Weekend Wrap-Up: Europe, the Big Five

Internazionale's fall is going to be documented.  After losing to second place Roma at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, the people waiting for scudetti to be spread around the league will be thundering the cause of the Giallorossi.

The problems:  Roma are still in second place, one point behind Inter, and Inter has been here before.

It seems ever year, people see Inter's dip in form as the sing of spring cleaning at the top of the Serie A.  The Nerazzurri use the winter to build their lead and once the knock-out rounds of the Champions League start, that lead dwindles.

Yet Inter have won four straight scudetti.  With the toughest match on their run-in being Juventus, there is no real they can't preserve this one point lead.

But more to the point: How many times do you have to be told this story before you start to believe it?

Boy, those sound like famous last words, and if you saw Roma play this weekend, you can see why the Romanistas are trumpeting their cause.  An early goal from Daniele de Rossi and quick response to Diego Milito by Luca Toni helped Roma cut Inter's four point lead to one.

With that small gap, Roma could certainly win the league for the first time in nine years.  That statement is a lot different than saying they will win or implying they should be considered favored.

Not only does Inter remain the favorites in Italy, they are prohibitive favorites, if for no other reason than recent history.  We've heard this story before.

Elsewhere in Italy, Milan missed their change to star even with Roma, drawing Lazio, 1-1.  Lazio has now gotten seven points in nine matches, climbing five points clear of what would have been a shocking relegation.

Other notable winners were Champions League aspirants Palermo, Napoli, and Juevntus.  Sampdoria lost ground be drawing at home against Cagliari.

Germany:  Bayern Munich lost for the second week in a row, another 2-1 defeat,  This time, it was Stuttgart who got the win, knocking Munchen out of first thanks to Schalke's 2-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen.

Leverkusen was without Stafen Keißling and, for the second week in a row, was matched against a team seemingly playing at the top of their game.  Kevin Kuranyi's two goals were reminiscent of Lucas Barrios's performance one week ago.  In both cases, Leverkusen lost.  

Within weeks, Bayer has gone from top-of-the-league, undefeated, to third place and fighting for the last Champions League spot.

Schalke is two points clear of Bayern, who look to be without Arjen Robben for Munich's Tuesday match with Manchester United.  The Dutch attacker suffered an apparent hamstring injury on Saturday and looks to be out for the Champions League match.

France:  Montpellier blew their chance to go top by getting routed by Lille, 4-1.  They remain drawn with Bordeaux at 56 points.  Lille is two points back, even with Lyon after OL's 2-0 win over Grenoble on Saturday.  Michel Bastos and Cesar Delgado had the goals.

Auxerre is only one point back of first and can go top with a win on Monday over Monaco.

But the big news in France:  Olympique Marseille won the Coue de la Ligue on Saturday, defeating holders Bordeaux 3-1 thanks to three goals in a fifteen minute span in the second half.

England:  Manchester United and Chelsea cruised with 4-0 and 7-1 wins, building anticipation for their Saturday match at Old Trafford.  Frank Lampard had four goals for Chelsea, while Florent Malouda added a brace from a Chelsea set-up that omitted Didier Drogba.  Dimitar Berbatov had a brace for a Rooney-less United.

Arsenal failed to keep-up with the leaders, allowing a late goal at St. Andrews to give Birmingham City a 1-1 result.  The Gunners fall four points behind United and have picked-up injury concerns to Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Andrei Arshavin ahead of their Barcelona clash.

Tottenham held on to fourth place with a 2-0 win over Portsmouth while, at the bottom of the league Hull is even on points with West Ham after the Tigers' 2-0 win over Fulham.  West Ham remains in sixteenth (and safe) thanks to goal difference.

Spain:  Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored for the third straight match as Barcelona won at Mallorca, 1-0.  While that may not look excessively impressive, Mallorca had only lost one previous match at home this season.

Elsewhere, Real Madrid got a 3-2 win over Atlético in their Madrid derby (their second of the week), but the concern after the match was Real Madrid's defending, which has now gone nine matches without keeping a clean sheet.