Soccer: Ronaldinho celebrates European honour in style

Spain

Brazilian Ronaldinho was again the inspiration for Barcelona, who collected their 11th successive win in all competitions with a 2-1 comeback victory at home to Sevilla.

Ronaldinho, presented with the European player of the year trophy by his mother before the match, sped past three defenders to fire the winner after 78 minutes and put the champions level on points with Osasuna at the top.

Samuel Eto's was also on target for Barcelona after Freddie Kanoute put Sevilla into a 63rd-minute lead.

Osasuna, second on goal difference, extended their perfect home record to eight wins by beating struggling Mallorca 1-0 with an early goal from Pierre Webo.

Real Madrid moved up to third, six points off the pace, after a 2-0 victory at Malaga gave caretaker coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro a winning start in the Primera Liga. Sergio Ramos and Brazilian Robinho scored for Real.

Fourth-placed Villarreal, who have 26 points from 15 games, won 3-1 at Real Sociedad after two goals from Guayre and one by Juan Roman Riquelme.

Italy

Juventus marched into a 10-point lead at the top of Serie A with a 4-0 drubbing of second from bottom Cagliari in Turin.

Two goals from David Trezeguet, another form Pavel Nedved and an own goal from Fabio Vignati helped Juve take their points tally to 42 from 15 games.

Brazilian Adriano notched a dramatic extra-time winner, his second goal of the match, as second-placed Inter Milan overcame AC Milan 3-2 in front of a San Siro crowd of 80,000. Obafemi Martins also scored as Inter picked up their first win in the league over their city rivals since March, 2002.

Andriy Shevchenko and Jaap Stam replied for AC Milan, who dropped to fourth place, one point behind Inter and Fiorentina, who beat bottom club Treviso 1-0.

England

Captain John Terry was Chelsea's matchwinner for the second time in eight days as the champions powered 12 points clear at the top of the premier league.

Central defender Terry, who grabbed the only goal in last week's 1-0 home win over Middlesbrough, was again on target as Chelsea beat Wigan Athletic by the same score at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester United's bad week became worse when they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Everton.

Alex Ferguson's men were unable to bounce back from their midweek Champions League exit as they slipped from second to third in the premier league.

James McFadden put Everton in front before Ryan Giggs levelled for United after 15 minutes.

Liverpool are now Chelsea's closest challengers after two goals from Spain striker Fernando Morientes earned the European champions a 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough.

Netherlands

AZ Alkmaar lead a three-way tie at the top of the first division following a 3-1 win at Twente Enschede.

Second-half goals by Stein Huysegems, Danny Koevermans and Denny Landzaat steered Alkmaar to victory after they trailed to a first-half own goal from Martijn Meerdink.

AZ, Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven all have 35 points. Feyenoord beat PSV 1-0 with a seventh-minute goal from Dirk Kuijt. GERMANY Bayern Munich edged past bottom club Kaiserslautern 2-1 to claim the distinction of winning the first half of the Bundesliga season a week before the winter break.

Oliver Kahn stopped a second-half penalty from Ervin Skela after Michael Ballack and Roy Makaay had put Bayern 2-1 up.

Second-placed Hamburg SV are four points behind Bayern after a 2-1 home win over Hertha Berlin. Klose netted twice as third-placed Werder Bremen, two points further back, romped to a 4-1 triumph at Cologne.

France

Olympique Lyon extended their league leadership to 12 points by holding arch rivals St Etienne to a 0-0 draw at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

The four-time champions, who have 44 points from 18 games, remain the only unbeaten side in the major European leagues this season.

Second-placed Auxerre lost 1-0 at Olympique Marseille and Girondins Bordeaux, a further point back in third, lost 0-1 at Le Mans. Paris St Germain moved into fourth after two-goal Pauleta gave them a 2-0 home win over Stade Rennes.

- REUTERS