; Stevenage 0 Tottenham 0; Liverpool 6 Brighton 1; Chelsea 1 Birmingham 1; Everton 2 Blackpool 0; Millwall 0 Bolton 2; Norwich City 1 Leicester City 2; Sunderland 2 Arsenal 0;

English Premier League after 25 games 

1. Manchester City 60 
2. Manchester United 58  
3. Tottenham  55  
4. Arsenal 43  
5. Chelsea FC 43  
6. Newcastle United 42 
7. Liverpool FC 39

Spain - Primera Liga 

Real won 4-0 against Racing Santander, Barça won; the Valencia duo Valencia CF and Levante lost. Valencia was thrashed 5-1 at Barcelona and Levante lost 3-5 at home against Rayo Vallecano. Espanyol drew 1-1 away at Getafe and jumped ahead of Levante, as did Athletic Bilbao, 3-0 winners against Málaga. Atlético (Madrid) drew 1-1 at Gijón.
 
Spanish Primera Liga after 23 games  
1. Real Madrid 61
2. FC Barcelona 51
3. Valencia CF 40   
4. RCD Espanyol 33 
5. Athletic Club 33
6. Club Atlético de Madrid 32 
7. Levante UD 32  

Italy - Serie A 

At the top, It's AC Milan one point ahead of Juventus (one game in hand), chased by a pack composed of Udinese, Lazio, Roma, Napoli and Inter Milan. Lots of goals in this weekend's games. AC Milan came away from Cesena with a 3-1 win; Juventus beat Catania 3-1 while Udinese received Cagliari and drew 0-0. Lazio went down 5-1 at Palermo; Roma beat Parma 1-0, Napoli won 3-0 away at Fiorentina and Inter went down 0-3 at home to Bologna

Italian Serie A after 24 games  
1. AC Milan 50 
2. Juventus 49 (23 games)
3. Udinese Calcio 42

4. SS Lazio 42 

5. AS Roma 38
6. SSC Napoli 37
7. Inter Milan 36 

Germany - Bundesliga 
Wins for Dortmund (1-0 at Hertha Berlin) and Moenchengladbach (2-1 at Kaiserslautern) and a draw for Bayern (0-0 at Freiburg) see a change at the top. Schalke close the gap with a win (4-0 against Wolfsburg) and chasing behind, Werder Bremen (3-1 winners at Hamburg), Bayer Leverkusen (4-1 at home to Augsburg) and Hannover (4-2 against Stuttgart) all chalked up wins.

German Bundesliga after 22 games  
1. Borussia Dortmund 49 
2. VfL Borussia Moenchengladbach 46 

3. FC Bayern Munchen 45
4. FC Schalke 04 44 
5. Werder Bremen 36     
6. Bayer 04 Leverkusen 34 
7. Hannover 96 34 

France - Ligue 1 

Draws at the top, mixed results in the pack. PSG 2 Montpellier 2 was the match of the weekend, followed by Lille, which won away 1-0 at Lorient; Marseilles drew 1-1 with Valenciennes; Bordeaux 1 - Lyon 0; Saint-Étienne beat Rennes 4-0 and jumps into sixth place

French Ligue 1 after 24 games  
1. Paris Saint-Germain FC 51 
2. Montpellier Hérault 50 
3. LOSC Lille Métropole 42 (23 games)
4. Olympique de Marseille 39 (23 games)
5. Olympique Lyonnais 39 
6. Saint-Étienne 39 (23 games) 
7. Stade Rennais 39 

Portugal - Primeira Liga 

FC Porto 2 points behind Benfica with a game to come in two weeks in Lisbon. Benfica slipped up at Guimarães, 0-1 while Porto went to Setúbal to win 3-1. Braga came away from Barcelos with a 3-0 win against Gil Vicente; Sporting CP beat Paços de Ferreira 1-0 at home and Marítimo came to the continent to beat Rio Ave 3-1, while Nacional, also from Madeira, thrashed Académica 4-1.

Primeira Liga after 19 games 
1. SL Benfica 48
2. FC Porto 46  
3. SC Braga 43 
4. SC Portugal 35    
5. CS Marítimo 35  
6. Vitória SC (Guimarães) 29 
7. Nacional 22 

Russian Premier League - Final standings (League closed for winter) 
Russian Premier League after 30 games 
1. FC Zenit St. Petersburg 61 
2. PFC CSKA Moskva 59 
3. FC Dinamo Moskva 55 
4. FC Spartak Moskva 53 
5. FC Lokomotiv Moskva 53 
 
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey 
Pravda.Ru