European football review - Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga, Le Championnat

Mario Balotelli, 17, was given his chance as Zlatan Ibrahimovic is out injured, and the youngster who has starred in the Italian Cup this season seized his chance with both hands.

Playing for a team which has Marco Materazzi as their only regular Italian starter, Balotelli sent over the corner from which Patrick Vieira climbed all over Maximiliano Pellegrini to give Inter a controversial 21st minute lead at Atalanta.

With 18 minutes left to play, Balotelli, the Italian-born son of Ghanaian parents, ran through to round the keeper and maintain Inter's four-point lead over Roma with six games to play.

Victory was all the more important as Roma had beaten Genoa 3-2 a day earlier to keep up the pressure, but needed Daniele De Rossi's penalty 10 minutes from time after Serie A leading scorer Marco Borriello had fouled Rodrigo Taddei.

Taddei and Mirko Vucinic had put Roma two up early on, but they were stunned when Marco Rossi and Julio Cesar Leon scored within a minute of each other in the second half.

Roma are virtually certain of at least second as Juventus crashed 3-2 at Palermo despite also pulling back a two-goal deficit.

Juventus target Amauri scored twice to put the Sicilians in the driving seat, but Alessandro Del Piero grabbed a brace of his own before Mattia Cassani thrashed in the winner from distance.

Giampaolo Pazzini set Fiorentina on the way to a 2-0 win over struggling Reggina to maintain their four-point advantage in the final Champions League spot over AC Milan, who beat Cagliari 3-1 with the help of goals by returning forwards Kaka and two by Filippo Inzaghi.

In Germany, the match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Nuremberg was held up for 20 minutes and nearly abandoned due to flares being thrown from the away section.

Nuremberg eventually pulled off a shock 3-1 win to leave the bottom, but face a huge fine and possible points deduction as the German authorities seem determined to clamp down on outbreaks of hooliganism.

Bayern Munich are virtually nailed on as champions as they hit back from going one down early on at home to Bochum and then having Mark Van Bommel sent off after 27 minutes to win 3-1.

Lucio headed a swift equaliser, and a late penalty by Franck Ribery and clincher by Christian Lell took them nine points clear.

Schalke took over second place as a Halil Altintop header was enough to beat Hansa Rostock, while Hamburg slipped down to third, beaten 1-0 at Stuttgart by a stunning Roberto Hilbert volley.

Champions Stuttgart are one of five teams, separated by four points, fighting for the two remaining Champions League spots after they have put together a run of six wins and two draws in their last eight matches.

They are still two points behind Werder Bremen, who ended a bad recent run by winning 2-1 at Hertha Berlin, thanks to a goal after only 35 seconds by Markus Rosenberg and a winner by Tim Borowski from a superb Diego pass.

Real Madrid are seven points clear in Spain despite only drawing 1-1 at Mallorca, as main rivals Barcelona and Villarreal once again shot themselves in the foot.

Real took a fortunate lead just before the break through Wesley Sneijder, but then had Sergio Ramos sent off on 65 minutes, conceded an equaliser to Borja Valero's superb curler, and were hanging on for dear life at the end.

Their weekend was brightened up as Barcelona could only draw 0-0 at home to Getafe without Lionel Messi, Deco and Ronaldinho, who now looks likely to miss the rest of the season with a torn muscle.

Villarreal had put together a superb 10-match unbeaten run to take over second, but they crashed 2-0 at Sevilla, to a 23rd of the season for prolific Brazilian Luis Fabiano, and a late penalty by Fredi Kanoute.

In France, the door is slightly ajar for Bordeaux as leaders Lyon crashed 3-1 at Marseille to see their lead cut to six points.

Two goals in two minutes by Djibril Cisse and Mamadou Niang put Lyon on the back foot, and a Niang header made the points safe after Lorik Cana's own goal, to complete a double for Marseille over the six-time champions.

Bordeaux built on an early volley by Alou Diarra at Rennes, and wrapped up a 2-0 victory through a late header by Fernando.

Marseille are still three points adrift of the final Champions League spot as a superb header by Marc Antoine Fortune gave Nancy a 1-0 win over Paris St Germain.

That defeat leaves the capital club in the relegation zone, but they are one of four sides on 35 points, with most having six games to go.

Lens still have a match in hand, but they missed a glorious chance to steal a march on their relegation rivals as they could only draw 1-1 at home to cut-adrift bottom club Metz, who levelled in the last minute through Miralan Pjanic.