A roundup of Saturday’s action in Spain and Italy’s top flights:
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Real Madrid 7-1 Celta Vigo — RECAP + HIGHLIGHTS
You make Cristiano Ronaldo angry, you pay the price. Unfortunately for Celta Vigo, they weren’t the ones who infuriated the Portuguese superstar, but they were the ones who took the full force of his wrath. How’s four goals to silence the critics? (Video at the above link.)
Now the bad news: even with their 7-1 victory on Saturday, the Los Blancos still find themselves nine points back of Barcelona, who now have a game in hand (Sunday), for the league lead. Celta Vigo are clinging European qualification in sixth place after making an early-season push the UEFA Champions League.
Villarreal 0-1 Las Palmas
Villarreal, who currently occupy the fourth and final Champions League place in Spain, dropped all three points away to 14th-place Las Palmas on Sunday. Fortunately for El Submarino Amarillo (The Yellow Submarine), fifth-place Sevilla were only able to draw away to Getafe, thus they remain eight points back of fourth.
Elsewhere in La Liga
Getafe 1-1 Sevilla
Deportivo La Coruña 3-3 Malaga
Sunday’s La Liga schedule
Real Betis vs. Granada (6 a.m. ET)
Eibar vs. Barcelona (10 a.m. ET)
Real Sociedad vs. Levante (12:15 p.m. ET)
Sporting Gijon vs. Athletic Bilbao (12:15 p.m. ET)
Valencia vs. Atletico Madrid (2:30 p.m ET)
Napoli 3-1 Chievo
Juventus may be 17 games unbeaten in Serie A action (16 wins) and on the brink of running away with their fifth-straight league title, but Napoli aren’t ready to concede just yet. Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Chievo puts them level on points with Juve, who now have a game in hand (Sunday), on 61 points.
Gonzalo Higuain equalized for Napoli (below video), who conceded an early goal in the 2nd minute, on six minutes. Former Tottenham Hotspur defender Vlad Chiriches put Napoli into the lead for good in the 38th minute. Jose Callejon completed the scoring on 70 minutes (below video).
Elsewhere in Serie A
Hellas Verona 0-3 Sampdoria
Sunday’s Serie A schedule
Torino vs. Lazio (6:30 a.m. ET)
Sassuolo vs. AC Milan (9 a.m. ET)
Bologna vs. Carpi (9 a.m. ET)
Genoa vs. Empoli (9 a.m. ET)
Atalanta vs. Juventus (9 a.m. ET)
Frosinone vs. Udinese (9 a.m. ET)
Inter Milan vs. Palermo (2:45 p.m. ET)