Valencia and AS Roma, the league leaders in Spain and Italy, both wobbled at the weekend while cup action was the focus in England and France.

In Italy, AC Milan enjoyed a good day in Serie A, thrashing bottom club Ancona 5-0 as AS Roma, Juventus, Inter Milan and Parma all drew.

Milan scored all their goals in the final 25 minutes. Penalties by Andriy Shevchenko and Jon Dahl Tomasson, together with a first in three years for Rui Costa, swung the game and late strikes by Brazilian midfielder Kaka completed the rout.

Milan are on 42 points, one behind Roma, who were held 1-1 at home by Udinese. Juventus are third on 40 after an action-packed 3-3 draw at Empoli which featured hat-tricks for the home side's Tommaso Rocchi, who got last week's winner against Inter, and David Trezeguet.

Inter, Parma and Lazio are all on 32. Inter drew 1-1 at Modena, Parma were held 0-0 at home by Bologna while Lazio won 1-0 at Lecce.

In Spain, Real Madrid took over top spot in Spain with a 2-1 win over Villarreal as Valencia were surprisingly beaten 1-0 at home by Osasuna.

Argentine midfielder Santiago Solari opened the scoring after 14 minutes for Real and Ronaldo added his 16th league goal of the season early in the second half.

Sergio Ballesteros replied late on but Real retained their perfect home record, moving to 46 points.

Two points behind are Valencia, who lost with an unnecessary own goal by defender Mauricio Pellegrino.

Deportivo Coruna remain third on 40 after losing 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao with Atletico Madrid fourth on 35 after a 1-1 draw at Albacete.

In England, all the big guns survived the fourth round of the FA Cup at the weekend as dreams of a major upset disappeared for another year.

English FA Cup holders Arsenal, seeking an unprecedented fourth successive final appearance, thumped Middlesbrough 4-1 in a repeat of their league win of two weeks ago.

Chelsea ended the hopes of minor league Scarborough as an early John Terry header earned 1-0 away success while Frenchman Bruno Cheyrou scored both goals for Liverpool in their 2-1 home win over Newcastle United.

Manchester United rested most of their big names but still won easily 3-0 at third division Northampton.

The surprise of the weekend came in south Wales where third division Swansea City scored twice in the last 10 minutes to beat first division Preston North End.

In France, There were two big upsets, a near miss and a classic head-to-head in the second round of the French Cup.

The main surprise saw amateur club Bayonne, who had already knocked out Ligue 1 team En Avant Guingamp in the first round, beat Girondins Bordeaux 1-0 with an extra-time goal by Frederic Bernaleau.

RC Lens, with six regulars away on African Nations Cup duty, were the only other top-flight team ousted by a lower division side when they lost 2-1 to third division Dijon.

League leaders Monaco needed a penalty shoot-out to overcome third division Valenciennes after a goalless 120 minutes.

Old rivals Olympique Marseille and Paris St Germain met at the Stade Velodrome and PSG won it 2-1 with an extra-time header from Argentine Juan Pablo Sorin.

Close

Today's Top News		Top Sports News
+Chirac warns Taiwan of referendum ( 2004-01-27) +Bird flu kills 7 in Asia as virus spreads ( 2004-01-27) +34 Americans died in winter storms ( 2004-01-27) +Merrymakers crack Beijing firecracker ban ( 2004-01-27) +Rural income rises, but growth slow ( 2004-01-26)		+Real lead, Milan close in on Roma ( 2004-01-27) +'Flying housewife' dead at 85 ( 2004-01-27) +Unfit Ronaldo is still Real deal for Madrid ( 2004-01-26) +Chinese pairs take skating honours ( 2004-01-26) +Russian soccer shocked by Titov's positive test ( 2004-01-26)