European Football Sunday Round-up

Russian Premier League

Anzhi Makhachkala lost ground in the Premier League title race after a shock 2-0 defeat to struggling Mordovia Saransk on Sunday afternoon.

The hosts began the day bottom of the league but were able to look upwards within three minutes as Milan Perendija opened the scoring.

Rustem Mukhametshin added the second in the 73rd minute as Mordovia moved level on points with Alania Vladikavkaz and off the bottom.

Anzhi trail leaders CSKA Moscow, who beat Krylya Sovetov yesterday, by five points but remain ahead of Zenit St Petersburg after the third-placed side lost 1-0 away to Rubin Kazan. Jose Salomon Rondon scored the only goal on the half-hour.

Yura Movsisyan's hat-trick earned Spartak Moscow a 3-1 win over Terek Grozny, whose reply came from Mauricio.

Dutch Eredivisie

Ajax cashed in on PSV Eindhoven's stutter on Saturday to take a one-point lead in the Eredivisie standings.

PSV were surprisingly beaten by Heerenveen, but Ajax made no such mistake as they brushed aside PEC Zwolle 3-0 at the Amsterdam ArenA.

Kolbeinn Sigthorsson and Siem de Jong put the hosts two up inside 26 minutes before Derk Boerrigter added the gloss late on.

Feyenoord and Vitesse Arnhem, the sides in third and fourth, both celebrated 1-0 away wins.

Graziano Pelle's goal on the half-hour saw off Roda JC for Feyenoord, while Wilfried Bony netted in the 63rd-minute as Vitesse edged out FC Twente.

Utrecht also secured a 1-0 success, Jacob Mulenga notching 12 minutes from time to down visiting RKC Waalwijk.

Swiss Super League

Basel closed the gap to Super League leaders Grasshoppers to two points with a 3-0 home win over Young Boys on Sunday.

Alexander Frei opened the scoring in the 37th minute, Marco Streller made it two just after the hour mark and Fabian Schar completed the win five minutes from time.

FC Sion missed the chance to go third as they lost 1-0 at home to Lausanne Sports.

Chris Malonga Ntsayi scored the only goal of the game after 14 minutes, while Sion's hopes of mounting a fightback were dealt a blow by the 42nd-minute sending-off of Vullnet Basha.

FC Zurich won 4-0 at 10-man FC Thun.

Nicolas Schindelholz's own goal set them on their way after 12 minutes and Oliver Buff doubled the lead three minutes after the break.

Things got worse for Thun a minute later when Enrico Schirinzi was red-carded and goals from Josip Drmic (55) and Amine Chermiti, with a 62nd-minute penalty, added to their misery.

French Ligue 1

Paris St Germain were the only winners as Lyon and Marseille played out a dull goalless draw at the Stade Gerland.

Carlo Ancelotti's table-topping side are now four points clear of Lyon and seven ahead of Marseille following their 2-1 win over Nancy yesterday with just 10 rounds remaining in the Ligue 1 title race.

OM's Andre-Pierre Gignac came closest to a goal with a 10th-minute shot which lashed inches wide but there was little for either set of fans to get excited about.

Stephane Bahoken marked his first start in Ligue 1 with a first-half brace against Montpellier to lift Nice to fifth.

The young striker scored from close range in the 12th minute and again in the 24th as his side bounced back in style from last week's 4-0 defeat to St Etienne.

Montpellier pressed in the second half and hit the woodwork through Younes Belhanda, but the reigning champions could not find a way back into the game.

Cheick Diabate scored the only goal as Bordeaux ended a four-match losing run in Ligue 1 to put the pressure back on struggling Bastia.

It was one-way traffic at the Stade Chaban-Delmas and, after Ludovic Obraniak had struck the crossbar, Diabate grabbed the opener having come off the bench for the start of the second half.

The win lifts Bordeaux one place to ninth, while Bastia remain just three points above the drop zone.

Turkish Super Lig

Fenerbahce came from behind to hammer Bursaspor 4-1 and climb up to second in the Super Lig table.

The home side trailed after just two minutes to a Stanislav Sestak goal but were level 10 minutes later through Emre Belozoglu.

