The Euro Roundup: Dortmund, Barca, Juve strengthen leads

All you need to know from the weekend of European soccer, which saw all the top sides take three points.

As we approach the halfway mark around Europe’s top leagues, those at the summit are beginning to exert their dominance.

This weekend there were wins for Barcelona, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund, who all top their respective leagues, while PSG’s lead remains 10 points in France.

Barca turn on the style

Both the top two in Spain — Barcelona and Sevilla — were on the winning side this weekend as they beat Levante and Girona respectively.

Barcelona’s win was away from home, 5-0, with Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick after Luis Suarez’s opener and before Gerard Pique added a late strike.

Sevilla were comfortable winners at home, with an Ever Banega penalty and a Pablo Sarabia goal securing a 2-0 victory.

Real Madrid were narrow 1-0 winners at home to Rayo Vallecano. Karim Benzema’s early goal proved to be the difference in the game, with Real unconvincing once again.

Atletico Madrid were 3-2 winners at Real Valladolid, Celta Vigo were held to a goalless draw with Leganes and Real Betis won 3-1 at Espanyol. The action concludes on Monday evening when Alaves host Athletic Bilbao knowing a win would take them back into fifth place.

Napoli bounce back

Cristiano Ronaldo scored Serie A’s 5000th goal as Juventus won 1-0 for the second league game in a row away at Torino.

Napoli bounced back from their Champions League exit midweek with a 1-0 win at Cagliari, with Inter winning by the same scoreline at the San Siro against Udinese.

The game of the weekend in Italy saw Roma beat Genoa 3-2 at the Stadio Olimpico. Genoa led twice in the game but were pegged back by Federico Fazio and then Justin Kluivert, before Bryan Cristante scored the winning goal with around a third of the game to go.

Fiorentina beat Empoli 3-1, Sampdoria beat Parma 2-0 and Sassuolo won by the same scoreline at Frosinone, while Atalanta host Lazio on Monday night and AC Milan go to Bologna on Tuesday to conclude the Serie A matchweek.

Riots disrupt play

PSG’s lead at the top of the table is down to just 10 points, at least for a short time, after Lille beat Nimes 3-2.

PSG’s game with Dijon was postponed due to the riots in Paris, so they now have two games in hand over second place.

Amiens against Angers, Nantes against Montpellier and Marseille against Bordeaux were also called off as a result of the disruption caused by the riots.

Reims beat Strasbourg 2-1 in the only game that went ahead on Saturday, while the only two matches apart from Lille’s victory on Sunday saw Lyon beat Monaco 3-0 and Nice draw 1-1 with Saint Etienne.

For Monaco, things go from bad to worse after their latest heavy defeat — Houssem Aouar, Nabil Fekir and Ferland Mendy all scored for Lyon, and Aleksandr Golovin was shown a straight red card after a VAR review for horribly scraping his studs down the back of Fekir’s calf.

Thierry Henry has a big task on his hands to keep Monaco in Ligue 1; perhaps making signings in January could be his savior.

Dortmund maintain form

Borussia Dortmund just keep extending their lead at the top of the table in Germany, after they beat Werder Bremen 2-1 and Borussia Monchengladbach drew 0-0 at Hoffenheim.

Paco Alcacer and Marco Reus put Dortmund ahead early on, with Max Kruse pulling one back, but the leaders held on for the three points.

Bayern Munich are third, joint on points with Monchengladbach, after they demolished Hannover 4-0. Joshua Kimmich scored after just two minutes and from then on the result was never in doubt.

David Alaba, Serge Gnabry and Robert Lewandowski all scored as Niko Kovac’s side produced their most convincing league victory of the season so far.

Hertha Berlin’s European hopes suffered a blow as they lost 2-1 against Stuttgart, Augsburg held Schalke to a 1-1 draw, while RB Leipzig beat Mainz 4-1 thanks to braces from Yussuf Poulsen and Timo Werner.