European round-up: Milan go top, Barca and Atletico win

ITALY

In Serie A, AC Milan replaced Inter Milan at the summit following a 1-0 win at Napoli sealed by Olivier Giroud four minutes into the second half.

Stefano Pioli’s side are two points clear of Inter having played a game more, while Napoli are a further point behind in third.

Fourth-placed Juventus are four points behind Napoli having beaten Spezia 1-0 at home courtesy of Alvaro Morata’s first-half finish.

Fiorentina and Hellas Verona, eighth and ninth respectively, battled out a 1-1 draw in Florence, with Krzysztof Piatek’s early opener for the hosts cancelled out by a Gianluca Caprari penalty, and Domenico Berardi notched a brace of spot-kicks as Sassuolo won 4-1 at Venezia.

Second-bottom Genoa registered a sixth successive draw as it ended 0-0 at home against Empoli, and it was the same scoreline between Bologna and Torino.

SPAIN

Barcelona moved up to third place in LaLiga after Memphis Depay's late penalty secured a 2-1 come-from-behind win at Elche.

Having gone a goal down just prior to the break via a Fidel finish, Xavi's Barca equalised on the hour mark thanks to Ferran Torres and Depay then struck the winner from the spot with six minutes of normal time remaining following an Antonio Barragan handball.

Elche subsequently finished the game with 10 men after Javier Pastore was shown a red card.

Champions Atletico Madrid also rose a place to fourth as Joao Felix’s brace helped them to a 3-1 victory at Real Betis, who slip to fifth. Felix scored in the second and 61st minutes, either side of Cristian Tello’s reply for Betis in first-half stoppage time, and Thomas Lemar wrapped things up for Diego Simeone’s men with 10 minutes remaining.

Both Barcelona and Atletico are seven points behind second-placed Sevilla (15 behind Real