SPL

Celtic made it a staggering eight straight league successes as they overcame Motherwell, but Rangers ensured they kept within two points of their rivals after a convincing 4-0 win at Kilmarnock on Sunday.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle picked up a much-needed success, Dundee United and Hearts were also victorious, and Hamilton Academical halted a miserable run of six consecutive losses after securing a 1-1 draw with Falkirk.

Primera Liga
Table-toppers Barcelona eased to a brilliant 6-0 win over Valladolid with Samuel Eto'o netting four times, while their title rivals Real Madrid, who had Sergio Ramos sent off, were also triumphant as Gonzalo Higuain's quartet of strikes saw them squeeze past Malaga 4-3 at home.

Villarreal extended their unbeaten start to the season to 10 games with three points against Almeria, Valencia bounced back from their first loss of the campaign while Osasuna's search for their first victory of the term continues.


Serie A
A last-gasp winner by Julio Cruz at home to Udinese sent Inter Milan back to the summit, while rivals AC Milan were denied a fifith successive three points as Lecce's Andrea Esposito struck late to cancel out Ronaldinho's opener.

Juventus made it four wins on the bounce, Lazio added to their fine form to rise to fourth, Napoli now sit third after they vanquished Sampdoria and Roma remain just outside the relegation places after a 1-1 stalemate against fellow strugglers Bologna.


Bundesliga
Hoffenheim's first defeat in six league matches allowed Bayer Leverkusen to climb to the top of the table, despite Bruno Labbadia's charges throwing away a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 at Karlsruhe on Saturday.

Bayern Munich rose to third as they made it five straight wins with Luca Toni and Franck Ribery on target at Schalke, while Bochum, Arminia Bielefeld and Energie Cottbus are all still without their second wins of the new term.


Ligue 1
Lyon continue to lead the way at the summit as they overcame Monaco at Stade Louis II with Fred netting the only goal of the game, while Marseille and Bordeaux kept up their chase of the leaders with wins over Grenoble and Auxerre respectively.

Rennes' 3-0 victory over struggling St Etienne, who have now suffered five straight defeats, now sees them in fourth position, while Valenciennes remain bottom of the table as their hunt for a first win since August was prolonged.


Eredivisie
AZ Alkmaar lead the way in Holland after they made light work of Steve McClaren's FC Twente, Ajax recorded their fifth straight win in a goal-fest against Sparta Rotterdam and FC Groningen were in fine fettle as they disposed of struggling FC Volendam 5-0.

Elsewhere, PSV Eindhoven were defeated at NEC Nijmegen to leave the visitors in fifth as Feyenoord made it back-to-back successes with a 5-2 triumph over FC Utrecht.


Best of the rest
Elsewhere in Europe, Fenerbahce disposed of rivals Galatasaray 4-1 in the Turkish Super Lig as Trabzonspor continue to lead the way at the summit. Table-toppers Olympiakos were held to a 0-0 draw at Panathinaikos in Greece, and Swiss Super League champions Basel kept up their excellent start to the season with a 2-0 win over FC Vaduz.