While both Manchester sides failed to win this weekend, with United feeling disappointed after failing to beat Newcastle at home while Manchester City were kind of pleased after their 1-1 result at Anfield, having Joe Hart on his best behavior and Mario Balotelli at his worst.
Meanwhile, in Spain, the forecast is predicting a white year, or a white Christmas. Real Madrid have opened a six point lead over Barcelona after beating Atletico Madrid 4-1 in the Madrid derby while Barcelona suffered their first defeat all season, falling 1-0 against Getafe. Real will have the lead going into the Clasico on December 10, arriving as favorites to the World’s biggest club match after quite some time.
The biggest match of the weekend was held in Germany, the Revierderby with Schalke and Dortmund in the fierce Rhur rivalry. Dortmund, despite their loss in London to Arsenal in the Champions League, are back at playing the best football in Germany. Changing their style from a careful approach when playing in Munich against Bayern to an all-out attack which never relents against the rest. They won 2-0 with goals from Robert Lewandowski and Felipe Santana. If the match would have ended 5-0 for Dortmund, it still would have been fair.
The win meant Dortmund are first in Germany for the first time this season, for the first time since clinching the title in May. Bayern seemed to have gone into some sort of shock, losing consecutive matches, losing 3-2 against Mainz. Monchengladbach, winning their last four matches with a 12-2 goal difference, are second, tied with Dortmund at 29 points.
Le Classique
In France, the Paris Saint-Germain problems continue, as they lost Le Classique 3-0 at Marseille. It wasn’t only the humiliating loss to their biggest rivals and Montpellier taking their place at the top of Ligue 1. They looked lost and unable to find any answers when facing the surprising deficit. Antoine Kombouare, despite the fan support, is facing a slippery slope. For Marseille it was a win that could kick start their season back to life, moving up to ninth in the table, seven points behind Lille at 3rd and 12 points from the league leaders.
In Italy, it’s an old but familiar sight on top of the Serie A. Juventus are first with 25 points and a game in hand after their 1-0 win over Lazio through Simone Pepe’s goal. AC Milan, crushing Chievo 4-0 with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring twice, passing the 100 Serie A goals mark. Udinese are level with Milan (24 points) after their win over Roma on Friday.