Weekend round-up: Luck shines on Leverkusen

Arsenal FC, Valencia CF and Internazionale FC kept their unbeaten records intact on a weekend where FC Bayern München relinquished theirs, though not the 1. Bundesliga leadership, as Bayer 04 Leverkusen finally found the luck which had been deserting them this season.

Thunderous free-kick
Leverkusen, finalists last season but one of three teams in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League yet to register a point, survived the sending-off of Thomas Brdaric to win 2-1 at the BayArena. Brazil defender Lucio opened the scoring in the ninth minute, drilling a 30-metre free-kick past Oliver Kahn, and Daniel Bierofka made it 2-0 on the hour.

'Bit of luck'
Hasan Salihamidzic's late goal proved too little too late for Bayern, leaving Leverkusen coach Klaus Toppmöller to say: "The difference was that today we had a bit of luck. It was a bit hectic but I think this is a deserved victory." Defending champions Borussia Dortmund moved behind Bayern for 24 hours by beating VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-0, Brazilian striker Ewerthon scoring, but two goals from Ailton helped SV Werder Bremen to a 4-1 away win at VfL Bochum 1848 on Sunday and second place in the table.

Owen hat-trick
Michael Owen ended his goal drought in dramatic fashion on Saturday as the England striker struck a hat-trick in Liverpool FC's 3-0 win at Manchester City FC. Arsenal FC, the English Premiership leaders, crushed Leeds United AFC 4-1 earlier in the day. In winning at Leeds, the north London club broke Chesterfield FC's record of scoring in 46 successive league games, and also beat Nottingham Forest FC's top-flight record of 22 away games unbeaten.

Away wins
Manchester United FC and Newcastle United FC, England's remaining Champions League challengers, were also victorious on their travels. United recovered from a goal down to beat Charlton Athletic FC 3-1 in London, while Newcastle accounted for Birmingham City FC 2-0 at St Andrews in the Saturday evening game.

Valencia edge top
A comfortable 3-0 success against Rayo Vallecano enabled Valencia CF to move top of the Primera División on Sunday - Mista, Rubén Baraja and Miguel Angulo the men on target. RC Celta de Vigo, the previous leaders, dropped a place after failing to secure their fourth successive win by drawing 2-2 draw with Málaga CF.

Barça humbled
However, the main action took place on Saturday when RC Deportivo La Coruña recovered from their 4-0 thrashing by AC Milan to defeat hosts Deportivo Alavés 2-1. But it was Real Betis Balompié who produced the performance of the evening by humbling FC Barcelona 3-0 in Seville. Real Madrid CF drew 1-1 with Real Vallodolid and have ten points along with Valencia and Celta.

Auxerre on the rise
Two goals from playmaker Yann Lachuer helped AJ Auxerre to an emphatic 4-1 victory at FC Nantes Atlantique and the Ligue 1 leadership on Saturday. With 20 points, Auxerre have a three-point lead over OGC Nice, who lost 1-0 at FC Sochaux-Montbéliard following the dismissal of Dominique Aulanier, and Olympique de Marseille, who beat AC Ajaccio 3-1 on Friday - their 800th top-flight success.

PSV take advantage
PSV Eindhoven made it six wins from as many games in the Netherlands against De Graafschap to move two points clear of AFC Ajax who had to come from 2-0 behind to salvage a draw with NAC Breda at the Amsterdam ArenA on Sunday. Feyenoord were beaten 4-2 by RBC Roosendaal. Maccabi Haifa also have a perfect record in Israel after beating Maccabi Tel-Aviv 1-0 away on Saturday, while Galatasaray SK bounced back from their midweek defeat by Barcelona to beat city rivals Istanbulspor AS 2-0 in Turkey.

Tórshavn win title