Weekend Club Soccer Wrap-up: Europe, the Rest

While the Dutch Eredevisie is a league on the wane, a match between AFC Ajax and PSV Eindhoven will always carry special meaning.

They have combined for fifty league titles and five European Cups, in addition to being responsible for the rearing of some of the iconic players of the modern game.

The clubs had met 53 times, with Ajax winning 27 and PSV coming up better 19 times.

On Sunday, the historical trend continued, and continued in a big way.  Ajax won 4-1 in Amsterdam, getting goals from Simeon de Jong, Urby Emanuelson, Marko Pantelic, and the obligatory goal from Luis Suarez, the 27th goal fo the season for the Uruguayan.

Ajax has now scored 80 goals in 27 league matches, allowing only 18.  Still, they are one point behind PSV and six behind league-leader Twente.  Steve McClaren's team won 3-1 on Friday over ADO Den Hang, with Bryan Ruiz scoring twice.

We look at the rest of Europe's leagues after the jump (the top five leagues excluded, of course), but first, your poll:

Russia:  Two-time defending champions Rubin Kazan got two late goals to down Lokomotiv Moskva - a potential title contender - 2-0 on Sunday.  Perhaps the biggest story was the debut of Luciano Spalletti, whose Zenit St. Petersburg side got a 1-0 win at troubled Krylya Sovetov,  Portuguse attacker Danny, hurt most of last season, scored the only goal.

Other notable winners on the Premier League's first match day:  CSKA Moscow (1-0 versus Amkar Perm) and Dinamo Moscow upsetting Spartak Moscow, 1-0.

Ukraine:  Douglas Costa's 80th minute goal completed Shakhtar Donetsk's comeback from an early, 0-1 deficit, defeating third place Metalist Kharkiv, 2-1 in Donetsk on Sunday.  Mariusz Lewandowski had Shakhtar's other goal, allowing them to keep up with Dinamo Kyiv, who got a goal from Andrey Shevchenko on Saturday, beating Vorskia Poltava, 1-0.

Dinamo maintains a match in hand, while they and Shakhtar now have an 11 point lead on third place.

Romania:  League leading CFR Cluj was drawn at home against sixth place Dinamo Bucharesti, 2-2, getting the equalizing goal from Juan Culio in the 85th minute after Cipiran Deac was red carded.  The draw allowed Steaua Bucharesti to move even on points with their 1-0 over Otelul Gulati, Bogdan Stancu getting the only goal.

Only one point back is Rapid Bucaresti, who got a third minute goal to put Rapid past Unirea Alba Iulia, 1-0.

Unirea Urziceni and Timisoara fell to fourth and fifth after their scoreless draw on Sunday.

Portugal:  The four top teams in the Liga Sagres won, leaving the top of the table unchanged.

Benfica waited until the second half to break through at Nacional, with Oscar Cardozo's league leading nineteenth goal the only score of the match.

Braga won by an identical score on Saturday over Rio Ave, while Porto needed a late Cristian Rodríguez goal to down Academica, 2-1.  The reigning champions stay eight back of second.

Sporting Lisbon scored three goals in the first 20 minutes, securing their 3-1 over Vitoria Guimaraes.

Turkey:  Galatasaray got a 3-0 win over Ankaragücü, but the better new may have been the return of Milan Baros.  The talented Czech attacker has been out of the lineup since October but came back Sunday to score his sixth goal of the season.  Frank Rijkaard also got goals from Jô and Abdul Kader Keita.

The win keeps Gala one point ahead of Bursaspor, who beat Manisaspor 2-0 behind goals from Dimitar Ivankov and Omer Erdogan.  Bursaspor has now won four in a row and have not lost since December 6.

Fenerbahçe's scoreless draw with Glenclerbirligi drops them four off the pace, with Besiktas's Monday match against Denizlispor giving the defending champions a chance to jump into third.

Greece:  It was a good weekend for league-leading Panathinaikos.  Not only did Loukas Vyntra's second half goal give them a 1-0 win at Asteras Tripolis, but their two competitors for the Super League tripped. 

PAOK lost at Aris thanks to two goals from Javiar Cámpora, with PAOK finishing the match with nine men.  They are now five points back of Panathinaikos.

Olympiakos started a full-strength side against Gainnina ahead of their Wednesday Champions League match with Bordeaux but were undone by own goals off Avram Papadopolous and Olaf Mellberg.  Those cancelled out goals from Matt Derbyshire and Lomana Lua Lua, forcing Olympiakos to settle for a 2-2 draw.  They fall seven off the pace.

Switzerland:  A 1-0 win from Young Boys over Sion kept the club four points clear atop the Super League.  A 79th minute goal from Mauro Lustinelli, making only his third appearance for the club, made the difference.

Basel, the only club with a chance to catching Young Boys, got a 1-0 victory at Luzern thanks to a 33rd minute goal from Benjamin Huggel, the highest scoring midfielder in the league (with nine goals).

Denmark:  København's 2-0 win over Brønby extended their Superliga lead to three points after OB were drawn 1-1 Saturday against SønderjyskE.  For København, it was their fifth straight league win and, with Europa League done, the Superliga may be looking at a repeat champion.

Belgium:  The first five qualifiers for the league playoff are set.  Anderlect's 2-0 win over Genk win moves then to 66 points, meaning they'll start the round-robin, playoff faze with 33 points, as of now.  There is one more match left in the qualification stage.

Others qualified (along with their point totals):  Club Brugge (54), Gent (46), Kortriijk (44), Sint-Truiden (42).

Standard Liège had a chance to jump Zulte-Waregem into sixth, but the clubs' 1-1 weekend draw keeps Liège two points back from Zulte.