England
It doesn’t take long in life to learn that money can’t always buy everything that you want. In football terms that can also sometimes be the case. In England this week we’ve seen lowly and comparatively skint Burnley knock the Chelsea ‘millionaires’ club out of the Carling Cup. Chelsea’s monthly wage bill, bank rolled by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, would probably be able to buy the whole Burnley club.

Also newly promoted Hull City continue to rattle a few golden cages in their first ever Premiership campaign. They have already gone to Arsenal’s swanky new stadium and won. On Sunday they drew 2-2 at another wealthy club Manchester City. Arsenal lost at home again this time 0-2 to Aston Villa.

Spurs recent run of excellent results came horribly unstuck at Fulham who took the lead following an appalling blunder by Heurelho Gomes the Tottenham keeper. However Stoke City couldn’t do a ‘Hull’ and got turned over 5-0 at Manchester United.

Spain
Another one of the world’s richest clubs Real Madrid lost 0-1 at Valladolid. The pressure is now on manager Bernd Schuster. His precarious position isn’t helped by the fact that he is a former Atletico Madrid legend.

Italy
In the big Rome derby Roma best Lazio 1-0, in a game that saw four players booked, two on each side, one each sent off. First to get red was Ledesma for Lazio on 66 minutes. He was followed by Perrotta of Roma on 87.

Portugal
Benfica beat Amadora 1-0 but top of the table Leixoes showed their championship potential by winning 1-0 at Sporting Lisbon with a goal from Sosa on 65 minutes.

France
St. Etienne have rung the changes this week. Out went manager Raymond Domenech and in came ex-Lyon, & Portsmouth manager Alain Perrin. However they still managed to lose 0-3 at Lille showing the new man just how much work needs doing. The only team who look capable of catching Lyon at the top are Marseille. Well that’s what I thought up until last night when they managed to throw a 2-0 winning position away, letting in three late goals at home to unfashionable Lorient, losing 2-3. The huge Stad Velodrome was not a happy place to be after this shocker. Manager Eric Gerets summed it up succinctly describing the collapse as a ‘catastrophe’.

PSG carried on their winning ways thumping Le Havre 3-1 away.

Germany
Bayer Leverkusen stay top having beaten Schalke 04 at home 2-1. Leverkusen’s Stefan Keissling continues to impress. How long they can hold onto him remains to be seen. Bayern Munich drew 2-2 at Borussia Monchengladbach.