Yahoo Sport 
European Paper Review
Madness in the Bundesliga, Barça extend their lead over Madrid, Valencia win again while the King of Rome is banished to the stands.
Two away wins in four days, one of them their game in hand, means Barcelona are eight points clear in La Liga with 13 games to play. The midweek victory at Sporting – Barça have played every midweek since October – was followed by a narrow 2-1 win at Las Palmas, a three hour flight from Barcelona.
Real Madrid have been unable to match their results and Zinedine Zidane is getting a first taste of criticism at the most critical of clubs. “Real kiss title goodbye,” reckoned AS, pointing out that Barça are four points better off since Zidane’s appointment and ‘The Frenchman has got off to the exact same start as Rafa Benitez, who was given his marching orders with the team just two points behind Los Azulgranas’.
Zidane can hardly say otherwise, but after the 1-1 draw at Malaga he was asked if the draw meant the league was over and whether he’d concentrate on an 11th Champions League title. “You might think the league is lost and all over, but I don’t and the players don’t,” said Zidane. “We’ll fight right to the end.” In Catalonia, Sport gave it their own twist: “From -2 to -9, has the ‘Zidane effect’ become ‘the Zidane defect’?
Valencia won their third game on the bounce and there were no fans waiting to heckle Gary Neville when he arrived back from victory at Granada. “The most important thing was to win,” said Super Deporte, who change their tone with results. They’ve even got Rafa Benitez, who they were touting as the Englishman’s replacement recently, saying: “Neville needs time”. Neville, who is helped by players returning from injury, says the dressing room is a happier place. Valencia moved up to 11th, seven points off a European spot.
In Germany, BILD’s Sunday headline was “Bundesliga madness!” after play between Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund was suspended for nine minutes. Leverkusen manager Roger Schmidt refused to leave the touchline after being sent to the stands by referee Felix Zwayer for remonstrating with officials over the free-kick which led to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s winner, which he believed was taken too quickly. “Zwayer steals Aubameyang’s show” said Kicker, as the referee appeared to convey the order to dismiss Schmidt via an intermediary in the form of Leverkusen captain Stefan Kießling. When Schmidt, having not received his marching orders personally, refused to budge, Zwayer halted proceedings.
Dortmund eventually ran out 1-0 winners to cap off a week which featured a convincing 2-0 first leg win over Porto in the Europa League as well as a dismissal of rumours in the Spanish media linking Ilkay Gündogan with a move to either Barcelona or Manchester City. The win moved them back to within eight points of Bayern Munich who ground out a “workmanlike” 3-1 victory over Darmstadt. “Müller saves Bayern’s blushes” said Sportschau as the German international scored twice (including an impressive bicycle kick) to overturn Darmstadt’s surprise first-half lead. “Bayern can rely on Müller” said Kicker, lauding the Bavarians’ attacking capabilities as they head into Tuesday’s trip to Juventus without defenders Jerome Boateng, Javi Martinez, Holger Badstuber and Medhi Benatia.
Mario Götze was back on the Bayern bench after a long injury lay-off, with Tageszeitung suggesting that both Juventus and Liverpool are interested in the 23-year-old. Welt meanwhile focussed on a banner unfurled by Bayern fans reading “Pep was never really our thing anyway.”
Third placed Hertha BSC are still without a win since Christmas. “Hertha mature but winless” summarised the Berliner Zeitung after their team drew 1-1 at home to Wolfsburg. Schalke also “missed the chance to climb the table” (FAZ) as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Stuttgart. Younès Belhanda headed the Royal Blues into the lead with an 18-yard “monster header” (Kicker) before Martin Harnik equalised for the resurgent visitors.
At the other end of the table, Hannover 96 are “in a nosedive” (Kicker). “Hannover look finished” agreed the Süddeutsche Zeitung as the Reds lost 0-1 at home to Augsburg, leaving them 8 points adrift of safety. As BILD pointed out, “alarm bells” are also ringing at Werder Bremen after their 2-0 defeat in Ingolstadt left them third from bottom. “Weak Werder lose six-pointer” said Spiegel. “Worries, doubt and fear” added Bremen’s Kreiszeitung.
Following reports in Friday’s L’Équipe that Serge Aurier will not play for PSG again and will be sold in the summer in the wake of comments about his manager and teammates during a Periscope broadcast, the “merciless” Parisians “continued their stroll in the sun” (Le Monde) with a 4-1 victory over Stade de Reims. L’Équipe once again hailed Zlatan Ibrahimovic who “transcends” Ligue 1, this week scoring two and setting up two more.
“Monaco win again without shining” said France Football as the Monégasques extended their lead at the top of France’s best of the rest with a 3-1 win over Troyes. St Étienne missed the chance to go third as they conceded an injury-time Michy Batshuayi equaliser in the Stade Vélodrome. “Batshuayi saves Marseille from collapse” said France Football, “OM save themselves in extremis” added Le Monde.
Nine-man Lyon also failed to capitalise as they lost 1-0 away at Lille. “Lille break Lyon’s momentum” said L’Équipe, with France Football adding that the hosts “gave themselves some breathing space” as they moved six points clear of relegation.
In Italy, Juventus, who are gearing up for an epic Champions League game against Bayern Munich, saw their run of 15 consecutive wins came to an end at a much-improved Bologna. Napoli can return to the top if they win on Monday night against AC Milan. On the front page of Monday’s Gazzetta dello Sport has a picture of Francesco Totti in the stands at Olimpico after being dropped for the game against Palermo.
“The Exile of the King of Rome,” was the main headline on Gazzetta, with his boss Spalletti saying: ‘He’s (Totti) unique, I know. But I must look after the group. The Roma curva booed the coach, but Totti, who turns 40 in September, can’t go on forever. There’s also an interview with the Brazilian Ronaldo, who takes pride of place on the cover with his message for Inter fans: “You insulted me, but I wanted to return to Inter. In 2007 I would have returned but they chose Adriano.”
