Argentina is the first port of call in this week's whistle-stop tour of the globe, where a big name drops out of the title race and a lesser known one still remains on top.

Argentina

Modest Lanus moved another step closer to their first domestic title when they drew 0-0 with Argentinos Juniors while Boca Juniors were beaten by Arsenal.

Boca dropped from second to third and were overtaken by promoted Tigre, who beat Rosario Central 2-1 in a game played on Friday in the Argentine Arpetura championship.

Lanus lead with 34 points from 17 games, three ahead of Tigre with Boca another point behind. The trio are the only teams still capable of winning the title with two rounds of games to play.

Striker Jose Sand nearly gave Lanus the three points when he hit the post with a shot on the turn in the 66th minute while Alvaro Perreira forced Lanus goalkeeper Carlos Bossio to make a difficult save shortly afterwards.

Boca never got into their stride at Arsenal and found themselves trailing when Andres San Martin took advantage of hesitant defending to head in Jose Luis Calderon's cross in the 24th minute.

The South American champions were in further trouble when Alejandro Gomez met Christian Diaz's cross with a diving header to score the second in the 44th minute before Uruguay forward Carlos Bueno (pictured) pulled one back for Boca in the 75th minute.

Independiente's chances ended when they drew 0-0 with arch-rivals Racing Club in a match between the two neighbours from the industrial district of Avellaneda.

The result left the Red Devils fourth with 27 points, ahead of Argentinos Juniors on goal difference.

Velez Sarsfield and River Plate, who both parted company with their respective coaches earlier this month, enjoyed differing fortunes under interim coaches.

Velez beat Gimnasia-La Plata 3-1 in their first game since Ricardo La Volpe's resignation while River, who parted company with former Argentina captain Daniel Passarella, lost 2-0 at home to Colon.

Brazil

Striker Kleber Pereira scored a hat-trick in 10 minutes on Sunday as Santos came from two goals down to win 3-2 at Parana and qualify for next year's Libertadores Cup.

Flamengo also made sure of a place in the South American equivalent of the Champions League with a 2-0 win over Atletico Paranaense.

The top four teams in the Brazilian championship, which has already been won by Sao Paulo, qualify for the Libertadores.

Santos coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo said that a colourful halftime team talk had breathed some life into his side.

"In the first half, the team didn't have a soul, we played without guts," the former Brazil and Real Madrid coach said. "I can't tell you what I said at halftime because there was a lot of swearing."

Relegation-threatened Parana went ahead with a Jumar free kick in the 30th minute and another from Paulo Rodrigues in the 70th as they appeared to throw themselves a lifeline.

But Santos hit back in remarkable fashion as Pereira turned in Dejan Petkovic's cross in the 73rd minute, equalised in the 81st and scored the winner two minutes later.

Parana stayed 18th in the 20-team table with 41 points. The bottom four are relegated.

Santos guaranteed a top-four finish with one game to play. Pele's former team are second with 62 points from 37 games.

Flamengo, one point behind in third, beat Paranaense with second-half goals from Renato Augusto and Juan in front of nearly 88,000 fans at the Maracana, the best attendance of the championship.

Palmeiras stayed in the top four despite losing 2-1 at Internacional where Fernando scored both goals for the hosts.

Mexico

Toluca were knocked out of the Mexican Apertura championship quarter-finals, losing to a Pumas UNAM team who finished 10 points behind them in the qualifying stage.

The Red Devils, under Argentina's 2006 World Cup coach Jose Pekerman, were held 1-1 at home in Sunday's second leg and lost 3-1 on aggregate.

Santos Laguna, Atlante and Guadalajara were the other teams to reach the last four.

Argentine Christian Gimenez put Toluca ahead in the 34th minute when he was sent clear by Vicente Sanchez's pass and fired past Sergio Bernal.

Toluca missed several chances to level the aggregate score and were punished when Esteban Solari equalised from a rebound in the 64th minute.

It was rough justice on Toluca, who finished their qualifying group with 34 points while Pumas were second with 24.

The 18 teams meet each other once but are divided into three groups.

Santos Laguna, who finished the qualifying stage with the highest total of 38 points, beat Morelia 3-2 to complete a 5-2 aggregate win.

Argentines Daniel Luduena and Matias Vuoso and Johnny Garcia shared the goals for Santos while Ever Guzman and Fernando Arce replied for Morelia.

Mexico's most popular club Guadalajara beat San Luis 1-0 with a second-half goal from Sergio Santana for a 2-1 aggregate win.

Atlante, in their first season after moving from Mexico City to Cancun, beat Cruz Azul 2-1 for a 3-1 aggregate win.

Venezuela forward Giancarlo Maldonado fired Atlante ahead from Gabriel Pereyra's pass then Jose Joel Gonzalez scored with a long-range shot in the 64th minute. Jared Borgetti replied for Cruz Azul with three minutes left.

Portugal

An early goal from Argentine striker Lisandro Lopez and a late one from winger Ricardo Quaresma gave leaders Porto an 2-0 win over Vitoria Setubal.

Champions Porto inflicted the first defeat of the season on the southern team to top the standings in the Portuguese championship with 29 points from 11 matches.

Benfica, who came from behind to win 3-1 at Academica on Saturday, are second on 25.

The two rivals,the only unbeaten sides in the league after the Setubal defeat, meet on Saturday at the Luz stadium.

Porto went ahead after six minutes when the Argentine Lopez collected a pass from compatriot Lucho Gonzalez and drove low past Setubal's keeper Eduardo. Lopez is the league's top scorer with 10 goals.

Winger Quaresma made the three points safe four minutes from the final whistle with a 25-yard shot.

Netherlands

Three first-half goals helped Ajax Amsterdam to collect a 4-1 victory over Vitesse Arnhem in the Dutch league.

