Juventus and Inter, who have 42 points each from 17 games, both play on Monday while Lazio, with 39 from 17, have an outstanding fixture at home to Verona to come in early February.
Italy midfielder Antonio Candreva gave a dazzling performance as he scored a penalty and set up a second goal in a 2-0 win over Finland in their fast-paced final Euro 2016 warm-up in Verona on Monday. The 29-year-old winger coolly converted a 27th-minute spot kick after being brought down and delivered an inch-perfect cross for Daniele De Rossi to head home midway through the second half. Thriving on the right flank in an adventurous 3-4-3 formation, Candreva was a handful for the visitors throughout the evening, showing blistering pace as well as neat footwork. With their coach Antonio Conte fielding a three-pronged attack of Stephan El Shaarawy, Ciro Immobile and Simone Zaza, the Italians pressed high and hard to keep the Finns on the back foot from the start.
Four-times winners Germany enjoyed a 3-0 win over Group J rivals Iceland
Italy manager Antonio Conte named his provisional squad for the European Championship on Monday, and his selection was notable as much for the player he left off as for those he chose.
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Laxmi Negi/Rediff.com picks five of the best team performances from this round as the tournament heads into its business end.
Spain and Portugal played out an entertaining 0-0 draw on Friday as both sides prepared for this month's European Championship.
Images from action in the Europa League matches on Thursday.
RB Leipzig scored twice in the opening 13 minutes but had to survive a late comeback from Manchester United to cling on to a 3-2 win on Tuesday that sent them into the Champions League knockout stage and eliminated the English side.
Moritz Stoppelkamp scored an extraordinary goal from deep inside his own half, a Bundesliga record 83 metres, to cap a 2-0 win for upstarts Paderborn over Hanover 96 on Saturday, helping the promoted side go to of the table.
IMAGES from Serie A matches played in Italy on Wednesday.
Italy returned to winning ways as Nicolo Barella's header just before halftime secured a 1-0 victory away to a below-par Netherlands in their Nations League clash at an empty Johan Cruyff Arena on Monday.
Midfielder Riccardo Montolivo missed out on his second straight major tournament due to injury on Tuesday while Daniele De Rossi was included in Italy's 23-man squad for next month's European Championship in France.
Olympique de Marseille were the fall guys on a hectic opening night of Europa League group stage action as German club Eintracht Frankfurt returned from the south of France with a surprise 2-1 victory on Thursday.
Images from Wednesday's action in the Champions League.
Defender Diego Godin scored a dramatic goal nine minutes from time to send Uruguay through to the World Cup last 16 after a 1-0 win over Italy, on Tuesday, which sent the four-times champions home.
Italy midfielder Alessandro Florenzi believes they can prove the doubters wrong again in Friday's Euro 2016 clash with Sweden in Toulouse.
Captain Thiago Alcantara scored a first-half hat-trick to inspire Spain to a 4-2 win over Italy in the European Under-21 championship final on Tuesday.
Images from soccer matches played across Europe on Saturday.
Images from the matches played across football leagues in Europe on Sunday.
Heavyweights Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Lazio took big steps towards reaching the Europa League semi-finals after convincing home first-leg victories and RB Leipzig also stayed on course with a 1-0 win over Olympique de Marseille on Thursday.
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Lazio, having endured a miserable start to the season, had high hopes of victory at Genoa, who were languishing in the relegation zone at the start of the day.
Germany midfielder Marco Reus scored one goal and set up another in three minutes as Borussia Dortmund survived a late comeback to beat Augsburg 3-2 on Friday and bounce back from an opening Bundesliga defeat last week.
Borussia Dortmund snatched a late goal at Atalanta to progress with a 1-1 draw, while AC Milan and Atletico Madrid, both with three-goal leads from the away legs, completed the formality of qualifying with 1-0 wins at home on Thursday.
Cristiano Ronaldo was involved in all three of his team's goals as Juventus came from behind to beat Napoli 3-1 in a Serie A top-of-the-table clash on Saturday to maintain their perfect start to the season.
Juventus progressed to the Champions League last 16 after a Cristiano Ronaldo goal and a late header from substitute Alvaro Morata gave them a comeback 2-1 home win over Hungarians Ferencvaros on Tuesday.
Images from Sunday's action in La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1.
Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek had a Europa League night to remember by scoring the first hat-trick of his career as the midfielder inspired them to a 3-1 home win over Belarus champions BATE Borisov on Thursday.
IMAGES from the Europa League matches played on Thursday
Goals by Andrea Barzagli and Mario Lemina propelled Juventus to a 2-0 win at Atalanta Bergamo on Sunday and allowed them to restore their three-point advantage at the top of Serie A.
A spectacular piledriver from Juan Cuadrado gave Serie A leaders Juventus a 1-0 win over Inter Milan, ending a run of seven successive Serie A wins for their opponents in a pulsating end-to-end match on Sunday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Bayern Munich edged past Werder Bremen 2-1 on Saturday for a Bundesliga record 13th consecutive win over them to stay three points clear at the top of the table.
Mourinho's side failed to turn their domination into more goals and things got edgy late on when Saville's shot evaded Gazzaniga who seemed slow to get down.
Images from football action around European leagues played on Sunday
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Arsenal led a list of nine clubs who grabbed a second win in as many games in the Europa League group phase as France striker Olivier Giroud scored his 100th goal for the club in a 4-2 win at BATE Borisov on Thursday.
Unai Emery's Villarreal were much improved in the second half and had spurned numerous chances before Moreno's leveller.
Belgium finished five points clear at the top of League A Group 2 and will meet world champions France and former World Cup winners Italy and Spain in the final four next October.
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