Bundesliga

It had to be Mario Gotze didn't it? Much of the build-up to Saturday's Der Klassiker between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich centred on the return of Dortmund's youth product, wearing the shirt of the enemy.

The German international did not start the game but did enter the scene in the second half with the scores locked at 0 - 0.

If you had closed your eyes from there on in, you would have instantly known when Gotze was on the ball, such was the shrillness of the hissing and whistling from the home fans.

But the moment the Westfalenstadion went deathly quiet was the moment when Gotze fired past Roman Weidenfellder from just inside the box to put league leaders Bayern Munich 1 - 0 up.

To be fair to him, Gotze did not celebrate. But his goal did precipitate a collapse for an injury-hit Borussia Dortmund as Arjen Robben and Thomas Muller completed a 3 - 0 win which seems to have ended the title race, despite the fact that there are six months still to run. 

It was also a psychological blow for Bayern. As Graham Hunter told Off The Ball on Thursday, Dortmund are a stone in Bayern's shoe and this first victory marks the Bavarians' first league win over Dortmund since February 2010. 

Bayer Leverkusen are only four points behind Die Roten, however, after a 1 - 0 win at Hertha Berlin lifted them into second.

But don't count on Neverkusen to topple a Bayern Munich side who are on a record unbeaten run. 

La Liga

Barcelona and Real Madrid picked up maximum points again. The Catalans brushed aside Granada 4 - 0, while the Madrileños trounced Almeria 5 - 0.

There was a slight concern for Real as Cristiano Ronaldo picked up a muscular injury, although both player and manager Carlo Ancelotti have played the situation down.

But as so often happens in the glorified SPL in the sun, other teams also made headlines.

There was a magnificent seven for title-chasing Atletico Madrid who obliterated city neighbours Getafe 7 - 0. Diego Costa scored the pick of the bunch with a bicycle kick...

Ex-Arsenal man Carlos Vela made the headlines for Real Sociedad as his quadruple earned a 4 - 3 home win over Celta Vigo...

And of course there was the small matter of the Seville derby last night. When I lived in the city 4 - 5 years ago, I was warned against attending games between Sevilla v Real Betis by locals because the match is not the only thing that kicks off on derby day.

But even if you're not in the stadium, you get a sense of the occasion wherever you are in the city as the standstill matches El Clasico in that football-mad city. 

As expected it was a scrappy, foul-ridden and incredibly feisty affair. Sevilla went in front within two minutes via Colombian Carlos Bacca. It was disaster for Real Betis just before half-time when defender Paulao was sent off for a second bookable offence. As the Brazilian was caught on camera apparently crying near the steps to the players tunnel, QPR loanee Stephane M'Bia headed in the resulting free-kick.

Sevilla showed no mercy after the break, scoring twice to make it 4 - 0.

Betis are in real trouble, with Pepe Mel's team rooted to the bottom of the table.  

Serie A

Juventus have returned to the top of Serie A - at least temporarily - after goals from in-form Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tevez inspired the Bianconeri to a 2 - 0 win at Livorno.

Roma will return to the top if they beat Cagliari at home on a pitch trampled by Italy's rugby team at the weekend.

But Juve will be more interested in title rivals Napoli who slumped to a 1 - 0 defeat at home to Parma.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Mario Balotelli missed a penalty for the second time in his career as a sloppy Milan were held 1 - 1 at home by Genoa.

After the game, Milan fans prevented the players from leaving the San Siro until Kaka and goalkeeper Christian Abbiati spoke to them as you can just about see in this clip...

The weekend also saw the first Verona derby (Derby della Scala) in over a decade as Chievo "traveled" to Hellas Verona (both teams share the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi). Chievo came out on top 1 - 0 but they are still in the relegation zone, while Hellas are still in the Top 6 in the first season back in the top flight.

Ligue 1

PSG are still the team to beat in France as they won 3 - 0 at Stade Reims.

The Parisians remain four points clear of Lille who edged Toulouse yesterday.