LONDON, Dec 1: Champions Inter Milan took a six point lead in Italy after city rivals AC Milan were humbled 3-1 by mid-table Palermo while Barcelona inched four clear in Spain thanks to Real Madrid’s loss by the same score at Getafe.

SPAIN: Barcelona strengthened their grip on the top spot in the Primera Liga with a 3-0 away win against Sevilla on Saturday, when champions Real Madrid fell 3-1 at Getafe.

Lionel Messi scored twice as Barca put on a strong performance at the intimidating Sanchez Pizjuan, but an injury-ravaged Real continued to struggle and were well-beaten by their city rivals at the Coliseum.

Barca have 32 points from 13 matches, four ahead of Villarreal, who beat bottom club Recreativo Huelva 2-1 away on Sunday.

Valencia overcame Real Betis 3-2 at home with ten men to move on to 27 points, one ahead of Real who slipped back to fourth place.

ITALY: Inter Milan romped six points clear at the top of Serie A despite again failing to find top form in a 2-1 win over Napoli.

AC Milan lost ground after crashing to a 3-1 defeat at Palermo.

Juventus are level with Milan following a 4-0 home win over struggling Reggina in the snow when Alessandro Del Piero netted a penalty for his 250th club goal.

FRANCE: Stade Rennes were Olympique Lyon’s only rivals to take advantage of the leaders goalless draw against lowly Valenciennes in driving rain at Stade Gerland on Saturday.

The Britanny club recorded a 1-0 win over Paris St Germain which took them to second place, five points adrift of the seven-times French champions.

Nice, second before the start of the weekend’s matches, had their game against Grenoble postponed two days in a row after rain storms hit the Cote d’Azur.

Olympique Marseille, ahead of Nice on goal difference in third, were held to a goalless draw at seventh-place Toulouse while fifth-place Girondins Bordeaux drew 0-0 at struggling Sochaux.

GERMANY: Hoffenheim defeated Arminia Bielefeld 3-0.

Bayern stretched their unbeaten run to nine league matches when second-half goals from Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose saw them to a 2-0 success at title rivals Bayer Leverkusen.

NETHERLANDS: David Mendes da Silva and Ari scored in either half to earn AZ Alkmaar a 2-0 win at Groningen that put them three points clear on top of the Dutch league.

Second place Ajax Amsterdam were held to a 1-1 draw by Utrecht with Miralem Sulejmani on target to salvage a point, while Sparta Rotterdam trashed third-place NAC Breda 4-0.

Champions PSV Eindhoven failed to win away from home again as they struck twice in the final 10 minutes to rescue a draw at Heerenveen, who had gone ahead after a double from Roy Beerens.

Feyenoord striker Roy Makaay scored for the fifth match in a row in a 1-1 draw at Vitesse Arnhem.

GREECE: Olympiakos Piraeus stayed four points clear at the top of the Greek Super League with a comfortable 4-1 win over Panionios as their biggest rivals Panathinaikos were held to a draw.

Goals from Fernando Belluschi, Diogo and two late on from from substitute Costas Mitroglou put Olympiakos top on 29 points.

SCOTLAND: Celtic recovered from the disappointment of bowing out of Europe in midweek with a 1-0 defeat of Inverness to stay clear leaders of the Scotiish Premier League.

Shaun Maloney struck the winner to put Celtic seven points clear of Rangers who were beaten 2-1 at third-placed Hearts.

Marius Zaliukas and Laryea Kingston put Hearts 2-0 ahead midway through the first half before a Christos Karipidis own goal gave Rangers a lifeline. Dundee United beat St Mirren 2-0 to stay in fourth place.—Reuters