AJAX maintained their 100 per cent record in the Dutch League this season by beating arch rivals Feyenoord 4-0 yesterday. It was the 11th consecutive win for the Amsterdam side, who lead the division with 33 points, five more than champions PSV, who have played one match more. PSV beat bottom side MVV Maastricht 5-0.
It was the third defeat in a week for Feyenoord after going down 20 against Willem II Tilburg last weekend followed by a 2-1 away midweek loss against Manchester United in the Champions' League.
The derby in the Ajax Arena stadium was played without Feyenoord fans, who stayed at home to watch the match on a big screen in their own stadium.
Afterwards the Feyenoord fans were probably happy they did not travel to see their side being outclassed by Ajax.
It took several chances and half an hour before Ajax opened their account. Jari Litmanen looked to be offside when he received a pass on the right but crossed the ball to Shota Arveladze who fell, theatrically, in the box after a light challenge by Bernard Schuiteman. A penalty was awarded which Litmanen successfully converted.
Arveladze scored his eighth goal of the season only 11 minutes later when he beat the offside trap to make it 2-0. Five minutes later Dani lobbed the ball over Feyenoord goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek after linking with Arveladze.
In the 76th minute slick passing between Richard Witschge and Arveladze left Ronald de Boer the simple job of putting the ball into an empty net. To cap a miserable day for Feyenoord, two minutes later defender Ulrich van Gobbel was sent off for kicking Frank de Boer.
In Spain, Barcelona will travel to arch-rivals Real Madrid next week as leaders of the first division after yesterday's 2-0 win over Racing Santander. The result gave Barcelona a five-point lead over Real, who stay in second place ahead of today's match at Mallorca.
Atletico Madrid lost the opportunity to draw level with their neighbours after going down 2-0 at home to Espanyol.
Louis van Gaal's cosmopolitan Barcelona side once again looked out of sorts, and only clinched the three points in the second half with goals from two Spanish players - Oscar Garcia and Luis Enrique.
Atletico Madrid started the weekend in third and stood to draw level with Real. But an early own goal from a corner by international striker Kiko - who went on to play a superb game - and a mistake by goalkeeper Juan Mollina in the dying minutes gave Espanyol a fortunate victory.
French champions Monaco, flying high in Europe, crashed 1-0 at home to Auxerre yesterday, their second league defeat in a row. Winger Bernard Diomede scored in the 15th minute from a square ball by new France striker Stephane Guivarc'h as Auxerre notched their fourth league win in succession.
Monaco, who have scored nine goals at home in their last two Champions' League games, dominated the second half but failed to equalise, due to wayward finishing and a brilliant performance by Auxerre goalkeeper Lionel Charbonier.
