European Soccer Roundup: PRIMERA LIGA: Real Madrid kept within sight of Barcelona after a 3-1 home win over Real Mallorca last night.
A 36th-minute penalty by Luis Figo was cancelled out by a strike from Mallorca's Alejandro Campano, but a scrambled goal from Walter Samuel in the 80th minute and an injury-time third from Santiago Solari sealed the three points.
Third-placed Valencia missed a chance to close the gap on leaders Barcelona as they lost 3-1 at local rivals Villarreal. A hat-trick by Argentine playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme left Valencia 12 points behind the leaders after 20 matches.
Espanyol slipped to fifth place after a 4-1 drubbing at Deportivo Coruna with the Galician side finding the key to unlock what had been the Primera Liga's tightest defence.
SERIE A: AC Milan slipped five points behind leaders Juventus when they lost 1-0 to their former midfielder Roberto Donadoni's Livorno side yesterday.
Juventus, who beat lowly Brescia 2-0, are on 47 points from 20 games with Udinese a distant third on 34 points after they were beaten 2-0 by Reggina.
Milan's second defeat of the season was the result of an aggressive, adventurous performance by Livorno, who had already given the champions a fright by holding them 2-2 at the San Siro.
The visitors were lucky not to give away a penalty when striker Cristiano Lucarelli went down under a challenge by goalkeeper Dida, while at the other end Kaka rifled a shot against the post.
In the 28th minute, however, a foul by Jaap Stam gave Livorno a free kick midway inside Milan's half. Dida reacted quickly to palm away a header by Portuguese midfielder Vidigal, but was powerless to stop striker Corrado Colombo firing in the rebound.
Far from trying to protect their lead, Livorno pressed forward. Milan had chances to equalise, notably when Andriy Shevchenko scuffed his shot when one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but it was Livorno that looked more threatening.
Milan's misery was completed when Alessandro Nesta received a red card for a second bookable offence deep in stoppage time.
Juventus comfortably beat a Brescia side that had earned just two points in their last five league games.
Elsewhere, Reggina strikers Emiliano Bonazzoli and Marco Borriello struck at the end of each half to give Reggina victory over Udinese.
Last night Roma came from behind to win 2-1 at Fiorentina and move up to sixth. Vincenzo Montella's second-half goal won the day for the visitors after Antonio Cassano had cancelled out Fiorentina's opener from Enzo Maresca.
