EUROPEAN PAPER REVIEW - Tight at the top in La Liga, 2006 World Cup scandal rocks Germany, and a new era for Inter Milan?

A look at what the European newspapers are reporting including the verdict on the tightest La Liga season for years, controversy in Germany and more trouble for struggling Marseille.

Spain’s papers are looking ahead to this week’s Champions League matches, with Edinson Cavani on the front of Monday’s Marca taking aim at PSG’s next opponents, Real Madrid. Elsewhere in the Madrid-based paper, there’s a piece on La Liga being ‘The Tightest At The Top For Decades’.

“Celta splitting Real Madrid and Barcelona, with all three on the same number of points after eight games epitomises just how tight it is looking in the upper echelon of La Liga this season,” writes Marca.

“You have to go back more than 20 years to find a similar situation, specifically to 1993-94, when Barcelona, Valencia and Real Sociedad were all joint-top on 12 points at this stage of the campaign.”

The race for the Pichichi is equally tight, though Neymar’s four goals against Rayo Vallecano helped him move to the top with eight for the season. “Neymar, the same number of goals as Cruyff having played 79 fewer games,” wrote Mundo Deportivo after he’d passed Johan’s 60-goal mark. Barça play in Belarus against BATE on Tuesday.

In Germany, the return of the Bundesliga following the international break was somewhat overshadowed by allegations in Spiegel that the German FA bought votes to win the right to host the 2006 World Cup. According to the magazine, the late Adidas boss Robert Louis-Dreyfus paid 10.3 million Swiss francs ( €6.7 million) into a secret Geneva bank account which was then used to bribe FIFA executive committee members. The tournament was of huge cultural significance in Germany as the country projected a new, positive, vibrant image of itself 15 years after reunification.

The new allegations, however, had Süddeutsche Zeitung questioning whether the famous “Sommermärchen” (summer fairy tale) of 2006 was actually just a “Märchen”. “Fairy tale turns into nightmare”, exclaimed the Express in Cologne on Saturday morning. It certainly could do for current DFB boss Wolfgang Niersbach, the Germany 2006 bid’s media chief, and Franz Beckenbauer, who led the bid team. Both are alleged to have known about the secret fund, and both have denied that votes were bought.

Dubious decision-making was also the order of the day at the bottom of the Bundesliga on match day 9. “Hannover and Stuttgart climb out of the relegation zone thanks to two incorrect decisions”, summed up Stern. The “Reds” of Hannover secured an undeserved 1-0 victory away at 1.FC Köln thanks to a Leon Andreasen goal described as a “scandal” by Die Welt and Spiegel, as the Dane clearly handled the ball over the line from a corner. A crowd of 48,700 people saw the foul. The referee and his assistant didn’t. Visiting goalkeeper Ron-Rober Zieler called it a “dirty victory” in a game dominated by the home side. VfB Stuttgart, meanwhile, ended Ingolstadt’s good run with a 1-0 win thanks to an offside goal from Daniel Davidi and a penalty save from under-fire goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton, who has gone “from boo man to saviour” (Focus).

Borussia Mönchengladbach’s astonishing run of form since the departure of manager Lucien Favre continued under interim boss André Schubert with a 5-1 thrashing of Eintracht Frankfurt. “Four games, four victories”, said the Westdeutsche Zeitung and asked “is the caretaker boss the long term solution?”

Bayerischer Rundfunk led with Bayern Munich’s “new record Bundesliga start” – the Bavarians’ 1-0 win at Werder Bremen was their ninth win on the bounce, ensuring they top the table with maximum points. “Borussia Dortmund’s mini crisis is over” said Spiegel after Thomas Tuchel saw his side defeat former club Mainz 2-0 to remain seven points behind Bayern thanks to goals from Marco Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

In France, Marseille continued to struggle to find consistency under new manager José Miguel González. “Deprived of victory again, it’s getting worrying for Marseille”, said L’Équipe. “Marseille still asleep” L’Express concurred, after a 1-1 draw at home to Lorient left the Phocéens stranded in 16th.

After Monaco and Lyon drew 1-1 (a “flattering” point for the hosts according to Le Point), league leaders PSG have to look west for their nearest challengers. “It’s getting serious for Caen and Angers”, said Le Figaro, as the two sides both won again to continue their remarkable starts to the campaign. Despite their 1-0 win away at Reims taking them up to third, manager Patrice Garande isn’t getting carried away, emphasising that “we’re still Caen with a €27million budget”. Angers remain second and “still on top form” (Ouest-France) as they beat Toulouse 2-1.

“Nice humiliate Rennes thanks again to Ben Arfa”, concluded FranceFootball on Sunday evening, as the Niçois hammered Rennes 4-1. Nice have scored 23 times already this season and are up to 5th.

In Italy, Napoli showed their title credentials by beating league leaders Fiorentina 2-1 in Naples. There’s another significant story, with former Inter president Massimo Moratti looking to sell his remaining 30% of shares in the club, which he confirmed to Rai. He took charge in 1995, when Inter were underachievers, and was at the helm when they won five leagues in a row and the 2010 European Cup. His Inter indulgence cost him £1.5 billion. Moratti’s greatest manager was current Inter boss Roberto Mancini, whose side drew 0-0 in Sunday’s ‘derby of Italy’ against Juventus, which made all the national front pages on Monday.

“I am happy with the character we showed and I think that we will be in the mix for the Serie A title,” Mancini told Sky Sport Italia. Like Spain, it’s tight at the top in Italy, with just four points separating the top eight teams.