Juventus takes lead in Serie A standings

Juventus got a late goal to beat Napoli 1-0 and snatch the lead of Italy’s Serie A from its southern rival Saturday.

In Spain, Cristiano Ronaldo kept Real Madrid in the title hunt in La Liga by scoring two goals in a win over Athletic Bilbao.

Here is a look at the action from Europe’s top leagues on Saturday:

ITALY

Seeking its fifth consecutive title, Juventus moved one point ahead of Napoli after substitute Simone Zaza scored two minutes from time.

It was Juventus’ 15th straight win, moving the Bianconeri within two victories of matching the Serie A record established by Inter Milan in 2006-07.

Frosinone beat Empoli 2-1 for its first road win in the top division while Chievo Verona and Sassuolo drew 1-1.

SPAIN

Ronaldo moved to the top of the Spanish league’ s scoring table with his 20th and 21st goals in Real Madrid’s 4-2 win over Athletic Bilbao.

Ronaldo opened in the third minute of an attractive first half at the Santiago Bernabeu that finished with James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos giving Madrid a 3-1 lead by the break.

The Portugal star added a fourth goal in the final minutes after teammate Rapael Varane was sent off with a second yellow card.

While Madrid provisionally rose into second place behind leader Barcelona, Gary Neville got his first Spanish league win in charge of Valencia. Substitute Alvaro Negredo and newcomer Denis Cheryshev scored in the final 20 minutes of a 2-1 comeback over visiting Espanyol.

Villarreal strengthened its hold on fourth place and the last Champions League spot with a 1-0 win over Malaga while Deportivo La Coruna was held to a 2-2 draw by Real Betis.

GERMANY

Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s goal lifted Borussia Dortmund to a 1-0 win over bottom side Hannover and provisionally cut Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga lead to five points.

Hoffenheim drew 1-1 at Werder Bremen in Julian Nagelsmann’s first game in charge of the visitors.

Stuttgart upset Hertha Berlin 2-0, Bayer Leverkusen took advantage of Hertha’s slip and defeated Darmstadt 2-1 to move third. Wolfsburg also beat Ingolstadt 2-0.