Juventus reached the halfway point of the Serie A season with a commanding five-point lead over Roma after thrashing Verona for the second time in four days on Sunday.
Gonzalo Higuain burst into life by scoring a hat-trick in the final half hour, his first league goals of the season, to help Rafael Benitez's erratic Napoli thrash Verona 6-2 in Serie A on Sunday.
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.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field on Friday
Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 600th league appearance with his 20th Serie A goal of the season as Juventus beat Spezia 3-0 on Tuesday to move within three points of second-placed AC Milan.
A round-up of Saturday's action in La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A.
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.
Carlo Ancelotti's side held a two-goal lead at halftime thanks to strikes from Dries Mertens and Kostas Manolas, but Balotelli pulled one back as Brescia rallied after the break.
Gonzalo Higuain netted twice, the first a superb individual effort, to give Napoli a 4-2 win at Lazio while Fiorentina beat Hellas Verona 4-3 in a Serie A scoring spree on Monday.
Inter Milan have appointed former Ajax Amsterdam manager Frank de Boer as their new head coach on a three-year contract replacing Roberto Mancini.
Inter Milan have been fined 15,000 euros after fans chanted racist slogans about their former striker Mario Balotelli during a Serie A match on Sunday.
Soccer player Emanuele Pesoli has chained himself to the gates of the Italian football federation headquarters in Rome and gone on hunger strike in protest at being banned for three years in a match-fixing scandal.
Inter Milan gave Roberto Mancini his first Serie A victory since returning as coach a month ago when they won 2-0 in soggy conditions at Chievo on Monday.
IMAGES from Serie A matches played in Italy on Wednesday.
A second-half equaliser by Marco Borriello earned struggling Genoa a 1-1 draw at Serie A leaders Juventus on Saturday, denting the champions' hopes of a second successive title.
Francesco Totti came off the bench to make his 600th league appearance for AS Roma as they beat in-form Chievo 3-0 at home on Sunday to climb to second place in Serie A.
Holders Napoli, already reeling after being deduced two Serie A points for match-fixing, were knocked out of the Italian Cup last 16 after suffering a last-gasp 2-1 home defeat by Bologna on Wednesday.
Champions Juventus continued their resurgence by beating Hellas Verona 3-0 at home for an eighth successive Serie A victory as Inter Milan remained top after winning 1-0 at Empoli.
Inter Milan's unhappy run continued when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by lowly Chievo in Serie A on Monday and were jeered off the San Siro pitch by their own fans
He made it 3-0 with a superb first-time finish into the bottom corner in the 20th minute, scoring his first ever treble in a competitive game, more than 19 years after making his professional debut.
Barcelona twice threw away the lead to draw 3-3 at Levante on Tuesday in a potentially fatal blow to their chances of winning the La Liga title.
Udinese and former Italy striker Antonio di Natale said he would retire at the end of the season. The 36-year-old played for Italy 42 times and scored 11 goals before quitting international football after the 2012 European Championship.
Images from football matches played in Europe on Sunday.
So what is the Pope to do when a little boy rushes his stage and steals the show? Ignore the child and let him play, it seems. A 6-year-old from Argentina walked on to the Vatican stage during Pope Francis' papal audience. The child delighted worshippers and the pontiff alike as he played on stage.
Giampiero Ventura, a 68-year-old who has never won a major title, was named on Tuesday as the next Italy coach to replace Antonio Conte after Euro 2016.
Inter moved on to 68 points, ahead of Lazio on goal difference as the sides are level on their head-to-head records. They are eight points behind Juventus with six games to play.
AS Roma were dumped out of the Italian Cup on penalties by second-tier Spezia after a 0-0 draw at home extended their winless streak to seven matches and heaped pressure on coach Rudi Garcia.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic curled home a stunning freekick and then turned provider as AC Milan moved to within one point of Juventus at the top of Serie A with a 3-0 home win over Cagliari on Sunday.
AS Roma kept alive their faint hopes of landing a Champions League spot next season with an eye-catching 1-0 victory over Chievo Verona at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday.
Italian champions Inter Milan ended a damaging week on a high by beating Chievo Verona 2-0 at the San Siro to move two points behind Serie A leaders AC Milan on Saturday.
A summary of Sunday's action in Serie A and La Liga.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
AS Roma stalwart Francesco Totti came off the bench with four minutes left and scored twice to give his Champions League-chasing side a dramatic 3-2 win over Torino in Serie A on Wednesday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Atletico Madrid took a giant step towards the La Liga title
Fiorentina hit four goals before halftime, including a cheeky backheel by Gonzalo Rodriguez and a Panenka-style penalty from Khouma Babacar, to beat Frosinone 4-1 and join Inter Milan at the top of Serie A on Sunday.
Carlos Tevez scored a solo goal after a run that started inside his own half to cap an emphatic 7-0 win for Serie A leaders Juventus over hapless Parma on Sunday.
Juventus laboured to a 1-0 win at struggling Siena to end a barren four-match run in Serie A on Sunday while a late Alessandro Nesta double earned resurgent AC Milan a stunning 2-1 comeback triumph at Chievo Verona.
Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez secured victory over nine-man Atletico Madrid in La Liga's top of the table clash, while Juventus won a 12th straight Serie A game to stay hot on the heels of leaders Napoli.
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