Roy Makaay saved Bayern Munich again on Saturday, scoring the gamewinner in a 1-0 victory against a VfB Stuttgart side which dominated the contest until then.
The Dutch striker, who seems to be the defending champions only source of an attack these days, took advantage of a 75th minute defensive mistake and rifled it inside the opposite post to scramble the Bundesliga standings.
PHOTO: AFP
The goal and win was a shocking turnaround, coming after the frustrated Bayern players were reduced to petty fouls against a cool superior Stuttgart team and were booed by a home crowd of 63,000 for their futility.
PHOTO: EPA
"We won, a little lucky, but who cares?" Makaay said. "They're a good team, but they didn't use their chances."
On a weekend when the top four teams clashed, Stuttgart was handed its first defeat and bounced from the top. Second-placed Bremen jumped ahead of the south German side by beating third-placed Leverkusen 3-1.
PHOTO: AP
That left Bremen (11-3-2) with 36 points, Stuttgart at 35, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich both at 32. For the Bayern, Saturday's win was crucial with the outcome closing it to four of the top, instead of falling nine back.
PHOTO: EPA
Makaay has scored eight times for Bayern in league, many deciding matches, and all but one of its Champions League goals. But the lanky striker played down his contribution, which led one German paper to dub the team, "FC Roy Makaay."
"If I wasn't here, Bayern would still be at the top. They'd just have another forward score the goals," Makaay said.
In a match played in icy rain, Stuttgart controlled the ball and didn't allow Bayern a shot attempt until the 22nd minute. Surprisingly, at almost every position, it appeared to be better than the more celebrated Munich players.
But Stuttgart, which hasn't won in five matches, either couldn't finish well on its attempts or was thwarted by Bayern goalie Oliver Kahn. The German World Cup hero tipped a hard Kevin Kuranyi header over the crossbar and charged out of his goal to smother attempts by a clear Aliaksandr Hleb, then a through Imre Szabics.
Bayern was booed by its own fans as it trailed into the dressing rooms a the half, while the cheerful visiting Stuttgart supporters sang nonstop -- at least until Makaay struck.
"We were the better team, but Bayern waited until they had once chance -- and they took it," Stuttgart midfielder Horst Heldt said.
Bremen finally beat a top team, after drawing with the Bayern last week and being trounced by Stuttgart earlier in the season.
Leverkusen dominated until Bremen struck twice against the flow of play in first-half injury time.
French midfielder Johan Micoud, bottled up until then, whipped a pass down the left side after a Bremen player was stripped of the ball.
Micoud's pass found Ivan Klasnic, who crossed to Ailton and the Brazilian finished the breakaway for his league high 15th goal. Seconds later, Mladen Krstajic headed in a free kick and Leverkusen was down 2-0.
Micoud was ejected in the 67th minute for his second foul, allowing Leverkusen to attack again at home in front of 22,500. But all that came out of the aspirin club's efforts was captain Jens Nowotny's 72nd minute header.
In injury time, Krisztian Lisztes converted a penalty that ended Leverkusen's dwindling hopes and sent Bremen top of the table for the third time this season.
"It's great that we're at the very top," Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf said.
"I'm very satisfied with my team, they put on a fine performance."
Schalke moved up to seventh place, winning three straight for the first time this season. Victory Agali scored in the 85th, while Gerald Asamoah struck in the sixth.
Asamoah, who has taken off a lot of weight recently, has been given a lot of credit for his sides' upturn, dribbling and playing with an authority the forward hasn't displayed since he became the first Africa-born Germany player three years ago.
Vahid Hashemian's 10th goal lifted surprising Bochum to fifth -- good enough to reach the UEFA Cup -- and a 1-0 win against Frankfurt.
Spanish League
Two goals by Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert and one by Brazilian Ronaldinho helped FC Barcelona roll past bottom-placed and city rival Espanyol 3-1 Saturday in a heated match that saw six players sent off.
The victory was sure to be welcomed by Barcelona which went into the game at the Montjuic 1992 Olympic stadium still licking its wounds following two consecutive defeats -- a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Malaga followed by a 2-1 sinking by perennial foe Real Madrid.
Barcelona now has 23 points, 10 less than league leader Real Madrid.
Espanyol, which stays bottom with eight points, had its hopes raised briefly in the eighth minute when former Barcelona striker Jordi Cruyff headed the ball into goal off a free-kick by another former Barcelona player Ivan de la Pena.
