European Roundup: La Liga big three shine, Kaka scores in Milan win

While Spain’s top three all won, none of the England’s leading sides could produce a victory on Saturday. Chelsea remains top of the Premier League despite losing 1-0 at lowly Crystal Palace after title rivals Arsenal and Manchester City drew 1-1, presenting Liverpool with the chance to go top on Sunday with a win at Tottenham. La Liga’s star forward all found the net as Diego Costa’s Atletico Madrid remained top, followed by Lionel Messi’s Barcelona, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid. Here is a look at the action from the main leagues in Europe: ENGLAND The Premier League’s most unpredictable title race produced another surprise on Saturday as Chelsea 1-0 lost at Crystal Palace for the first time since 1990 following John Terry’s own goal. But Jose Mourinho’s side ended the day still in top spot as Manchester City was later held to a 1-1 draw at fourth-place Arsenal. David Silva’s opener for third-place City was canceled out at the start of the second half by Mathieu Flamini. [caption id=“attachment_1457327” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Messi’s 76th minute penalty gave Barca a win. AP[/caption] Liverpool will go top with a victory over Tottenham on Sunday. The points tally, though, is deceptive. Although City is third and two points behind Chelsea, the 2012 champions have two games in hand. The one certainty is the defending champions won’t be keeping hold of the trophy, with Manchester United still in seventh despite by coming from behind to beat Aston Villa 4-1, with Wayne Rooney scoring twice. Southampton, a place behind United but six points adrift, produced a resounding 4-0 victory over Newcastle. In a meeting of relegation-threatened teams, both West Bromwich Albion and Cardiff scored in stoppage time as they drew 3-3. Stoke’s impressive form continued with a 1-0 victory over Hull the team’s fourth success in five matches. Swansea climbed above Hull into 13th by ending a six-game winless run in the league with a 3-0 victory over fellow struggler Norwich. SPAIN Atletico remains on course for its first league title since 1996 after Diego Costa canceled out Iker Muniain’s opener before Koke “Jorge” Resurreccion followed with a header to complete a 2-1 comeback at Athletic Bilbao. Lionel Messi converted a late penalty to keep Barcelona one point behind Atletico with a 1-0 win at Espanyol. Cristiano Ronaldo scored before Gareth Bale’s double as Real Madrid routed Rayo Vallecano 5-0, breaking a rare two-game losing streak to keeping the team within three points of the pacesetters. GERMANY Hoffenheim dampened Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga title celebrations with a 3-3 draw that ended the newly-crowned champions’ 19-game winning run. It was only the third time in 28 games that Bayern — which clinched the title with a record seven games to spare on Tuesday — dropped points this season. However, Bayern still managed to extend its record 53-game unbeaten run. Marco Reus scored a hat trick for Borussia Dortmund to come from behind and win 3-2 at 10-man Stuttgart to reclaim second place from rival Schalke. ITALY Mario Balotelli scored one goal and Kaka added two as AC Milan comfortably beat relegation-threatened Chievo Verona 3-0 to give coach Clarence Seedorf consecutive victories for the first time since being hired in January. The victory moved Milan level with Lazio in eighth place, six points behind Inter Milan in the race for fifth and the final Europa League spot. FRANCE Monaco is allowing Paris Saint-Germain TO run away with the title after losing 1-0 at struggling Evian. PSG edged Nice 1-0 on Friday to extend its lead over Monaco to 13 points with seven rounds left. AP