SPAIN: Real Madrid moved into second place in the Primera Liga, behind arch-rivals Barcelona, after a penalty from Luis Figo and a second-half strike from substitute Michael Owen earned them a 2-0 victory away to Malaga yesterday.
Owen secured Real the win after a shining moment of individual skill, tucking home from 12 metres out after chesting down a pass from Michel Salgado and cutting inside a defender to notch his fifth goal in six games.
Victory left Real seven points behind unbeaten leaders Barcelona, who came from a goal down to claim an entertaining 2-1 win over Deportivo Coruna at the Nou Camp on Saturday.
Ian Harte's Levante are in third, level on points with Real, after a close-range strike from defender Jesule gave them a 1-0 win at home to Athletic Bilbao.
Sevilla slipped back to fourth when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by lowly Real Mallorca.
Last season's champions Valencia continued their miserable run of form by slumping to a 1-0 defeat at Primera Liga newcomers Getafe, a result that left them in seventh place in the table, 11 points adrift of Barca. In the other La Liga match last night Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 with Real Zaragoza.
ITALY: Title hopefuls AC Milan and Inter Milan were held to draws in Serie A yesterday failing to take full advantage of leaders Juventus' first defeat of the season.
Champions Milan drew 1-1 at home to a depleted AS Roma while Inter had to come from a goal behind to draw with an 80th minute Adriano equaliser at Fiorentina after Dario Dainelli struck with a superb header from a Fabrizio Miccoli corner in the 26th minute to open the scoring for the home side.
Juve's unbeaten start to the season was ended on Saturday with a 2-1 defeat by lowly Reggina but Fabio Capello's side still have a four-point lead over second-placed Milan in what is already hinting at being a two-horse race for the title.
Third-placed Lecce are 10 points behind the leaders after suffering their first home defeat of the season, an injury-time penalty from Czech midfielder Marek Jankulovski earning Udinese a thrilling 4-3 win.
The victory allowed Udinese to climb six places to fourth, joining Lecce on 15 points. Messina, who drew 2-2 at Bologna, are fifth with the same number of points.
At the San Siro, Milan took the lead in the sixth minute when Brazilian Cafu picked out Andriy Shevchenko at the back post and the Ukrainian made no mistake with a firm header.
Three minutes after the restart Vincenzo Montella brought Roma level. Milan's defence failed to clear from Brazilian winger Mancini and Montella first struck the bar and then pounced on the rebound.
