Lokomotiv leapfrogs over Zenit

Lokomotiv Moskva and Zenit Saint Petersburg are staging an exciting final to the Russian Premier League, with a pack formed by Moscow teams CSKA, Dinamo and Spartak on their heels. In Germany, Bayern Munich lost again but with the Bundesliga in the bag, will be eyeing this week's Champions League game against Manchester United.

Lokomotiv leapfrogs over Zenit. 52535.jpeg

Russian Premier League (After 24 matches)

Lokomotiv Moskva has 51 points after beating Volga 3-0 in Moscow, leap-frogging ahead of Zenit which thumped Rubin Kazan 6-2 in St. Petersburg and lies second with 50 points. Third is CSKA Moskva (3-1 winners in Samara at Krylya Sovetov) with 46, three ahead of Dinamo Moskva (4-0 losers at Anzhi Makhachkala). Spartak Moskva is fifth with 41 points, after losing at home to Ural 1-0.

La Liga (After 32 matches)

Atlético (79), Barcelona (78), Real Madrid (76). Three teams, three points between them. Atlético beat Villarreal 1-0, Barcelona received and beat Betis 3-1, with two goals from Messi (one a penalty) while Real Madrid went to San Sebastian to beat Real Sociedad 4-0.

Premiership (After 33 matches)

Liverpool sits atop the premiership with 74 points, two more than Chelsea while Manchester City is third with two games in hand on 70 points. Arsenal is on 64 points in fourth place and Everton is one point behind with a game in hand (63 points). Two penalties from captain Steven Gerard saw Liverpool beat West Ham United 2-1 away in London. Chelsea beat Stoke City 3-0 at Stamford Bridge, while Manchester City kept on the heels of the first two by beating Southampton 4-1. Everton closed the gap on Arsenal by beating Arsene Wenger's side 3-0.

Bundesliga (After 29 matches)

Bayern has 78 points, twenty more than second-placed Borussia Dortmund while FC Schalke 04 is third on 55. Bayern lost 1-0 at Augsburg but with the championship already won, Dortmund beat Wolfsburg 2-1 and Schalke drew one apiece at Bremen.

Serie A (After 32 matches)

Juventus is top of Italy's Serie A with 84 points, followed by AS Roma (76) and SSC Napoli (64). Juventus saw off Livorno in Turin by two goals to nil, Roma won 3-1 at Cagliari, with a hat-trick from Destro and Napoli went down 1-0 at Parma.

Ligue 1 (After 32 matches)

First is Paris Saint-Germain (79), second AS Monaco FC with 66 and third, LOSC Lille (60). PSG beat Reims 3-0 in the capital, Monaco beat Nantes 3-1 and Lille went to Toulouse to win 2-1.

Primeira Liga (After 26 matches)

SL Benfica has 67 points after beating Rio Ave 3-0, Sporting CP is second with 60 and trailing unusually in third, FC Porto (52 points) with four games left to play. Sporting CP won 3-1 at Paços de Ferreira while FC Porto hosted Académica (Coimbra) and won 3-1.

Turkish League (After 28 matches)

Fenerbahçe (60 points, one game in hand) leads the Turkish league. Galatasaray AS is second with 53 and Besiktas JK third also on 53 points.

In Azerbaijan, after 29 games the Championship is led by Qarabag with 64 points, Neftci PFK is second with 54 and Inter Baki PIK is third, with 51 points.

In Armenia FC Ararat leads, 5 points clear, with 39 points from 20 games, ahead of FC Banants (34, game in hand) and FC Shirak (33). No change at the top this week with all three teams winning their matches.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru