Manchester United win derby

Manchester United won a thrilling derby match at neighbours and arch-rivals, last year's Champions City at the Etihad Stadium. The match was drawn two apiece until van Persie broke the deadlock at 90+2 minutes. Real Madrid won but Barcelona are eleven points ahead with Messi firing on all fronts and set to be the world's best player for the fourth year in succession.

Premier League 16 games

It's Manchester United on 39 points, now six ahead of last year's Champions, City after United stole the show at the Etihad Stadium 3-2, with a brace from Rooney and a Van Persie winner on 90+2. Sunderland 1 Chelsea FC 3 sees Rafa Benitez's side secure third with 29 points.

La Liga 15 games

Barcelona (43) is now six points ahead of Atlético (37), in turn five in front of Real Madrid (32). Real twice came from behind to overturn the result and beat Valladolid 3-2 away; Atlético slammed Deportivo 6-0 and Barcelona's Messi put the game out of Betis' reach before the home side scored (1-2)

Serie A 16 Games

Juventus has 38 points and is now followed by Inter (34), Napoli (33) and Lazio (30).

Palermo 0 Juventus 1;  Inter 2 Napoli 1; Bologna 0 Lazio 0.

Bundesliga 16 games

Leaders Bayern (41) go eleven points clear of second-placed Leverkusen (30) with Dortmund and Frankfurt in equal third with 27. Bayern saw off Augsburg away 2-0;  Leverkusen lost 3-2 at Hannover; Dortmund lost at home 2-3 to Wolfsburg and Frankfurt beat Bremen 4-1.

Ligue 1 16 games

Olympique Lyonnais go five points clear at the top after a 1-0 away win at Saint-Étienne; PSG (4-0 victors over Evian) and Olympique de Marseille (0-3 at home to Lorient) share second spot (29 points.

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 11 games

SL Benfica and FC Porto share top spot (29) after Porto beat Moreirense 1-0 and Benfica won the Lisbon derby against Sporting 3-1. Braga is third on 20  after winning 4-1 at Académica (Coimbra).

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru