By IAN HOLLIDAY
Saturday's clash between Real Madrid and Barcelona wasn't the most important of the four Clasicos the clubs will play during this 17-day stretch. Nor was it likely to be the most exciting. But the 1-1 draw did set an intriguing stage for Wednesday's Copa Del Rey final and the clubs' UEFA Champions League semifinal matches next week. Just think of some of the storylines that came out of Saturday's match:
Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo ended their respective scoreless streaks, against Jose Mourinho-coached teams and Barcelona, respectively, with penalties. Neither of the stars looked particularly potent on the night, but Ronaldo especially couldn't seem to catch a break, hitting the post with a freekick and having a header cleared off the line. Barcelona didn't get its sixth straight win over its rivals, but the Catalan club still hasn't fallen to the Merengues in three years. Now, Mourinho's club gets three more chances to change that fact, with more at stake in each successive match.
El Clasico wasn't the only big-name derby to be played this weekend. Manchester City and Manchester United squared off at Wembley in the semifinals of the FA Cup for the clubs' third meeting of the year. Yaya Toure scored the winner for City in the 52nd minute on the Citizens' only shot on goal during the match. Man City will face Stoke City in the final after the Potters destroyed Bolton 5-0 in the other semifinal this weekend.
In other European soccer action,
In Italy, AC Milan inched closer to its first Serie A title in seven years with a 3-0 win over Sampdoria. The Rossoneri were aided by losses from their two closest title rivals Napoli, which fell 2-1 to Udinese, and Inter Milan, which was blanked 2-0 by struggling Parma.
Borussia Dortmund's grip on the German title also tightened this weekend. The leaders downed Freiburg 3-0 on Sunday and restored their lead over Bayer Leverkusen to a comfortable eight points after Bayer were crushed 5-1 by Bayern Munich.
French leaders Lille didn't get as much help as their Italian and German counterparts this weekend. The club's lead on last year's champions Marseille is down to just one point after Lille drew 1-1 with Bordeaux and its title rivals defeated Montpellier 2-1.
Here is a rundown of all the weekend scores from Europe's top leagues:
ENGLAND
The big match of the weekend not played at Wembley was Liverpool's visit to Arsenal, which took 90 minutes plus 10 of stoppage time, but ultimately lived up to its billing. The Gunners were dominant for large swaths of the match, controlling possession and managing more chances than the visitors, but neither club could find a breakthrough until stoppage time, which was elongated to make up for an injury to Liverpool captain Jamie Carragher, who was stretchered off with a concussion. Deep into injury time, referee Andre Marriner whistled a foul in the penalty box by Liverpool's Jay Spearing on Cesc Fabregas. Robin Van Persie struck home what looked to be the winning goal, but moments later Emmanuel Eboue fouled Lucas, and Dirk Kuyt scored the equalizer on the ensuing penalty. The result leaves Arsenal six points behind Manchester United having played the same number of games, meaning the Gunners would need an epic collapse from the Red Devils in order to snatch the title.
FA CUP
Manchester City 1, Manchester United 0
Bolton Wanderers 0, Stoke City 5
PREMIER LEAGUE
Arsenal 1, Liverpool 1
Birmingham City 2, Sunderland 0
Blackpool 1, Wigan Athletic 3
Everton 2, Blackburn Rovers 0
West Bromwich Albion 1, Chelsea 3
West Ham United 1, Aston Villa 2
SPAIN
The race for La Liga's two Europa League spots stayed close this week, with Atletico Madrid and Espanyol drawing 2-2 to stay on the outside looking in. If either club had managed a victory, it would have unseated Sevilla, which slumped to a 1-0 defeat at struggling Getafe on Saturday. The only club in the mix that actually won this weekend was Athletic Bilbao, which defeated Osasuna 2-1. The Basque club was rewarded for its efforts with fifth place in the Spanish table, but none of the clubs in question is likely to rise higher than that. Fourth-placed Villarreal is six points ahead of Bilbao and has a game in hand tonight against relegation-threatened Zaragoza.
