Ronaldo in his pomp

European Round-up

CRISTIANO RONALDO fired Juventus to their 12th win of the season in Serie A with a 2-0 win over SPAL.

Goals from the Portugal international and Mario Mandzukic gave Juve a nine-point lead over Napoli and saw Ronaldo joining Genoa striker Krzysztof Piatek as top scorer in Italy with nine.

Ronaldo opened the scoring after 28 minutes with a controlled left-footed finish into the corner from Miralem Pjanic’s free-kick, becoming the first player since Pietro Anastasi in 1968-69 to reach nine goals in 13 games for the club.

Juve doubled their lead on the hour. Douglas Costa’s powerful shot was parried by Alfred Gomis into the path of Mandzukic, who tapped in.

Davide Nicola masterminded a 1-0 win over Roma on his debut as Udinese coach, ending a 10-match losing run.

Rodrigo De Paul scored early in the second half to move Udinese above Bologna into 16th place on 12 points, while Roma remain on 19 points in seventh.

Unbeaten Borussia Dortmund opened up a seven-point lead in the Bundesliga after goals from Paco Alcacer and Lukasz Piszczek in a 2-1 win over Mainz.

Second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt beat Augsburg 3-1 but champions Bayern Munich are fifth after a 3-3 draw against Fortuna Duesseldorf.