LONDON, Feb 3: Bayern Munich maintained their march towards a 23rd Bundesliga title on Saturday while Napoli went joint-top of Serie A, their highest position at this stage of the season in 23 years.

Real Madrid’s dismal season went from bad to worse as their slim hopes of retaining the La Liga title were further damaged while Girondins Bordeaux climbed to fourth in Ligue 1.

Croatian striker Mario Mandzukic scored twice to steer rampant Bayern to their 16th win in 20 Bundesliga matches after a 3-0 victory at Mainz 05 which increased their lead to a whopping 14 points.

Slovakian playmaker Marek Hamsik scored a goal and set up another as Napoli secured a 2-0 win over Catania to move level on points with Juventus at the top of Serie A, evoking memories of their last title triumph led by the great Diego Maradona 23 years ago.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the first own goal of his otherwise stellar career to send Real to a shock 1-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Granada as Jose Mourinho’s side fell into the same funk that has dogged them all season against lesser-name opponents.

Ronaldo’s former Manchester United team-mate David Bellion, meanwhile, scored his first Ligue 1 goal for more than three years as Bordeaux beat Valenciennes 2-0 at home.

Mandzukic struck twice in seven minutes early in the second-half after Thomas Mueller opened the scoring for Bayern as they moved to 51 points with second-placed Bayer Leverkusen on 37 and champions Borussia Dortmund on 36.

“That was a very important win for us today with regard to the German title,” Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes said. “We knew it wouldn’t be an easy game and we planned it accordingly. The team implemented (the tactics) very well.”

Eintracht Frankfurt moved level with third-placed Dortmund on 36 points after Srdjan Lakic, signed on loan from VfL Wolfsburg this week, made a dream start by claiming both goals in a 2-0 victory at Hamburg SV.

Hamsik put Napoli ahead at the San Paolo Stadium with a close-range effort then set up a goal for captain Paolo Cannavaro just before the break as they moved level on 49 points with champions Juventus who have a game in hand.

“It wasn’t an easy match against Catania, but we attacked from the start to avoid being drawn into making mistakes,” said Hamsik, who insists Napoli are not thinking too much about the leaders.

“We’re not thinking about Juventus, we just have to keep on playing as well as we did tonight.”

Ronaldo’s career is packed with goals of all sorts and from all angles, but he had never in 10 and a half seasons found the back of his team’s net until he headed a corner over goalkeeper Diego Lopez in a flubbed attempt midway through the first-half.

The result left Real on 43 points from 22 games, 15 points adrift of leaders Barcelona and four behind second-placed Atletico Madrid.

“It was not a good game and we lost and I am responsible,” Real coach Jose Mourinho told a post-match news conference.

“I didn’t like the first-half from the team, it was terrible. We improved after the break and we dominated. We had a chance to score but if we had taken it then the performance still wouldn’t have been sufficient.

Bellion, who had not found the net in a league game since he grabbed a double against Lorient in December 2009, scored in the first-half and Ludovic Obraniak added another in the second-half as Bordeux moved to 38 points, four behind third-placed Marseille.

Meanwhile, Nice and Saint-Etienne won to climb into fifth and sixth places, respectively. Nice, behind Bordeaux on goal difference, won 2-0 at Brest while St Etienne, a point behind, grabbed a 2-1 victory at Sochaux.

But Rennes slipped to seventh despite teenager Axel Ngando’s fairytale introduction to top-flight football as his stoppage-time strike handed his side a share of the spoils in a 2-2 draw at Lorient.—Agencies