Lionel Messi scored five goals in a single game last week, becoming the first player in the Champions League ever to do so. Most were impressed; some were not. Against Bayer Leverkusen, they said: So what? It is a familiar argument -- and one that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in particular have been forced to confront time and time again. Between them, they have racked up astonishing goal scoring figures, breaking records at every turn -- Messi has scored 50 goals already this season, Ronaldo 40 -- but the nagging doubt lingers. Yeah, they say, but against who?
Germany international striker Mario Gomez grabbed a hat-trick as Bayern Munich routed Hoffenheim 7-1 Saturday.
With Germany's title race set to resume in earnest on Sunday, Bayer Leverkusen took center stage in Saturday's Bundesliga action by claiming fifth place with a 2-0 win at struggling Cologne.
Lionel Messi scored four times as Barcelona routed Valencia to keep alive their slim chances of overhauling Real Madrid at the top of Spain's La Liga.
Barcelona put one foot into the quarterfinals of the Champions League after completing a 3-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.
Japan winger Shinji Kagawa was on target for Borussia Dortmund in a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday to keep the reigning champions at the top of the Bundesliga.
Schalke joined Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga on Saturday after a 3-1 win over Stuttgart at the Veltins Arena.
It was a historic win of sorts -- Bayer Leverkusen had not won any of its last seven games against Spanish teams in Europe -- and remarkable in the most enigmatic of ways. After the 2-1 win over Valencia on Wednesday night, players and officials weren't quite sure whether they should revel in a rather sensational second-half comeback or be shocked about the opening 40 minutes, when the whole team had "disappeared into an abyss of horror," as Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote. Michael Ballack, a 35-year-old veteran who has been around the block a few times, declared that non-performance before the break "probably the worst I've been involved in as a footballer."
Bayern Munich's 10-match winning run came to a halt on Saturday with a 0-0 draw at Hoffenheim that saw goalkeeper Manuel Neuer go past 1,000 minutes without conceding a goal.
Bayern Munich remained two points clear at the top of the German Bundesliga table after a comprehensive 3-0 win at home to last season's runners-up Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
CNN's Pedro Pinto reports on the nightmare season that FC Bayern Munich of the Bundesliga are having.
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