But Ronaldinho, back after a three-week injury absence, fired home Barcelona's first less than two minutes later with an area shot that was deflected by an Espanyol defender.
Dismal defending and goalkeeping allowed Kluivert to score his first with a feeble strike from 2m out in the 21st minute. The Dutchman, who has faced heavy criticism for his poor performance this season, slotted in his second with a 10m kick 10 minutes before the break.
The turnaround raised tempers among the Espanyol players and fans. De la Pena was sent off for a foul in the 41st minute as police moved into the stadium stands to control Espanyol fans who had set fire to seats and posters.
Although the match was calmer in the second half, five other players followed De la Pena as referee Alfonso Zamorano totted up 12 yellow cards and two red cards.
Barcelona's Mexican defender Rafael Marquez got his second yellow card and was expelled two minutes into the second half while Portuguese teammate Ricardo Quaresma followed him for the same reason six minutes later.
Espanyol's Antonio Soldevilla got his second yellow card and marching orders in the 60th minute for elbowing Barcelona's Gerard Lopez in the face while Barcelona was left with eight players when Dutchman Philip Cocu was sent off for a foul in the 74th minute.
Espanyol also was reduced to eight players two minutes before the final whistle when Alberto Lopo got a second yellow card for a foul on Kluivert.
Also Saturday, Argentine striker Juan Roman Riquelme scored his third of the season for Villarreal in the 12th minute against Real Sociedad. Brazilian Sonny Anderson clinched the team's second in the 33rd to leave the match at 2-0.
Argentine Matias Lequi scored a spectacular goal seven minutes from the end to clinch a 2-2 draw for Atletico de Madrid against Celta de Vigo.
Argentine midfielder Diego Simeone put Atletico ahead with his second goal of the season in the sixth minute. But Celta's French midfielder Peter Luccin nabbed an equalizer in the 37th and Bosnian striker Savo Milosevic made it 2-1 three minutes later.
Atletico stays in fifth place with 26 points, 10 more than Celta. Villarreal lies one place behind Atletico with 24 points while Sociedad is third from the bottom with 15.
English Premier League
Two Paul Scholes headers put Manchester United top of the Premier League after a 3-1 victory over Manchester City on Saturday as Chelsea slumped 2-1 at home to Bolton.
A last minute own goal by England international defender John Terry meant disaster for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge as Claudio Ranieri's team tossed away a lead through Hernan Crespo's 22nd minute goal and suffered its first league loss.
Bruno N'Gotty leveled for Wanderers just before half time and Terry deflected Henrik Pederson's shot past 'keeper Carlo Cudicini for an unexpected Bolton winner.
"The first half was very good for us but maybe we had to score more goals," Ranieri said. "We then defended badly and conceded a goal by leaving their player unmarked, and in the second half we were tired and lost the plot."
Scholes' two headers and three great saves by American goalkeeper Tim Howard earned United a victory over neighbor City at Old Trafford.
Ruud van Nistelrooy also netted for the Reds and, although Shaun Wright-Phillips scored City's first goal in five games, Kevin Keegan's team failed to win for the eighth league and cup match in a row.
The loss also means City hasn't beaten United at Old Trafford since Denis Law's famous backheel in 1974 sent the Reds down to division two.
Wayne Rooney came off the bench to score Everton's winner in a come from behind 2-1 victory at Portsmouth but later thought he had been sent off.
The sometimes volatile 18-year-old striker ran off the field at Fratton Park after pushing Pompey's Steve Stone. But he was recalled to be shown a yellow, not red card by referee Uriah Rennie.
Everton manager David Moyes was convinced Rooney had been sent off.
"I thought Wayne would be sent off," he said.
Laurent Robert and Alan Shearer scored two goals each as Newcastle outplayed Tottenham 4-0 while Liverpool, still without injured star forwards Michael Owen and Harry Kewell, tumbled 2-1 at home to Southampton, its fourth loss of the season at Anfield.
Gordon Strachan's Saints went ahead after two minutes through Brett Ormerod and went 2-0 up with a Michael Svensson header in the 64th. Emile Heskey replied 15 minutes from the end but Saints held on to the three points and moved up to sixth.
"The performance was better than the result," said under fire Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier, whose team slipped to ninth, 15 points behind Manchester United.
Birmingham City won 2-0 at Leicester which had both captain Matt Elliott and 'keeper Ian Walker sent off while Middlesbrough was held to its fourth 0-0 in a row at home, this time by Charlton.
