A fantastic week for Spanish football in Europe, with six victories and an away draw from the seven matches. In the Champions League, Real Madrid beat Dynamo Kiev in the Ukraine with temperatures at 12 below zero, Valencia scored three second half goals to beat Bordeaux at home, and Barcelona drew at Hertha Berlin in a thick pea-souper fog. The performance of the week and probably the season however was Celta's humiliation of Benfica by 7-0 in the UEFA cup. Mallorca won by the usual single goal, but this time it was away at Ajax, and Atlético also won away against Wolfsburg. Deportivo went three up in 15 minutes against Panathinaikos, but let the Greek club back in the tie with two defensive errors. Results were as follows:

Champions League, second league phase, day 1

Hertha Berlin 1 - Barcelona 1

Barcelona: Hesp; Frank de Boer, Dehu; Reiziger, Guardiola, Zenden; Luis Enrique, Cocu; Figo, Kluivert (Dani), Ronald de Boer (Simao). 2-3-2-3.

Russian referee Nicolai Levkinov caused controversy in Berlin when he allowed the match to go ahead in unplayable conditions. A thick pea-souper fog had enveloped the ground before the game, and visibility was down to a few metres. Television cameras were unable to follow the game (they later lodged an official protest), and the only people who had any idea what happened were the players (and up to a point the referee). With Rivaldo injured, Van Gaal played Ronald de Boer on the left wing, and on-form Zenden played at left back in place of Sergi. Both goals came in the first half, with Barça opening the scoring through Luis Enrique, heading in from close range after Cocu had headed on Figo's corner. Berlin equalised on the half hour through Michalke, whose shot from the edge of the area beat Hesp. the referee turned down Barcelona's claims for two penalties, on Cocu and Figo, in the first half. With Oporto winning in Prague, Barcelona are second equal. They now have two home matches, the first against Sparta Prague in a fortnight.

Valencia 3 - Girondins de Bordeaux 0

Valencia: Palop; Angloma, Djukic, Pellegrino, Carboni; Farinós (Angulo), Mendieta, Gerard, Kily González; Claudio López, Ilie (Albelda). 4-4-2.

If Barcelona's supporters couldn't see the televised match for the fog, Valencia's couldn't see their team performance live due to a dispute between the TV companies. A pity because their team kept up their unbeaten record in the Champions League with a rousing display, especially in the second half. Hector Cúper lined up virtually the same side which beat Barcelona at the weekend, with only one change, Carboni for Fagiani at left back. Bordeaux's resistance was broken down half an hour from the end when Farinós beat keeper Rame with an impressive shot from outside of the area. Six minutes later Claudio López and Ilie combined for the second, the Rumanian striker scoring from close range. Bordeaux came forward but left themselves short at the back, and two minutes from the end Kily González took advantage to make it three nil. The downside to the match was that two of Valencia's key young players, Gerard and Albelda, both received yellow cards which will keep them out of the next match at Manchester United.

Dynamo Kiev 1 - Real Madrid 2

Real Madrid: Bizzarri; Salgado (Iván Campo), Karembeu, Julio César, Roberto Carlos; Seedorf (Karanka), Helguera, Guti, Savio (Sanchis); Morientes, Raúl. 4-4-2.

Real Madrid took their revenge on the team that knocked them out of the competition a year ago with a fighting victory played on an icy pitch at 12 degrees below zero. Caretaker manager Vicente Del Bosque only made one change from the Saturday line up, bringing in Morientes (suspended in the league) in place of the off-form Anelka (pictures of the French striker standing apart from the rest of the players and looking depressed suggest that the pressure is getting to him, and del Bosque must be wondering how to animate the player and integrate him into the squad). Geremi may have played, but he injured himself getting off the team coach before the match and had to sit it out. As luck (or bad luck) would have it, the player he would probably have replaced, Michel Salgado, was injured himself in the first half when he collided with a block of ice at the side of the pitch and is now expected to be out for three weeks with a dislocated shoulder, yet another in a long list of injuries. Morientes opened the scoring on the quarter hour, firing in after a Roberto Carlos cross was left by Raúl, (incidentally, Roberto Carlos and Julio César both admitted it was the first time they had played on snow). Five minutes into the second half Madrid were two up, Raúl adding to his already impressive tally of goals in Europe with a shot from outside of the area after picking up a pass from Savio. Both sides could have scored, with Bizzarri, playing one of his best games for the club in goal, stopping shots from Rebrov and Iachkin, but the Madrid keeper could do nothing to stop the goal when it came, Rebrov scoring from the penalty spot four minutes from time after a foul by Karembeu. This was Madrid's first win under Del Bosque and could be the turning point for them, but with a nightmare journey back to Spain and a difficult match at Celta at the weekend, don't expect miracles just yet.