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Gunners down City, Madrid run riot

Real Madrid hit ten goals and Barcelona lifted another trophy before Arsenal came out on top in a meeting of UEFA Champions League contenders – UEFA.com recaps the action.

Best of the weekend action: 19-21 December ©AFP/Getty Images

MONDAY

Arsenal 2-1 Manchester City (Walcott 33, Giroud 45+1; Touré 82)
Mesut Özil claimed his 14th and 15th league assists of season (only five have ever managed more in an entire campaign) as the Gunners moved four points clear of City. Touré's stunning effort set up a frantic finishbut Manuel Pellegrini's side could not avoid a fifth successive away defeat in England.

SUNDAY

Barcelona 3-0 River Plate (Messi 36, Suárez 49 68)
Barcelona won a record third FIFA Club World Cup title thanks to a success against Argentinian side River Plate in Yokohama. Luis Suárez's double took his tally in the Blaugrana's two-game participation to five goals after his hat-trick against Guangzhou Evergrande in the semi-final on Thursday.

Carpi 2-3 Juventus (Borriello 15, Bonucci 90+2 og; Mandžukić 18 41, Pogba 50)
Juventus continued their march up the Serie A table after making it a seventh successive league win, the first time coach Massimiliano Allegri has achieved the feat in his coaching career. Mario Mandžukić scored his first double in a Juve shirt. 

Real Madrid 10-2 Rayo Vallecano (Danilo 3, Bale 25 41 61 70, Ronaldo 30pen 53, Benzema 48 79 90; Amaya 10, Jozabed 12)
Madrid racked up double figures in a Liga match for the third time – and the first since 1960 – as Rafael Benítez's men thrilled their fans against Rayo Vallecano, who were down to nine men after 28 minutes. Gareth Bale hit four goals in a league game for the first time and Karim Benzema nabbed a hat-trick on a prolific afternoon for the hosts.

Roma 2-0 Genoa (Florenzi 42, Umar 89)
The Giallorossi ended their seven-game winless streak in all competitions with a much-needed boost in the arm. The fifth-placed Serie A side took the lead via Alessandro Florenzi and sealed the points courtesy of 18-year-old Sadiq Umar, after Edin Džeko had seen red on 74 minutes.

Benfica 3-1 Rio Ave (Jonas 4 81, Jiménez 83; Bressan 13)
The Eagles are undefeated in five in the league after two goals from Jonas helped them past Rio Ave in Lisbon. The double took the Brazilian forward's tally to 13 in 14 Portuguese Liga outings this term.

Gent 3-0 Kortrijk (Simon 35, Kums 57pen, Milicevic 71)
The Belgian champions extended their lead at the top to five points after seeing off Kortrijk, while Club Brugge – nearest challengers before the weekend – fell 4-1 at home to Anderlecht to be replaced by Oostende in second.

Málaga 1-0Atlético Madrid(Charles 86)
Diego Simeone's men missed the chance to go top in Barcelona's absence as they suffered their first loss in ten Liga outings. Charles volleyed in the decider with four minutes left, though his effort took a big deflection off Diego Godín.

SATURDAY

Caen 0-3 Paris (Di María 16 50, Ibrahimović 36)
Paris broke the record for most points at the midway stage of a Ligue 1 season with victory in Normandy. Laurent Blanc's runaway leaders moved on to 51 from 19 games, surpassing the half-century Lyon managed in their championship-winning 2006/07 campaign.    

Chelsea 3-1 Sunderland (Ivanović 5, Pedro Rodríguez 13, Oscar 50pen; Borini 53)
With interim manager Guus Hiddink watching from the stands, Pedro Rodríguez and Oscar scored their first Premier League goals since August as the lowly Blues started the post-José Mourinho era with a win. 

Hannover 0-1 Bayern München (Müller 40pen)
Thomas Müller took his season tally to a career best 14 league goals on a day when Manuel Neuer made his 300th Bundesliga appearance – he has kept 143 clean sheets in that time. The result, coupled with Borussia Dortmund's 2-1 loss at Köln, means the Bavarian side go into the winter break eight points clear.

PSV Eindhoven 3-2 Zwolle (Pereiro 7 15, De Jong 75; Van Polen 40pen, Veldwijk 43)
PSV are 13 unbeaten in all competitions since losing to Wolfsburg on UEFA Champions League matchday three, Luuk de Jong ensuring they drew level with pacesetters Ajax until Sunday afternoon at least. 

UEFA.com's weekly wonderkid: 20-year-old Gastón Pereiro

Stuttgart 3-1 Wolfsburg (Didavi 22 47, Kostić 31; Arnold 14)
Wolfsburg are four Bundesliga games without a win after this defeat against Stuttgart, who started the match bottom of the table.

*Dynamo Kyiv and Zenit are on their respective winter breaks.

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