AJAX sustained their first league defeat in 53 matches yesterday, going down 1-0 at Willem II Tilburg - the last side to beat them in the Dutch first division in May 1994. Willem midfielder Henn van der Vegt scored the 55th minute winner from a deflection.
It was the world club champions' second loss in four days after going unbeaten in all competitions since September 1994. They went down 2-1 to Maccabi Haifa in a friendly in Israel on Thursday.
Ajax still lead the Dutch League by eight points from second placed PSV Eindhoven, who have a game in hand. Willem climbed to third, 20 points behind Ajax and level with Feyenoord and Heerenveen.
In Italy, AC Milan, badly missing the finishing power of Liberia's George Weah, struggled to a 0-0 draw with lowly Cremonese, allowing second placed Fiorentina to cut their lead in the league to a point.
With European footballer of the year Weah absent on African Nations' Cup duty, Milan's front line trio of Dejan Savicevic, Roberto Baggio and Marco Simone rarely looked like breaking down the Cremonese defence.
Simone and Savicevic struggled to impose themselves on Cremonese's defence and only Baggio looked capable of making up for Weah's absence. Cremonese goalkeeper Luigi Turci was in superb form, twice denying Baggio in the opening 45 minutes with fine reflex saves.
As Milan struggled, Cremonese grew in confidence and were unlucky not to claim all three points when only a goal line save by Sebastiano Rossi denied Andrea Tentoni in the 80th minute.
Fiorentina took full advantage with a 2-1 win at home to Piacenza, thanks to first half goals from Anselmo Robbiati, his third in three matches, and Francesco Baiano. At the halfway stage of the Italian championship, Milan are first with 34 points from 17 matches. Fiorentina are a point adrift on 33.
Parma, third on 31 points, revived their title hopes with an impressive 4-0 win over Cagliari - their first in four matches. Roberto Mussi scored Parma's opener with a perfectly-judged lob over goalkeeper Valerio Fiori in the 17th minute.
The home side added three more goals in the second half despite having defender Luigi Apolloni sent off in the 56th minute for his second bookable offence.
Champions Juventus, also reduced to 10 men by the first-half dismissal of Pietro Vierchowod, needed a 41st minute penalty from Fabrizio Ravanelli to salvage a 1-1 draw at home to Bari. Serie A's top scorer Igor Protti had given the visitors a shock ninth minute lead with his 13th goal of the season.
The latest instalment in Juventus's topsy turvy season prompted club president Umberto Agnelli to admit "this side is not good enough for the championship'
Until Ravanelli's penalty levelled the scores, Bari's lethal counter attack looked worthy of more than the irrepressible Protti's ninth minute opener. It took a brave save by Angelo Peruzzi to deny Protti again in the 20th minute, while it took a professional foul by Vierchowod to stop the striker in the 38th.
Marco Branca struck twice against his former club Roma to give Roy Hodgson's Inter Milan a morale boosting 2-0 victory after a run of three defeats in four matches.
Inter's Branca took just 17 minutes to claim revenge on Roma for discarding him after just three months of the season. The much travelled striker, a veteran of five first division clubs, met Javier Zanetti's cross with a powerful header past former team mate Giovanni Cervone for Inter's opener.
Not satisfied, Branca made Roma pay for a series of squandered chances and scored again in the 66th minute, his eighth goal of the season.
In Spain, Compostela rose to second in the league with a 2-1 home victory over fellow challengers Espanyol. In only their second season at the top level, Compostela have 42 points from 21 games. They are seven points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, who drew 1-1 at Albacete on Saturday, and one ahead of Espanyol. Compostela have let only two points slip in 11 home games.
Real, the defending league champions, fell 2-0 behind at home to Zaragoza, but came back with two late goals to earn a point. Despite the comeback, the 70,000 tans in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium hissed at the Real team at the end, and the result is bound to increase the pressure on coach Jorge Valdano.
Valdano criticised journalists at a press conference after the match: "You start by criticising one player. Fernando Redondo for example, and then when he plays well you start picking on somebody else," he said.
