Inter gift the title to Juventus

Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and Lyon all staged smash and grab raids to snatch the Italian, German and French titles on a dramatic weekend in Europe.

By comparison, Valencia waltzed away with the Spanish championship - with the luxury of a game to spare - winning 2-0 at Malaga to clinch their first title for 31 years.

ITALY: Juventus clinched the Serie A title on the final day of the season yesterday, winning 2-0 at Udinese as favourites Inter Milan crashed to an agonising 4-2 defeat at Lazio.

Juventus finished top on 71 points, with AS Roma second on 70 points after winning 1-0 at Torino, and Inter, who started the day a point clear at the top, third on 69.

Juve's 26th title, their first since 1998, provided sweet revenge for coach Marcello Lippi who was sacked by Inter after the first game of last season.

Inter are left still searching for their first title since 1989 and yesterday's results mean that Hector Cuper's side, who led throughout the title run-in, now have to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League.

Chievo's 2-1 win over Atalanta ensured they join Lazio and Parma in the UEFA Cup next season.

Verona were relegated to Serie B after they lost 3-0 to Piacenza while Brescia, thanks to a goal from Roberto Baggio, secured their Serie A survival with a 3-0 victory over Bologna.

SPAIN: Valencia's South American connection ensured that they clinched their first Spanish league title since 1971, by winning 2-0 at Malaga yesterday evening.

First-half goals from Argentine international Roberto Ayala and Brazilian defender Fabio Aurelio gave Valencia the fifth championship in their history, after Real Madrid could only draw 0-0 with Real Mallorca.

Real, the defending champions, were the only team able to overhaul the leaders prior to the penultimate day of the championship.

Valencia now have an unassailable 72 points from 37 games while Real stay in second with 66 points with just one round of matches left to play.

Deportivo La Coruna kept up the pressure on Real for direct qualification into next season's Champions League group stage by winning 3-0 at Real Betis.

GERMANY: It was samba time in Dortmund after the pride of the grey Ruhr city recaptured their place at the summit of German football, but perpetual runners-up Leverkusen suffered the blues yet again.

Samba Borussia screamed a headline on the front page yesterday's Bild am Sonntag after the 1997 European champions ended a frustrating drought by sealing the Bundesliga title in a frantic finale on Saturday.

The image of Brazilians Dede, Marcio Amoroso and Ewerthon beaming as they lifted the coveted silver plate provided a symbol of a triumph with a definite South American flavour.

While over 60,000 fans, who had waited for something to celebrate since Dortmund's shock 3-1 win over Juventus in the 1997 Champions League final, joyfully invaded the pitch, tears flowed in Leverkusen.

The Champions League finalists finished second again, for the fourth time in six years.

FRANCE: It took Olympique Lyon more than 50 years to be crowned French champions, but the last 90 minutes before the title were probably the most thrilling.

For the first time in first division history, the title race was decided on the last day in a direct confrontation between the two contenders as Lyon beat RC Lens 3-1.

Three times during the season, Lens, who had led the standings since October, had an eight-points lead over Lyon.

But they lost momentum while their rivals finished strongly.

NETHERLANDS: Ajax won the Dutch football championship following their 2-0 victory over NEC Nijmegen in the 34th and final round of matches yesterday.

Ajax, on 73 points, finished five points ahead of last season's champions PSV Eindhoven.

EUROPEAN LEAGUE TITLE WINNERS

France - Olympique Lyon.

Germany - Borussia Dortmund.

Italy - Juventus.

Netherlands - Ajax Amsterdam.

Portugal - Sporting.

Spain - Valencia.