European Football Sunday Round-up

Dutch Eredivisie

Ajax went back to the top of the Eredivisie with a 3-2 win at AZ Alkmaar.

Two goals in three second-half minutes from Siem De Jong and Daley Blind put the Amsterdammers in control, but Markus Henriksen pulled one back two minutes after the break.

De Jong got his second just before the hour mark and, even though Jozy Altidore reduced the deficit to one again in the 74th minute, Ajax held on.

The win took them a point above PSV Eindhoven and kept them a point ahead of Feyenoord, who won 2-1 at home to FC Utrecht.

Graziano Pelle put the hosts in front after 32 minutes, only for Cedric van der Gun to level in the 59th minute.

But Darryl Janmaat restored Feyenoord's lead two minutes later to keep them firmly in the title hunt.

FC Twente won 3-0 at 10-man FC Groningen.

Leroy Fer opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time and Groningen's hopes took another blow when goalkeeper Marco Bizot was sent off in the 78th minute.

And the visitors took full advantage, with goals from Dusan Tadic (80) and Luc Castaignos (87) wrapping up the win.

Elsewhere, Willem II slipped closer to relegation as the bottom side were thumped 4-0 at NAC Breda.

Goals from Kees Luyckx, Mats Seuntjens, Elson Hooi and Danny Verbeek left the visitors five points adrift.

Swiss Super League

Basle leapt above Grasshoppers to go top of the Swiss Super League on Sunday night after a 1-0 home win over FC Thun.

On a day when three matches in the top flight produced just one goal in total, Basle were grateful it went their way.

Marco Streller was the man with the decider, netting with a fierce 15-yard strike after 81 minutes at St Jakob-Park.

Basle, three days after reaching the Europa League quarter-finals at Zenit St Petersburg's expense, went top on goal difference due to Grasshoppers missing out at home against Lucerne.

They were held 0-0 by the team that stands second-bottom in the table, while Young Boys and fellow mid-table outfit FC Sion also drew a blank.

Russian Premier League

CSKA Moscow stretched their lead at the head of the Russian Premier League to seven points after a 1-0 home win over Krasnodar.

With second-placed Anzhi Makhachkala held at home by Krylya Sovetov, CSKA enhanced their title prospects thanks to a 17th-minute goal from attacking midfielder Alan Dzagoev.

It was a bad day for Anzhi but it might have been worse.

They had a one-man advantage from the 37th minute of their match after Krylya Sovetov had Alexander Amisulashvili sent off, but the visitors who stand third bottom in the table then took a 64th-minute lead through Sergey Kornilenko.

Anzhi had a long trip to England during the week and the travelling, plus the Europa League defeat they suffered at the hands of Newcastle, may have been taking its toll.

However they at least salvaged some reward, with Lacina Traore netting an 81st-minute equaliser.

Third-placed Zenit St Petersburg also went out of the Europa League on Thursday as Swiss side Basle took their scalp, but Zenit returned to winning ways, edging a home tussle with Mordovia Saransk by a 1-0 margin.

Striker Hulk put Zenit ahead after 55 minutes, and Mordovia were reduced to 10 men six minutes later as Vladimir Bozovic was sent off.

Rubin Kazan have a Europa League quarter-final against Chelsea ahead of them, but a goalless draw away to Terek Grozny was a result unlikely to worry the English club owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Terek had Rizvan Yutsiev sent off late on.

Greek Superleague

Panathinaikos missed the chance to return to the Champions League qualifying places after a 2-0 Superleague defeat at PAOK Salonika.

While champions Olympiacos were celebrating last week's title triumph with a 1-0 win at bottom side Kerkyra, a game settled by substitute Kostas Mitroglou in the 79th minute, Pana remained in sixth place behind Giannina after leaving the Toumba Stadium empty-handed.

Giorgios Donis' men were on a three-game winning streak but goals from Abdoul Camara (59) and substitute Zvonimir Vukic (81) saw that come to an end as PAOK kept pace with second-placed Asteras Tripoli, who won 2-0 at Atromitos.

Fernando Usero put Asteras ahead in Athens with a 37th-minute strike before Ruben Rayo made the points safe from the penalty spot in the 67th minute.

In Sunday's other game, Platanias consolidated their mid-table status with a 2-1 victory over eighth-placed Panionios on Crete.

Abdul Aziz Tetteh saw his 20th-minute opener cancelled out by visiting midfielder Anastasios Avlonitis four minutes before the hour mark, but Elias Anastasakos popped up in the 76th minute to send the capital club home with nothing.