Deportivo La Coruna 2, Racing Santander 0
Levante 2, Hercules 1
Real Sociedad 2, Sporting Gijon 1
Osasuna 1, Athletic Bilbao 2
Espanyol 2, Atletico Madrid 2
Getafe 1, Sevilla 0
Malaga 3, Mallorca 0
Almeria 0, Valencia 3
Real Madrid 1, Barcelona 1
Monday: Villarreal v. Real Zaragoza
ITALY
Interesting battles are developing for the last qualification places in Serie A for both the Champions League and the Europa League. After two successive defeats saw the club relinquish fourth place to Lazio, Udinese got back to its winning ways this weekend with a 2-1 defeat of Napoli. The result wasn't enough to get the club back into a Champions League spot, however, as Lazio took care of business against Catania 4-1. Neither Lazio nor Udinese is likely to fall further than fifth, as they are ahead of sixth-placed Roma by seven and six points, respectively. The battle for sixth place, however, is an intriguing one. Roma currently holds a one-point edge on Juventus for Italy's final Europa League place, but neither club looked deserving of the honor this weekend. Roma fell 3-2 at home to Palermo, while Juve managed only a scoreless draw at Fiorentina.
Catania 1, Lazio 4
Cesena 1, Bari 0
Chievo 2, Bologna 0
Fiorentina 0, Juventus 0
Genoa 3, Brescia 0
Lecce 3, Cagliari 3
Napoli 1, Udinese 2
AS Roma 2, Palermo 3
AC Milan 3, Sampdoria 0
Parma 2, Inter Milan 0
GERMANY
Back and forth they go. One week after reclaiming third place from Bayern Munich, Hannover 96 relinquished it again this week with a scoreless draw at Hamburg. The clubs have been trading the Bundesliga's final Champions League qualifying spot for weeks now, and this week they'll have a chance to do it again in the span of three days. Hannover can reclaim the spot provisionally and keep the pressure on its rivals with a win over Freiburg on Thursday, but Bayern visits struggling Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday for a chance to climb back into the driver's seat. Failing to qualify for the Champions League is certainly more of a disaster for Bayern, but Hannover would rue the missed opportunity to do something it's never done before in club history.
Bayern Munich 5, Bayer Leverkusen 1
Borussia Dortmund 3, SC Freiburg 0
FC Cologne 1, VfB Stuttgart 3
Hamburg 0, Hannover 96 0
Kaiserslautern 0, Nurnberg 2
Hoffenheim 1, Eintracht Frankfurt 0
VfL Wolfsburg 2, St Pauli 2
Werder Bremen 1, Schalke 04 1
Mainz 05 1, Borussia Moenchengladbach
FRANCE
Paris St. Germain's 1-0 win over Lyon had important implications on the title race, but it also catapaulted the club back into contention for a spot in Europe. With Lyon's title hopes fading, there is now a three-club bunch battling for position behind Lille and Marseille in Ligue 1. In third place is Lyon, six points behind the leaders on 53 points. Behind Lyon is PSG, occupying the league's Europa League spot on 52 points. In fifth is Stade Rennes, which was knocked out of its Europa League perch when it lost 2-1 to Lorient on Saturday. But with just two points to make up on Lyon, Rennes is far from out of contention.
Arles 0, Valenciennes 1
Montpellier 1, Marseille 2
Paris St. Germain 1, Lyon 0
Lens 1, Brest 1
Nice 3, AS Monaco 2
Sochaux 3, Caen 2
St. Etienne 2, AS Nancy Lorraine 1
Stade Rennes 1, Lorient 2
Toulouse 0, AJ Auxerre 1
Lille 1, Bordeaux 1
What did you think of this week's results? Looking forward to two weeks of Clasicos? Hoping Man City finally wins a trophy? Or will you be rooting for Stoke in the FA Cup final?