European round-up: Barcelona extend lead over Real Madrid in La Liga

Barcelona extended their lead at the top of La Liga to nine points with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Valencia as Real Madrid were held 0-0 by Real Betis.

Raphinha scored the only goal of the game, his sixth for the club, and Barcelona were able to hold on despite finishing the match with 10 men after Ronald Araujo was shown a red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity just before the hour mark.

Manager Xavi watched on from the stands due to a suspension as Barcelona bounced back from their shock defeat at relegation strugglers Almeria last week.

Madrid lost ground on the leaders as they recorded a second straight La Liga draw.

Real Valladolid moved further away from the relegation zone with a 2-1 win over Espanyol.

Ivan Sanchez and Alvaro Aguado scored either side of half-time to put the hosts ahead, with Espanyol pulling one back through Martin Braithwaite in the 87th minute.

The points were shared in a goalless draw between Rayo Vallecano and Athletic Bilbao.

Roma moved up into fourth in Serie A with an important 1-0 win over Juventus.

Gianluca Mancini scored the only goal of the game, while Juventus finished the match with 10 men, with Moise Kean shown a red card in the 90th minute.

Inter Milan tightened their grip on a Champions League place with comfortable 2-0 win over Lecce and they remain second in the table, still 15 points behind leaders Napoli.

Inter took the lead in the first half when former Arsenal player Henrikh Mkhitaryan fired into the corner and Lautaro Martinez doubled the advantage eight minutes into the second half.

Elsewhere in Serie A, Spezia and Hellas Verona played out a goalless draw, as did Sampdoria and Salernitana.

In the Bundesliga, Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen secured all three points with a