French Ligue 1

 

Paris St Germain blew the chance to go seven points clear at the top of Ligue 1 as they threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at St Etienne.

Despite racing ahead through Javier Pastore's strike and a Zlatan Ibrahimovic penalty, PSG had to settle for a point as St Etienne's spirited response brought an Alex own-goal and a Francois Clerc equaliser.

St Etienne remain unbeaten this year but will be disappointed not to have claimed the three points that would have taken them level with Marseille in third.

Nice also missed the chance to pull level with OM as the surprise European hopefuls slipped to a 1-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Nancy thanks to Djamel Bakar's first-half strike.

Nancy remain well adrift of safety, five points behind fourth-bottom Brest, but they have four wins in their last eight league outings.

In the day's other game, Toulouse and Bordeaux played out a dour goalless draw in the derby de la Garonne.

Danish Superliga

Randers took advantage of Saturday night's abandoned Superliga game to leapfrog FC Nordsjaelland into second place with a 1-0 victory over Silkeborg.

Nordsjaelland's trip to Aalborg was called off after just 18 minutes due to heavy snow but Randers striker Ronnie Schwartz needed only seven minutes to fire the winner over basement boys Silkeborg.

Viggo Jensen's men now prop up the table courtesy of Brondby's escape from the bottom two, a feat made possible thanks to a point earned from a 1-1 draw with FC Midtjylland.

Brondby might even have claimed all three points had Mads Albaek not cancelled out Quincy Antipas' 41st-minute opener four minutes after the break.

Elsewhere, Aarhus claimed a first home win since September in downing mid-table rivals Odense 2-1 at Atletion.

AGF would have to come from behind to win, though, when Emil Larsen opening the scoring after six minutes. Anders Kure responded two minutes later and Osama Akharraz fired the winner in the 72nd minute.

Turkish Super Lig

Leaders Galatasaray got back to winning ways in the Super Lig with a 3-1 triumph at 10-man Kayserispor.

Gala secured their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League - and a showdown with Real Madrid - in midweek with victory over Schalke but domestically they have been wobbling of late with just one point from their previous two leagues matches.

However, they got their title charge back on track on Sunday night in a match that was as good as over inside the opening 38 minutes.

During that spell Gala scored three times through Wesley Sneijder and Burak Yilmaz (two) while opponents Kayserispor lost Bobo to a red card just after the half-hour mark.

Kayserispor did manage to pull a goal back in the 90th minute through Diego Biseswar but it was not enough to deny Gala, who remain four points clear of Fenerbahce.

Fener beat Antalyaspor 2-1 on Sunday night, with goals from Salih Ucan (11) and Moussa Sow (42) sandwiching an equaliser from Tita (32).

Second-bottom Akhisar Belediye boosted their survival hopes with a 2-1 comeback win over Sivasspor.

Sivasspor had taken a 17th-minute lead through Hakan Arslan but they then lost Ziya Erdal to a 52nd-minute red card and Akhisar took full advantage thanks to late goals from Kenan Ozer (79) and Theofanis Gekas (89).

Akhisar are now three points behind third-bottom Orduspor, who lost 3-2 at home to Gaziantepspor.

Gaziantepspor's goals came from Haris Medunjanin and Darvydas Sernas (two) with Orduspor twice having equalised with efforts from Bogdan Stancu, from the penalty spot, and Atila Turan.

Portuguese Liga

Benfica opened up a four-point lead at the top of the Portuguese Liga on Sunday after they beat Guimaraes and second-placed Porto could only manage a draw at Maritimo.

 

Jorge Jesus' men were far too strong for mid-table Guimaraes whose hopes dwindled following the 61st-minute dismissal of Valerio Kanu for two yellow cards.

By then the Lisbon giants were already one-up through an Oscar Cardozo penalty and they made it 2-0 shortly after Kanu's departure through Ezequiel Garay.

Eduardo Salvio and Lima added late goals to give the scoreline a more emphatic look.

Porto could not match their title-rivals' display in Madeira.

James Rodriguez put the visitors ahead after 34 minutes but Suk Hyun-jun equalised four minutes later.

Estoril moved up to fifth after goals from Lica and Carlos Eduardo handed them a 2-0 win over Academica while Rio Ave slipped a place after going down to Filipe Goncalves' solitary strike for Moreirense.

Sunday's other game, between rock-bottom Beira Mar and Nacional, finished 2-2.

Ruben Ribeiro and Abel Camara twice put Beira Mar in front only for Mateus to net a double for the visitors, the second leveller coming after Nacional had been reduced to 10 men following the dismissal of Moreno.