MANCHESTER, England (AP) - Bayern Munich wrapped up the quickest German championship win in 51 years of the Bundesliga and Manchester City delivered a statement of intent in the English title race with a humbling victory at great rival Manchester United.
Here is a roundup of the action across Europe on Tuesday:
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GERMANY
Bayern set a new milestone in its dominance of German football with a title-clinching 3-1 win over Hertha Berlin.
Goals from Toni Kroos, Mario Goetze and Franck Ribery sealed the unbeaten defending champions’ 24th German title with seven games to spare, bettering the mark set in last year’s record-breaking campaign by one game.
It is Pep Guardiola his first Bundesliga title in his first season as coach.
“We worked very hard for this title. When you win by 25 points people can think it’s easy. But it’s not easy, especially after the last season with three titles,” the Spaniard said. “When you win 19 games one after the other, it speaks for the mentality of the team.”
Bayern’s 19th consecutive win, its 10th consecutive victory away from home, and its unbeaten run of 52 games are all Bundesliga records.
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ENGLAND
Man City’s title charge gained further momentum with a humbling 3-0 win at fierce rival Manchester United but Arsenal’s hopes of winning the Premier League were dented by drawing 2-2 with Swansea.
Edin Dzeko scored twice - his first coming inside 43 seconds - and Yaya Toure added a late third at Old Trafford for City, which trimmed its deficit to leader Chelsea to three points and still has two games in hand.
United lost for the sixth time in the league this season - more than in the last three campaigns combined - in what is proving a woeful defense of its title under David Moyes. Five points behind sixth-place Tottenham with seven games left, even finishing in the Europa League positions may be beyond beleaguered United.
“I thought it would be a tough year for us, no doubt about that,” said Moyes, whose team is 18 points behind Chelsea, “but I hoped it would be much more competitive and closer to the top of the league than we are at the present time.”
Arsenal conceded an own goal by Mathieu Flamini in the 90th minute to drop more points in the title race after a 6-0 thrashing by Chelsea on Saturday.
Arsene Wenger’s side is six points behind the leaders in fourth place and is now looking over its shoulder at Everton, which jumped to fifth with a 3-0 win at Newcastle in the night’s other match.
Everton is six points behind Arsenal having played a game less.
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SPAIN
A second-half goal from Luis “Pizzi” Afonso earned Espanyol a 2-1 victory at Malaga in the Spanish league, while Elche held fourth-place Athletic Bilbao to a 0-0 draw.
Athletic, which currently holds the final Champions League qualifying spot, provisionally stretched its advantage over fifth-place Sevilla to nine points. Sevilla hosts Real Madrid, which is looking to rebound from its weekend defeat to Barcelona, on Wednesday.
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ITALY
Substitute Alessandro Florenzi scored a stoppage-time winner to keep Roma’s faint title hopes alive as it beat Torino 2-1 at home in Serie A on Tuesday.
The exuberant celebrations of the Roma players and coach Rudi Garcia demonstrated precisely how important the goal was from the 83-minute replacement.
Leading Serie A goalscorer Ciro Immobile scored a stunning volley for Torino to cancel out Mattia Destro’s opener.
Second-placed Roma moved 11 points behind Juventus. Antonio Conte’s side can restore its 14-point advantage with a win at home to Parma on Wednesday - although it will have then played a game more than Roma.
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