Inter Milan went 10 points clear in Serie A, while French champions Olympique Lyon were knocked off the top of the Ligue 1 table by Olympique Marseille.
Teenager Federico Macheda once again came off the bench to score the winner that kept Manchester United top of the English Premier League and Barcelona maintained their six-point lead over Real Madrid in Spain.
SPAIN
Real Madrid kept leaders Barcelona in their sights with a 2-0 home win over Real Valladolid on Sunday that trimmed the Catalans' advantage at the top back to six points.
Barca had put pressure on the champions with Saturday's 2-0 victory over Recreativo Huelva at the Nou Camp that moved them nine clear overnight on 75 points.
Goals from captain Raul and winger Arjen Robben sealed Real's 13th win in 14 matches since a 2-0 loss to Barca in December and put them on 69 with eight matches remaining, 12 ahead of third-placed Sevilla who lost 1-0 at home to Getafe.
Valencia moved above Champions League quarter-finalists Villarreal into fourth on 49 after Juan Mata's superb late winner gave them a 3-2 win at Sporting Gijon.
ENGLAND
Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal -- England's four Champions League quarter-finalists -- all won on Saturday to tighten their grip on the top four places in the Premier League.
United won 2-1 at Sunderland after 17-year-old Italian Federico Macheda came on as a substitute to score the winner for the second successive week, while second-placed Liverpool crushed Blackburn Rovers 4-0.
Chelsea built up a 4-0 lead at home to Bolton Wanderers but had to hang on as the visitors clawed it back to 4-3. Arsenal also scored four to come from behind and win 4-1 at Wigan Athletic.
United, who have a game in hand on the chasing teams, lead with 71 points from 31 games, followed by Liverpool on 70. Chelsea have 67 and Arsenal are on 61.
ITALY
Inter Milan edged towards retaining the Serie A title despite blowing a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw with Palermo at the San Siro.
Jose Mourinho's men are now 10 points clear of second-placed Juventus, who lost 3-2 at Genoa before next week's top-of-the-table clash with the champions in Turin.
A Thiago Motta brace and a late goal by former Juve forward Raffaele Palladino maintained surprise package Genoa's hold on Italy's fourth Champions League slot.
AC Milan are two points behind Juventus in third after a second-half strike by Clarence Seedorf gave them a 1-0 win at Chievo Verona.
FRANCE
Olympique Marseille overtook Olympique Lyon at the top of the Ligue 1 table on Sunday after beating Grenoble 4-1 while the seven-times champions were held 2-2 at home by Monaco.
It is the first time since mid-September that Lyon are not the leaders at the end of a round of matches.
Girondins Bordeaux had put pressure on Lyon when they leapfrogged them on goal difference on Saturday with a 2-0 win at AJ Auxerre.
Marseille then took over at the top on Sunday and stayed there after Lyon, playing later in the day, only managed to collect a point after coming from behind twice against Monaco.
Marseille have 61 points, one more than Lyon, with seven games remaining. Third-placed Bordeaux are on 59.
GERMANY
VfL Wolfsburg opened up a three-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga with their ninth consecutive win, this time a 2-1 victory at Borussia Moenchengladbach thanks to a late goal from midfielder Sascha Riether.
Champions Bayern Munich kept their title defence alive with a 4-0 crushing of Eintracht Frankfurt, moving up to second place on 51 points, level with third-placed Hamburg, who suffered a 1-0 defeat at VfB Stuttgart after a stoppage-time goal.
Improved Stuttgart, on 48 points, are now only a point behind fourth-placed Hertha Berlin, who suffered their third defeat in a row when they were beaten 2-0 at Hanover 96.
NETHERLANDS
Belgian international Moussa Dembele scored after an impressive run to put AZ Alkmaar on the verge of their first title since 1981 following a 1-0 win at NAC Breda.
Alkmaar are 11 points ahead of Steve McClaren's Twente Enschede, who beat lowly Roda JC Kerkrade 4-2, and need a win against Vitesse Arnhem at home next week to lift the trophy.
Luis Suarez and Roy Makaay scored hat-tricks respectively for Ajax Amsterdam, who won 7-0 against Willem II Tilburg, and Feyenoord, 5-1 winners at home to Heracles Almelo.
SCOTLAND
Rangers closed the gap on Celtic to one point when they beat Motherwell 3-1 and the leaders were held to a 1-1 draw at third-placed Hearts.
Rangers went ahead when Andrius Velicka scored after two minutes before Kris Boyd added two more, one from a penalty, to take his season's tally to 28.
Celtic also took an early lead when Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink scored in the first minute but Hearts equalised when Bruno Aguiar struck in the 32nd with a curled free-kick.
Fourth-placed Aberdeen closed the gap on Hearts to five points when they beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1-0.
PORTUGAL
Porto took another step towards a fourth consecutive league title by beating Estrela da Amadora 3-0 at home although Sporting kept up the pressure with a 3-1 home win over Naval.
Porto, four points ahead of Sporting and eight in front of Benfica, rested several players ahead of Wednesday's Champions League match against Manchester United but still cruised past Amadora.
Bruno Alves opened the scoring with a powerful free kick after half an hour and Argentine striker Ernesto Farias added two more with a tap-in and a header in the second half.
Brazilian striker Liedson scored the second and third goals for Sporting, while Benfica's 1-0 home loss to Academica leaves them with little chance of fighting for the title.
GREECE
OFI Crete and Panserraikos were relegated from the Greek Super League after they were held to goalless draws by Ergotelis and Panathinaikos respectively on Sunday.
Champions Olympiakos Piraeus slipped to their first home defeat in domestic competition this season when they went down to a Maciej Zurawski goal to lose 1-0 against Larissa.
PAOK Salonika leapfrogged Panathinaikos into second place after a last-minute penalty from Vladan Ivic -- his second goal of the game -- gave them a 2-1 win over Xanthi. There is one round of matches left to play.
