EUROZONE: Honda gets overtaken by teenager Berardi, Costa loses patriot games.. and Alex can't Adam and Yves it!

By Bob Treasure

Published: 11:53 EDT, 13 January 2014 | Updated: 12:00 EDT, 13 January 2014

Each week Sportsmail brings you all the biggest news from across the continent, including all the controversy and talking points from the weekend's action.

FRANCE

Labouring to a 2-1 win against the league’s bottom side may not generally be considered The Stuff Of Champions, but this turned out to be a rather excellent weekend for said title holders PSG.

Only four points separated the Paris side, Monaco and Lille at the top of Ligue 1 on Friday morning, but by the evening Monaco had missed a golden opportunity to cut the gap at the top down to a point.

The heat is on! Paris St Germain went top in Ligue 1 despite getting a cold shower

Spot on: M Baye Niang celebrates after scoring the penalty that held Monaco to a 1-1 draw

The nouveau riche side travelled to Montpellier, who have been largely dreadful this season, and after going ahead through Layvin Kurzawa, were held to a 1-1 draw by Milan loanee M’Baye Niang’s penalty – the spot kick won by Newcastle target Remy Cabella, who was excellent.

Claudio Ranieri should have realised he’d be in for one of those proverbial days when Ricardo Carvalho, after removing his undershirt at the referee’s insistence, attempted to rejoin the game with his kit on backwards.

PSG took centre stage on Saturday with a trip down to Corsica where they found bottom side Ajaccio in no mood to roll over. The hosts took the lead in the 6th minute, but second-half goals from Ezequiel Lavezzi and Blaise Matuidi saw the champions open up a five-point lead at the top of the table.

Not so Swede: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (centre) failed to score at the weekend - as did Radamel Falcao and Edinson Cavani

With their smash and grab victory in the bag, it was very much ‘job done’ for PSG. The home side didn’t quite see it that way though, and gave the Parisians a taste of classic Corsican hospitality before they headed back north – a freezing post-match shower.

Clean-sheet kings Lille’s shock home defeat to Reims completed a perfect few days for PSG, and also a rare weekend in which Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Radamel Falcao and Edinson Cavani all failed to find the net.

*****

Sailing hasn’t quite been so smooth for PSG off the field in the last week, however, after the opinions of former Chelsea centre-half, Alex, on gay marriage were unwisely aired by French broadcasters Canal+ around the same time as Thomas Hitzlsperger revealed his sexuality.

Foot in mouth disease: Alex made some ill advised coments on sexuality in the same week that Thomas Hitzlsperger came out

‘God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Yves,’ the Brazilian quipped.

*****

Elsewhere, (reported) Arsenal targets past and present got themselves on the scoresheet at the Stade Gerland, as Yoann Gourcuff and Clement Grenier saw Lyon past Sochaux, and the similarly mid-table meeting between Bordeaux and Toulouse was won by the exotically-named Martin Braithwaite’s (he’s Danish, by the way) goal for the latter.

Bordeaux’s cause wasn’t helped by Maxime Poundje, however, when the left-back got himself sent off for the third time this season – the most of any player in the major European leagues.

*****

Reports from the south of France last week claimed that a French court has ordered Loic Remy to take a paternity test to determine whether he is the father of a young lad called Adriano.

Paternity test: France international Loic Remy has been accused of fathering a love child in his homeland

For the last two years, Mini Valentine, a student from Toulouse, has claimed that her son Adriano is the result of a passionate encounter with the Newcastle striker.

Remy has, apparently, denied this version of events, with the following quote attributed to him in the aforementioned reports:

‘They dirtied my name, they tried to make me seem as if a girl is worth nothing, but all I wanted was that my son could take the name of his father. So that he never has to ask me who he actually is and where he has come from.’

ITALY

Milan’s trip to Sassuolo on Sunday evening was Japanese international Keisuke Honda’s first competitive taste of life with the Rossoneri. A 4-3 defeat against the league’s bottom club later, and Honda might have been wondering what he’d got himself into.

Eastern promise: Keisuke Honda made his competitive debut in AC Milan's 4-3 loss to Sassuolo

The match had been shrouded by media attention from early last week, when Honda’s arrival was confirmed – Sassuolo received over 200 accreditation requests from Japanese reporters for the match.

The Milan ultras were also in the spotlight in the run-up to the game, after they chose to boycott the fixture over the ticket prices. Their statement read: ‘The Curva Sud Milano will not take part in the Sassuolo game because it is inconceivable that a ticket for the basic away end costs €40!

'Let us not then complain if the stadiums are sad and empty, as with these prices it is impossible to follow your beloved team!’

