Juve back on top after Marchisio’s late double

JUVENTUS and Udinese moved back into a share of top spot in Serie A after posting impressive wins yesterday.

Udinese held the leadership outright for a few hours following their 2-0 defeat of Bologna in the afternoon but they were joined once again by Juve, who beat AC Milan 2-0 in last night’s late kick-off.

Juve’s bid to register a third win from five league games appeared to be floundering with the scoreline blank after 85 minutes but midfielder Claudio Marchisio popped up with a late brace to sink the struggling Rossoneri.

In between the goals, Milan had Kevin-Prince Boateng sent off after he collected a second yellow card for clipping Giorgio Chiellini in the face with his arm.

Udinese had a more straight-forward victory.

Medhi Benatia opened the scoring in the 29th minute and Antonio Di Natale added a second from the penalty spot 18 minutes from time.

Palermo and Cagliari joined Napoli — 3-0 winners at Inter Milan on Saturday night — on 10 points, one adrift of top spot.

In Spain, Barcelona climbed to the top of the Primera Division standings after scraping past bottom club Sporting Gijon last night to pick up their first away league win of the season.

Pep Guardiola’s side had drawn 2-2 at both Real Sociedad and Valencia in their previous two away matches in La Liga but they returned from Asturias with all three points thanks to Adriano’s solitary early strike.

Barca are now level on 14 points with surprise package Levante at the summit, while Sporting continue to struggle at the foot of the standings after suffering their fifth defeat in six games.

Barcelona had hit 22 times in their opening five league games and another big-scoring night had initially looked on the cards when Adriano put the visitors ahead after just 12 minutes, the Brazilian slotting in after Xavi’s 25-yard shot had come back off the inside of the post.

However, the expected goal deluge did not arrive as Sporting made it tough for their illustrious visitors, who were missing the attacking threats of Andres Iniesta, Alexis Sanchez, Cesc Fabregas and Ibrahim Afellay because of injuries.

Elsewhere, Real Madrid closed the gap on Barcelona to a point last night after Gonzalo Higuain hit a hat-trick and Jose Callejon grabbed the other goal in a comfortable 4-0 win at Espanyol.

Atletico Madrid were left to rue a number of missed chances as Sevilla held on to extend their unbeaten start to the season with a 0-0 draw at the Vicente Calderon last night.

Radamel Falcao was the main culprit for the home side as he inexplicably blazed over from five yards with the goal at his mercy on 62 minutes.

The Colombian was also denied by a wonderful save by Javi Varas in the second period whilst former Arsenal striker Jose Antonio Reyes saw efforts fly just wide in either half.

Sevilla’s best chance arrived just after the break when Manu del Moral robbed Mario Suarez and ran through on goal but was denied by a great save from Thibaut Courtois.

Elsewhere in Spain, Levante won 1-0 at Real Betis while Athletic Bilbao beat Real Sociedad 2-1.

In Germany, Werder Bremen suffered their second defeat of the season when they lost 3-2 at Hannover thanks to a Mohammed Abdellaoue hat-trick to stay three points behind leaders Bayern Munich.

In the only other match on Sunday, Schalke’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored twice in their 2-1 win at Hamburg to lift them to fourth, four points behind Bayern.

In France, Javier Pastore’s cheeky second-half goal helped Paris St Germain to a 2-0 win over rivals Lyon at Parc des Princes on Saturday to send the big-pending hosts three points clear in Ligue 1.

The two sides had been locked together at the top before kick-off but Argentinian playmaker Pastore, French football’s most expensive signing, continued his fine form by embarrassing Hugo Lloris at his near post.

Lyon’s Bafetimbi Gomis missed a great chance when his unmarked header drifted wide but PSG, who should have had a penalty in the first half, made sure of the win in stoppage time through Christophe Jallet.

Champions Lille are just a point behind Lyon after ending a run of five successive draws in all competitions with a comfortable 2-0 win over Rennes, whom they leapfrogged up into fifth place.