Juventus and Monaco Edge Towards Titles
LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) - It was a good weekend for the leaders in Europe's major leagues as all six teams won. But only Juventus in Italy and Monaco in the French league extended their leads.
ITALY
Filippo Inzaghi scored twice as Juventus bounced back from their midweek European humiliation to carve out a 2-0 win at bottom club Piacenza and extend their lead to six points. Second-placed Lazio could have been further adrift but hit two late goals to force a 2-2 home draw with 10-man Inter Milan. Juve have 56 points, Lazio 50 and Inter 47. AC Milan, on 46, also had a man sent off and were held to a 3-3 home draw by struggling Verona. AS Roma, who lost 1-0 at Cagliari, are fifth on 45.
SPAIN
There was no change at the top in Spain as the leading five clubs all won. Deportivo Coruna retained their four-point lead after a comfortable 2-0 home victory over Valencia with goals by Fran Gonzalez and Flavio Conceicao. Barcelona thumped Athletic Bilbao 4-0 away, helped by two for Dutch midfielder Phillip Cocu, while Real Madrid beat
Sevilla 3-1. Second-placed Alaves and Real Zaragoza both came from behind to notch up 2-1 victories, against Real Sociedad and Racing Santander respectively. Deportivo lead the standings on 52 points, followed by Alaves on 48 and Barcelona, Real Zaragoza and Real Madrid all on 47.
ENGLAND
Dwight Yorke ended a near three-month league goal drought with a hat-trick as Manchester United beat Derby County 3-1 at Old Trafford. United stay four points clear of Leeds United, who beat Bradford City 2-1 away with two goals from Michael Bridges.
Chelsea and Liverpool were both held to 1-1 home draws by Everton and Sunderland but Arsenal slipped up 2-1 at Middlesbrough. Manchester United have 61 points to Leeds' 57. Chelsea have 50, then come Liverpool (49) and Arsenal (48). Tottenham jumped from 10th to sixth on 42 points thanks to their 7-2 thrashing of Southampton. Steffen Iversen got a hat-trick for Spurs.
GERMANY
Bayern Munich turned on the style to record an impressive 4-1 home victory over Schalke 04 on Saturday. Bayern, who had slumped to a rare 2-0 defeat at VfB Stuttgart last week, came through with two goals for Alexander Zickler and one each for Samuel Kuffour Roque Santa Cruz. Bayern stay two points clear of Bayer Leverkusen who also
won 4-1, at home to Vfl Wolfsburg, with Ulf Kirsten scoring two. Hamburg SV are now eight points adrift after going down 2-1 at home to SSV Ulm.
NETHERLANDS
Wilfried Bouma scored twice to give PSV Eindhoven a 2-1 victory over Utrecht and keep them well on course for their 15th Dutch title. PSV are still 10 points clear at the top with 59 points from 25 matches and nine games to go. Defending champions Feyenoord
beat bottom side Den Bosch 3-0 and have 49, as do Twente Enschede, who edged lowly Cambuur Leeuwarden 1-0. Ajax Amsterdam did not play at the weekend and are on 47
points with two games in hand. They visit Fortuna Sittard on Wednesday.
FRANCE
Monaco opened a commanding 13-point gap in the French league after a 2-0 win at at AJ Auxerre. Belgian defender Philippe Leonard and Argentine midfielder Marcelo Gallardo scored the goals in the second half. Second-placed Olympique Lyon went down to a surprise 1-0 defeat at lowly Nancy, Ze Alcino getting the goal in the 69th minute.
Paris St Germain are third on 44 after a 1-1 draw at fifth-placed Sedan (43).
Olympique Marseille slumped to a 2-0 home defeat by champions Girondins Bordeaux and are now 14th.