Fener then ran amok in the second half with further goals from Raul Meireles (50), Dirk Kuyt (75) and Moussa Sow (88) making sure of the points.

The win lifts Fener four points behind leaders Galatasaray while Bursaspor remain fourth, six points adrift of the top three.

Antalyaspor also lost ground on the leading trio with a 2-1 defeat at Sivasspor.

Jan Rajnoch fired Sivasspor ahead after 13 minutes with Lamine Diarra replying 15 minutes later.

However, an Erman Kilic goal on the hour mark settled the contest in the home side's favour.

Elazigspor climbed out of the relegation zone with a 1-0 victory over Orduspor, courtesy of Tidiane Sane's second-half strike.

The match between Karabukspor and Eskisehirspor finished goalless.

Greek Super League

Olympiacos clinched their 40th Super League title as a 3-0 victory over struggling AEK Athens gave the Piraeus club an unassailable 16-point lead.

A brace from Avraam Papadopoulos either side of the break was enough to get Michel's men in the party mood, with the centre-back following up his 14th-minute strike with a decisive header in the 56th minute.

The Karaiskakis Stadium was already rocking when Djamel Abdoun put the Reds out of sight by rifling home a firm effort in the 62nd minute.

But amid the celebrations, 11-time champions AEK dropped to within a single point of Aris Salonika and the relegation zone.

Aris had earlier extended their unbeaten home run to a seventh game with a comfortable 4-0 win over Levadiakos in Thessaloniki.

Nuno Coelho needed just two minutes to open the scoring with Giannis Gianniotas completing a brace (48 and 64) before Andreas Tatos added gloss to the win 10 minutes from time.

Elsewhere, Giannina consolidated their outside chance of qualifying for Europe as Fotis Georgiou's 69th-minute goal settled a 1-0 win at FC Xanthi, while Veria played out a goalless draw with OFI Crete.

Danish Superliga

FC Copenhagen strengthened their position at the head of the Superliga table with a 3-1 victory over lowly Silkeborg on Sunday.

Nicolai Jorgensen fired in the opening goal after 28 minutes and Andreas Cornelius made it 2-0 11 minutes later.

Cornelius' second in the 77th minute put the match to bed before a late consolation from Jesper Mikkelsen.

FCK move 15 points clear at the top of the standings, while Silkeborg remain in the bottom two.

Basement side Brondby gave their hopes of escaping the drop an enormous boost with a 3-0 victory at AGF Aarhus.

Two goals from Simon Christoffersen and another from Jens Stryger Larsen saw the financially troubled club move within a point of safety.

Odense BK's European hopes suffered a setback with a 2-0 loss at Horsens, Charles Takyi and Jude Nworuh scoring the goals.

Portuguese Liga

Benfica climbed back to the top of the Portuguese Liga after thrashing Gil Vicente 5-0 in Lisbon.

Porto briefly moved to the summit following their 2-0 defeat of Estoril on Friday but Benfica's bid to regain the leadership never looked in doubt from the moment Maxi Pereira put them in front after 12 minutes.

Salvio doubled their lead 10 minutes later and Lorenzo Melgarejo further enhanced their position before half time.

Lima made it 4-0 after 65 minutes with Nicolas Gaitan capping a fine Benfica performance in the final minute.

Pacos Ferreira failed to reclaim third spot after a 1-1 draw at home to Beira Mar.

Ruben Ribeiro gave the rock-bottom visitors a shock 13th-minute lead but Manuel Jose netted a last-gasp equaliser from the penalty spot.

Moreirense and Olhanense, two teams struggling to avoid the drop, drew 1-1.

Ricardo Pessoa put Moreirense ahead after 28 minutes but their hopes of leapfrogging their opponents, and moving out of the relegation zone, were dashed by Quintino de Souza's late equaliser.

Nacional hung on for a point against Rio Ave despite finishing with nine men.

Claudemir put the hosts in front after 20 minutes but they had Manuel da Costa sent off 14 minutes into the second half.

Ahmed Hassan equalised for Rio with Jota also seeing red for Nacional.