Sunday's games are Arsenal-Blackburn, Aston Villa-Wolves and Leeds-Fulham.
Saturday's results mean that Manchester United is top with 37 points from 16 games and Chelsea drops to second with 36. Arsenal has 35 and can go top by beating Blackburn.
Italian league
Francesco Flachi netted two spectacular goals -- his second in the closing minutes -- to rally Sampdoria to a 3-3 draw at Perugia that denied the home team its first season win in the Italian league Saturday.
While Perugia (0-8-5) was left close to the bottom of the table, Sampdoria lifted itself to 20 points, one behind Udinese which downed lowly Lecce 1-0 on a right-footed drive from 30 meters of midfielder GiamPiero Pizzi.
La Samp, a Serie A newcomer, salvaged a draw in a seasaw of goals after dominating play for long periods during the first half.
Flachi, a 28-year-old forward, opened the scoring in the 16th with a beautiful overhead kick.
La Samp hit the crossbar twice, with captain Sergio Volpi and striker Fabio Bazzani, before allowing the equalizer in the 39th off a blunder by goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli.
Defender Battista Ignoffo could kick in from one meter as Antonioli lost control of the ball.
Fired by second-half substitute Jay Bothroyd, who made moves in both goals, Perugia rallied to 3-1 on tallies by Massimo Margiotta in the 56th and captain Giovanni Tedesco in the 58th.
La Samp fought back to 3-2 on a powerful free kick by Italy's 2002 World Cup midfielder Cristiano Doni (60th) and clinched a deserved draw in the 89th on a flying shot by Flachi, fed by second-half Japanese substitute Atsushi Yanagisawa.
"We never give up. We looked done for when we fell two goals behind but we are used to fight through the last second," Flachi said. "Honestly we did not deserve a defeat."
Dutch League
Congolese striker Blaise N'Kofu's two brilliant goals inspired FC Twente Enschede to a stunning 4-2 victory Saturday over Feyenoord Rotterdam.
PSV Eindhoven downed RKC Waalwijk 3-1 to take a two-point overnight lead in the Dutch premiership. But second-placed Ajax, which hosts FC Utrecht Sunday, has two games in hand over both PSV and fourth-placed Feyenoord, which dropped to nine points behind PSV.
Arjen Robben set up the PSV opener in the second minute for Theo Lucius but RKC equalized in the 38th through defender Virgilio Teixeira. Robben found the net himself to restore the lead and Lucius latched onto a rebound to make the points safe.
Feyenoord had no answer to Twente's enterprising and entertaining soccer and tumbled to its fourth league defeat of a stop-start season.
The outstanding N'Kufo evaded Kees van Wonderen's attempt to step forward and place him offside, cut back wrong-footing both the defender and 'keeper Patrick Lodewijks and expertly converted his first chance.
French League
Lyon remained in second place in the French first division but only on goals difference, following a tepid 0-0 tie Saturday away to Bastia.
Lyon, tired after its midweek exploits in qualifying for the next stage of the Champions League, missed the chance to close the gap on leader Monaco and also conceded ground to hard-chasing Paris Saint-Germain.
With 34 points, Lyon stays second only because it has a better goals difference than the PSG -- which beat Bordeaux 2-1 at home Saturday to keep the pressure on the top two.
However, should Monaco win at home to Strasbourg Sunday it would open up a massive eight-point lead over both Lyon and PSG.
PSG overcame battling Bordeaux thanks to a winning goal from Portugal star Pauleta -- who scored against his former teammates.
Scottish Premier league
Bobo Balde, whose dubious handball put Celtic out of the Champions League on Wednesday, was a goalscoring hero on Saturday as Martin O'Neill's men edged Dundee 3-2 to move eight points clear of Rangers.
After Henrik Larsson had given the Bhoys a 15th minute lead at Celtic Park, Mark Fotheringham threatened an upset with an equalizer five minutes later.
But Balde, whose handball in the area gave Lyon a 3-2 victory which eliminated his team from the Champions League, regained the lead in 69th minute when he headed home Alan Thompson's cross.
John Kennedy made it 3-1 in the 87th minute Lee Mair gave Celtic a scare with a last minute reply for cash strapped Dundee.
The victory gives Celtic an eight point lead over defending champion Rangers which visits Dunfermline on Sunday.
Hearts stayed third with a 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock. Second half goals by Andy Kirk and Phil Stamp put the Jambos in control at Tynecastle before Gary McSwegan replied in the final minute for Killie.
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