Albert Luque set up Luis Suarez in the 17th minute to open the scoring and Gabri scored the second 10 minutes later.

Spanish striker Albert Luque added a third from the penalty spot in the 44th.

Mads Junker pulled one back for Vitesse on the stroke of halftime but with eight minutes of the match remaining Klaas-Jan Huntelaar made it 4-1.

Ajax moved back on top with 28 points from 12 matches, one point more then PSV Eindhoven who beat Excelsior Rotterdam 4-1 on Saturday.

Feyenoord are third with 25 following a 3-2 defeat at Groningen.

Roy Makaay struck after 10 minutes with his 300th official goal to put Feyenoord ahead but deep into the second half Marcus Berg and Erik Nevland scored for Groningen to turn the tide.

Nuri Sahin equalised for Feyenoord but in injury time Berg added his second to seal the stunning victory.

Giuseppe Rossini scored one minute before time to give Utrecht a 3-2 home win against NEC Nijmegen.

Sjaak Polak curled a freekick around the wall after 20 minutes to hand bottom side Sparta Rotterdam the lead against Twente Enschede though Orlando Engelaar salvaged a point for the visitors 19 minutes before time.

Twente are fifth with 20 points. Sparta climbed one spot on six points to leave Willem II Tilburg on goal difference at the bottom.

Greece

AEK Athens returned to the top of the Greek Super League as title rivals Panathinaikos dropped two points at Larissa.

AEK, who lost top spot when they were beaten by Panathinaikos a fortnight ago, got back to winning ways as they saw off OFI Crete 4-0.

After nine rounds of the Super League, AEK have 21 points, one more than Panathinaikos who drew 2-2 with Larissa.

Olympiakos Piraeus are third with 18 points after their 1-0 win over Veria on Saturday.

AEK, suffering a crisis of confidence after losing their last two games, began slowly and it took the 33rd-minute dismissal of OFI's Brazilian midfielder Leozinho for them to take a grip on the game.

Rivaldo opened the scoring in the 45th minute and further goals in the second half from Gustavo Manduca, Ismael Blanco and Charilaos Pappas ensured they will go into Thursday's UEFA Cup tie against Fiorentina with renewed confidence.

Panathinaikos took the lead against Larissa in the 15th minute when a cross from the right by Georgos Karagounis was met by a clean header from the unmarked Alexandros Tziolis.

Eight minutes later, however, Larissa were level when Cleyton struck a low shot from the left that skidded past Panathinaikos goalkeeper Mario Galinovic.

Three minutes into the second half Larissa were ahead. Galinovic did well to beat out a close-range header but Georgos Galitsios followed up to slip the ball home.

Panathinaikos looked to be heading for a surprise defeat before Marcelo Mattos found the net four minutes from time.

Atromitos moved up to fifth alongside Aris on 16 points when they beat Apollon Kalamaria 2-0 while PAOK also found some form with a 3-1 win over UEFA Cup hopefuls Panionios.

Newly-promoted Asteras Tripolis followed their win over Olympiakos in the last round with a convincing 3-0 victory at bottom club Ergotelis while Iraklis won by the same scoreline at Xanthi.

Bulgaria

None of the top three could manage a win this weekend, meaning there is no change in the top three places.

Leaders CSKA Sofia drew 1-1 away to Chernomorets Burgas, while local rivals Lokomotiv and Levski played out a goalless encounter to stay second and third respectively.

Slavia Sofia closed the gap on Levski to one point following their win 1-0 at home to Pirin Blagoevgrad.

Austria

The big derby at the top of the table ended goalless between Rapid and Austria Vienna. Austria remain on top above their local rivals by three points.

Sturm Graz moved up into the top four after their 6-1 drubbing of Altach, after Mattersburg could only draw 1-1 with Ried.

Wacker Innbruck remain rooted to the bottom of the table despite beating third placed LASK Linz 2-0.

Ukraine

Leaders Shakhtar Donetsk were held to a 1-1 home draw by bottom team Naftovik and saw their advantage cut to a point when a late goal by Jaba Kankava gave Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk a 1-0 win over Kharkiv Metalist.

Third-placed champions Dynamo Kiev are five points off the pace after a goal from Romanian defender Tiberiu Ghioane handed them a 1-0 success at city rivals Arsenal.

Hungary

Second-placed Honved Budapest squandered a 3-1 lead in a 4-3 defeat at basement team Tatabanya that left them a point behind MTK Budapest, who were playing at Sopron later on Monday.

Tamas Weisz scored twice and Milan Pastva added another in an 11-minute spell midway through the second half to help Tatabanya to their first league win of the season.

Poland

A late brace by Pawel Brozek gave Wisla Krakow a 3-1 win at bottom team Zaglebie Sosnowiec to stretch their lead to 10 points and their unbeaten run to 13 wins in 15 matches.

Closest rivals Kolporter Korona Kielce lost ground after a 4-1 home defeat by champions Zaglebie Lubin, whose striker Dawid Plizga scored twice. Legia Warsaw in third went level on points with them following a 2-1 win at Polonia Bytom.

Czech Republic

Slavia Prague stayed four points clear at the top with a goalless home draw against mid-table Olomouc after nearest rivals Teplice drew 1-1 at Mlada Boleslav.

Third-placed champions Sparta Prague trail the leaders by five points after Brno came from behind to beat them 4-2.

Croatia

Champions Dinamo Zagreb drew 1-1 at Medjimurje to stretch their lead at the top to 13 points after closest rivals Rijeka slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Slaven Belupo Koprivnica.

Dinamo's traditional rivals Hajduk Split continued their poor run when a 1-0 setback at NK Zagreb left them in fourth position 19 points off the pace.

Eurosport