Bundesliga
A few weeks ago some talking heads in the Bundesliga were calling for Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund to be forever banished to a European Superleague because they were just too good.
This weekend should skewer part of that argument because the Bundesliga is not a two-team league. It is Bayern's league.
Bayern Munich have now gone 40 league games without tasting defeat and they extended that streak with an easy win over Werder Bremen.
When I say easy I mean 7 - 0. Granted Bremen have been in decline since their 2004 Bundesliga and Cup double and have not improved since parting ways with ultimate one-club player and manager Thomas Schaaf but a spanking of those proportions goes to show the gap between Bayern and the rest.
Bayern's goalscorers were Daniel Van Buyten, Franck Ribery, Mario Mandzukic, Thomas Muller, Ribery again and Mario Gotze, while the first came via an own goal.
Werder Bremen 0-7 Bayern Munich _ Ourmatch... by tapchibongda-vn
Meanwhile Borussia Dortmund's lack of depth was exposed by Bayer Leverkusen who cemented their hold on second place with a 1 - 0 away win.
Dortmund started with Marco Reus on the bench with midweek Champions League commitments in mind while three of the four defenders on show were back-ups.
I was not impressed by Dortmund at all and it confirmed a trend about the team: when facing counter-attacking sides, Jurgen Klopp's side find it hard to break down the opposition. Then again, if David Moyes Manchester United can batter Leverkusen 5 - 0, Dortmund fans could have expected a little more.
They looked tired and struggled to create clear-cut chances and their makeshift defence was cut open at times by passes from deep. Leverkusen wide attacker Son Heung-Min was the main beneficiary and it was the South Korean who scored the only goal of the game after a defensive slip from Dortmund.
Son loves playing Dortmund and that winner was his fifth in four games against last year's Champions League finalists with the previous four coming during his time at SV Hamburg.
Reus was brought on in the second half and Leverkusen defender Emir Spahic was shown a red card. But the balance of the game did not change much and Sami Hyppia's side hung on with relative ease.
Dortmund are now ten points behind Bayern and six behind Leverkusen, and even their Top 3 place is coming under minor threat.
Fourth-placed Borussia Monchengladbach are now level on points with Dortmund following their 2 - 1 win over inconsistent Schalke in a Top 4 six-pointer.
Schalke might have lost but Raffael's top corner finish was pretty good...
Serie A
Good news for those hoping for some semblance of a title race in Italy this season. Roma ended a four-game run of draws to beat Fiorentina 2 - 1 at the Stadio Olimpico.
It means the unbeaten Giallorossi remain three points behind leaders Juventus who beat relegation-threatened Bologna 2 - 0 away.
The revitalized Gervinho was the star of the show for Roma and it was he who set up Inter academy product Mattia Destro for the second half winner...
Roma had Miralem Pjanic sent off in that second 45 but they did not pjanic (I'll get my coat...) and held on for all three points.
While Roma ride high in the table, Lazio are fumbling down in 12th place.
Bear in mind how the Roman rivals stood at the end of last season. Lazio had beaten Roma in the Coppa Italia final and were more optimistic heading into this campaign.
But an injury to last season's top scorer Miroslav Klose has hurt Le Aquile during the past month. I watched their uninspired 1- 0 defeat to Torino yesterday which stretched their winless run to six games. One would guess that manager Vladimir Petkovic may be getting the Italian equivalent of a P45 fairly soon.
Meanwhile, third-placed Napoli's form has tailed off recently. They were involved in a 3 - 3 goalfest at home to Udinese and Rafa Benitez' side were undone by a late sucker punch after racing into a 2 - 0 lead.
AC Milan had to be thankful to Mario Balotelli for their 2 - 2 draw at Livorno with the Italy striker scoring twice. His haul included this sumptuous free-kick to level the match late on...
In the late game at the San Siro, Inter Milan played out an entertaining 3 - 3 draw with Parma.
La Liga
There was no Spanish league action this weekend as the Copa del Rey took precedence.
Ligue 1
Midweek defeat to Evian proved to be water off a duck's back for PSG as they put five past bottom-of-the-table Sochaux at the Parc des Princes.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (2), Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Thiago Silva got the goals and when you put their price tags together, that quarter cost almost €160 million. Riches that Sochaux can only dream of...
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PSG would have been even more happy to hear that Lille - who started the weekend second - lost 1 - 0 at Bordeaux to allow the Parisians to pull out a four point lead over the Northern team.
Monaco climbed above Lille to go within two points of PSG after a 1 - 0 win over 19th-placed Ajaccio.
Marseille sacked their manager Elie Baup after a loss at home to newly-promoted Nantes left them 5th and off the pace in the race for the Champions League places.
Eredivise
Last week, results in the Netherlands caught my eye as PSV struggled down in 10th while Vitesse Arnhem, who have never won a trophy during their 121-year existence, topped the Eredivisie.
This week the stars aligned as PSV hosted and Vitesse and I made a point of watching the game. One thing you need to know about Vitesse is the fact that they are pretty much a Chelsea reserve team with six Blues fringe players on loan at the club.
Meanwhile PSV are packed with some of the best young talent in the Netherlands under the watchful eye of Philippe Cocu.
The two sides were evenly matched early on with the scores locked at 1 - 1 following the first 45 minutes. But obliterating history and status, Vitesse hammered PSV in the second half to run out 6 - 2 winners and stay two points clear of Ajax at top of the table.
The Chelsea contigent were particularly prominent with Lucas Piazon, Christian Atsu (2)and Patrick Van Aanholt finding the net. Vitesse and their ties with Chelsea will be featured on Euro Footy Focus on Saturday.
Primeira Liga
Last but not least, Sporting Lisbon (or Sporting Clube de Portugal as they are known by the locals) are top after a 2 - 0 win at Gil Vicente.
FC Porto got back to winning ways to go second but Benfica dropped by points in a surprising 2 - 2 draw at home to Arouco.
