European round-up - Defoe lights up Spurs, Real top La Liga

Tottenham Hotspur striker Jermain Defoe scored five second-half goals in an astonisnhing 9-1 demolition of Wigan Athletic in the Premier League on Sunday.

Real Madrid grabbed top spot in Spain, Serie A leaders Inter Milan impressed while Auxerre became the surprise leaders in Ligue 1.

England

Leaders Chelsea trounced struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-0 on Saturday to stay five points clear of champions Manchester United, who overcame Everton 3-0 at Old Trafford. Arsenal slipped to third after losing 1-0 at Sunderland.

Sunday produced the headline-grabbing match, with Tottenham Hotspur running amok in a 9-1 thrashing of Wigan Athletic at White Hart Lane to regain fourth place from Aston Villa.

England striker Jermain Defoe scored five second-half goals for Spurs, including the Premier League's second fastest hat-trick ever in a seven minute spell. The win was Tottenham's biggest for 32 years.

Spain

Real Madrid are the new leaders of La Liga after they beat Racing Santander 1-0 at home on Saturday, and Barcelona were held 1-1 at Athletic Bilbao.

Gonzalo Higuain scored the only goal in a dull contest at the Bernabeu and lifted Real one point above second-placed Barca ahead of next Sunday's ''clasico'' at the Nou Camp.

The champions had taken the lead through Daniel Alves just after halftime at San Mames, but Bilbao roared back and levelled through Gaizka Toquero.

Sevilla are two points back in third after seeing off Tenerife 2-1 away. Valencia are a point further back in fourth after cruising to a 3-1 win at Osasuna, where David Villa netted his ninth of the campaign.

France

Surprise package Auxerre knocked champions Girondins Bordeaux off the top of Ligue 1 with a 2-0 win over Monaco on Saturday.

The victory put the Burgundy side a point ahead of Bordeaux, who slumped to their first home Ligue 1 defeat in over two years when Valenciennes beat them 1-0.

Auxerre, French champions in 1996, had not been in the lead since February 2003. They have 26 points from 13 games, one more than Bordeaux and Olympique Lyon, third on goal difference after a 1-1 draw at bottom club Grenoble.

Italy                                         

Serie A's big three all won but it was leaders Inter Milan who put on the best performance.

Jose Mourinho's men won 3-1 at Bologna and the result was never in doubt once Mario Balotelli put the champions 2-1 up just before the break.

Second-placed Juventus, five behind Inter after 13 games, scraped a 1-0 home win over Udinese with Fabio Grosso netting early in the second half and Alessandro Del Piero returning from a long injury layoff.

AC Milan in third beat Cagliari 4-3 at the San Siro but were 2-1 down after half an hour. Ronaldinho helped inspire their comeback with some flashes of his old self and a penalty.

Germany

Leaders Bayer Leverkusen came from a goal down to draw 1-1 against lacklustre Bayern Munich. Mario Gomez put Bayern ahead after eight minutes but Stefan Kiessling levelled six minutes later.

Leverkusen are one point ahead of Werder Bremen who demolished promoted Freiburg 6-0 with five goals in 27 minutes and a sparkling display of attacking football.

Portuguese striker Hugo Almeida struck twice with Marko Marin and Mesut Ozil making it 4-0. Defender Naldo converted a 73rd-minute penalty before Markus Rosenberg completed the rout eight minutes from time.

Netherlands

Costa Rica forward Bryan Ruiz scored a late goal to give Twente Enschede a 1-0 home win over Vitesse Arnhem, their ninth straight league win, to stay top.

PSV Eindhoven stayed one point behind with a 4-0 home win over 10-men Heracles Almelo and third-placed Ajax Amsterdam routed Heerenveen 5-1 with all the goals coming in the first half.

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez, the championship''s topscorer, converted a penalty for Ajax to take his tally to 17.

Russia

Rubin Kazan retained their league title with a match to spare after a 0-0 home draw with Zenit St. Petersburg gave them an unassailable five-point lead over Spartak Moscow, who crashed to a 3-2 derby defeat at home to CSKA.

Spartak, who lost any hope of overhauling Rubin when their keeper Soslan Dzhanayev spilled an 89th-minute shot by Tomas Necid over the line, still secured a second-placed finish and a Champions League qualifying berth next season.

Third-placed Zenit and fourth-placed Lokomotiv Moscow, who beat Dynamo Moscow 2-0, are level on points ahead of the final day which will decide the last remaining Champions League qualifying spot.

Serbia

A Dejan Lekic brace and a header from strike partner Aleksandar Jevtic gave leaders Red Star Belgrade a 3-0 win at bottom team Cukaricki Belgrade, keeping them four points clear of city rivals Partizan ahead of their derby on Saturday. 

A Lamine Diarra header and a 30-metre screamer from Serbia midfielder Radosav Petrovic helped Partizan to a 2-1 home win over mid-table Smederevo.

League's top scorer Dragan Mrdja scored a hat-trick in third-placed Vojvodina Novi Sad''s 3-0 home victory against Borac Cacak, taking his league tally to nine.

Bulgaria

Litex Lovech romped to a 5-0 win over Lokokmotiv Plovdiv to go top of the table by two points from CSKA Sofia, who were held to a 2-2 draw at city rivals Lokomotiv.

Litex, who have a game in hand over CSKA, took an early lead through Hristo Yanev before Frenchman Wilfried Niflore added the second and Brazilians Tom, Doka Madureira and Sandrinho completed the rout.

CSKA twice led at Lokomotiv through Ivan Stoyanov and Brazilian striker Michel Platini before the home side salvaged a point thanks to a 71st-minute strike from Danail Mitev.

Ukraine

Champions Dynamo Kiev celebrated a 3-0 win over traditional rivals Shakhtar Donetsk to open up a seven-point gap between them while Metalist Kharkiv, who are six points off the pace, climbed to second place with a 2-0 defeat of Zorya Luhansk.

Artem Milevskiy struck either side of halftime to send Dynamo on their way before Andriy Yarmeloneko sealed their win.                                                                                   

Bosnia

Travnik scored four goals in the last 20 minutes to earn a rollercoaster 6-5 win over Modrica after taking an early lead and then falling 5-2 behind on the hour.

Front-runners Siroki Brijeg beat FK Zvijezda Gradacac 5-0 at home to stay a point ahead of closest rivals Borac Banjaluka, who scored a late winner in a 2-1 success at Olimpik Sarajevo.

Greece

Panathinaikos stayed two points ahead of arch-rivals  Olympiakos at the top of the Greek Super League after both teams drew.

Panathinaikos were held 1-1 at Asteras Tripolis while Zico''s Olympiakos threw away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw with PAS Yiannina.

Scotland

Rangers, with a game in hand, went back on top of the Scottish Premier League and a point clear of Glasgow rivals Celtic after a comfortable 3-0 home win over Kilmarnock on Saturday.

Celtic missed a chance to regain the lead when Dundee United beat them for the first time in 10 years, with a last minute winner from Darren Dods sealing the 2-1 victory.