Juventus climb to top of Serie A with win over Lecce
A stunning Mario Balotelli free-kick gave AC Milan a 2-1 win over mid-table Parma in Serie A on Friday that put them level with third-placed Lazio and a point ahead of rivals Inter Milan in the race for European places.
Napoli jumped to second place in Serie A thanks to a laboured 1-0 win at lowly Cagliari while fellow title hopefuls Inter Milan suffered a 1-0 defeat at Parma in Monday's late game.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane handed a La Liga debut to his son Luca by starting him in Saturday's 2-2 draw at Villarreal in their final Liga game of the season, making the goalkeeper the third Zidane family member to play for the Spanish giants.
Saul Niguez's second-half strike gave Atletico Madrid a 1-0 win at home to Las Palmas on Saturday, their first victory in four games in all competitions.
Juventus slumped to another surprise defeat on Wednesday when the champions lost 1-0 at Sassuolo while AS Roma reclaimed top spot in Serie A with a 3-1 home victory over Udinese.
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.
Promoted Alaves dealt champions Barcelona a shock 2-1 defeat at the Nou Camp on Saturday while Cristiano Ronaldo returned from injury to help Real Madrid thrash Osasuna 5-2 and go two points clear at the top of La Liga. With Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta on the bench, Barcelona went behind to the visitors in the 39th minute before Frenchman Jeremy Mathieu equalised in the 46th. Ibai Gomez then scored the winner in the 64th.
Goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who made a mockery of his two-month exile from the starting lineup with a superb individual effort, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic secured an easy win that banished memories of their earlier group stage struggles.
Real Madrid brushed off the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale to beat Espanyol 2-0 away and maintain their 100 per cent start to the league season while matching the La Liga record of 16 consecutive victories.
Milan replaced Gennaro Gattuso with former Sampdoria coach Giampaolo during the close season in a bid to improve on last season's fifth place and to take them back to the Champions League.
Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele scored twice and produced a mesmerising display to fire his side to a 5-1 win over Villarreal on Wednesday which stretched the champions' unbeaten run this season to 36 games with two remaining.
Barcelona's Lionel Messi rescued a 1-1 draw at Villarreal with a sensational late free-kick on Sunday but could not prevent the champions finishing the weekend third in La Liga, five points behind leaders Real Madrid.
Real Madrid produced a gutsy performance to earn a 1-0 win at Sevilla, on Sunday, which took them level on points at the top of La Liga
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Paulo Dybala came off the bench to give unbeaten Serie A leaders Juventus a 1-0 win away to a brave Bologna side who had the better of the match and hit the post in stoppage time on Sunday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Photographic summary of the football matches played across Spain, Italy and France
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
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