The ultras may have been regretting their decision to abstain from the match in the early stages, when Milan took a 2-0 lead inside 13 minutes through Robinho and Mario Balotelli. During the following 34 minutes, however, viewers witnessed something incredible: the Domenico Berardi show.

Teenage kicks! 19-year-old Domenico Berardi (centre) became the youngest player to score four goals in a Serie A game

The 19-year-old striker pounced on every mistake Milan made, and in doing so, became the youngest exponent of a four-goal haul in Serie A history.

With many a club sniffing around for a new striker this January, you might think Berardi’s Sunday night exploits could see him prised from the clutches of lowly Sassuolo. But it’s bad news all round, I’m afraid – he’s owned by Juventus.

*****

The defeat in Sassuolo put a dampener on an otherwise joyous week for one particular Milan player, as Kaka scored his 100th (and 101st) goals for the club last Monday against Atalanta. It’s like he never went away.

*****

At the top of the table, Juventus negotiated the long trip to Cagliari with consummate ease and headed back to Turin with a 4-1 win in the bag.

Talent spotting: Manchester United manager David Moyes was in the stands to watch Juventus pplay Cagliari

Replacment: Moyes was believed to be watching Claudio Marchisio (left) after United let Paul Pogba leave

Also at the Stadio Is Arenas on Sunday was David Moyes, who was getting in some first-hand scouting. There is some debate as to whom, exactly, the United boss had his eye on (Davide Astori and Arturo Vidal among those suggested), but Eurozone suspects Juventus’ box-to-box midfielder Claudio Marchisio most interested Moyes of the players on show.

The 27-year-old came through the Juventus youth system, and despite his key contributions to last two Scudetto-winning campaigns, has found himself used more sparingly of late due to the emergence of Paul Pogba.

He scored an absolute belter on Sunday, though, so he can’t have done his chances of a move any harm.

*****

Homegrown: Lorenzo Insigne became the first Italian to score for Napoli in Serie A this season

Juventus’ title rivals were also both in action on Sunday, as Roma blew away Genoa 4-0 and Napoli logged an impressive 3-0 win at Verona, during which Lorenzo Insigne, the club’s much-coveted academy product, remarkably became the first Italian to score for Napoli in the league this season.

SPAIN

The first league meeting of Spain’s top two had been eagerly anticipated for weeks, but much like their respective points tallies suggest (50 and 50), Barcelona and Atletico Madrid could not be separated by 90 minutes, and the sides played out an entertaining 0-0 draw.

Atletico boss Diego Simeone was pleased with a result that, you’d imagine, both sides would have settled for before the match, and the Argentine wasn’t about to stop short of putting into context just how impressive his players’ efforts were.

Top of the table clash: Lionel Messi's (centre) Barcelona could only manage a goalless draw with Atletico in La Liga

‘50 points is a lot. They have earned it, worked hard. They have done everything that was needed and I congratulate them,’ Simeone said.

‘Now they can rest because on Tuesday we have another important game in the Copa del Rey, which we want to stay in.

‘We said before the game we respect Barca. There’s a small budget difference of €400m between us so I think with the tools we have, we’ve struggled and fought to get here.’

*****

The match must have come as a welcome distraction for two of sides’ superstars, after Xavi and Diego Costa both found themselves in the limelight during the last week.

Speculation rumbled around the future of 33-year-old Xavi, with reports suggesting the Barcelona veteran is set to turn his hand to the MLS with the New York Red Bulls at the end of this season. Xavi’s friendship with former team-mate, and current Red Bulls striker, Thierry Henry may prove a determining factor in a potential move.

Patriot games: Diego Costa was given stick by Valancia fans for choosing to play for Spain instead of Brazil

The attention afforded Diego Costa recently has been of an entirely less savoury nature. The Brazilian-born striker appears all-set to represent Spain at this year’s World Cup, but Atleti’s star man will need to develop thick skin if the chanting aimed at him by Valencia fans during last week’s Copa del Rey match is to become a regular occurrence.

‘Costa, b*****d! You’re not Spanish!’ the Mestalla faithful screamed.

*****

Real Madrid eased to a 0-1 win against Espanyol on Sunday, and not to be outdone by their title rivals, they too found themselves in the media’s gaze.

Tone deaf: Former Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain has denied complaining that the Bernabeu nevr sang his name

Former Real striker Gonzalo Higuain gave an interview to Sportsweek, an Italian magazine produced alongside Gazetta dello Sport, in which he waged war with the club’s fans.

‘At the Bernabéu they never dedicated a song to me,’ said Higuain, now at Napoli.

‘Every time they sing my name at the San Paolo, it reverberates [around the stadium] like thunder.’

Higuain later took to Twitter to deny the remarks, however: ‘Good morning everyone. I wish to categorically deny saying that the Bernabéu never shouted my name. The words never left my mouth. I wanted to clear that up.’