Euro Zone: Record-breaking Del Piero strike seals Juventus win
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Your support makes all the difference.Alessandro del Piero became Juventus's all-time top Serie A goalscorer after his strike in their 2-1 win at Milan on Saturday. He fired in after good work from Mohamed Sissoko and in doing so overtook Giampiero Boniperti, with whom he had been level on 178 league goals. "Now my aim is to arrive at 200 goals," the 35-year-old said.
Juventus went ahead in the first half from a Fabio Quagliarella header before Del Piero doubled their lead. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who partnered Alexandre Pato up front, pulled a goal back for the home side with a late towering header. "There is a special taste to winning at Milan," said Del Piero.
Lazio went four points clear at the top of Serie A after a difficult 1-0 win in Palermo. The only goal came from Brazilian centre-back Andre Dias, who volleyed in a Cristian Ledesma free-kick. Lazio's coach, Edy Reja, said afterwards that they were still primarily concerned with avoiding relegation.
"We have 22 points, we're getting great results and have character and fight and we know how to suffer, like today," he said. "We'll keep going and let's say we still need another 18 points for that famous 40 [point safety mark]."
Real Madrid remained one point clear of Barcelona at the top of La Liga as both sides recorded wins. Jose Mourinho's side were away at Hercules, the promoted team who famously won at Barcelona in September. Hercules went ahead on Saturday but Real Madrid scored three in the second half. First Angel di Maria tapped in after Juan Calatayud spilt Cristiano Ronaldo's shot, before Ronaldo scored two of his own from close range. They were the 11th and 12th La Liga goals of the season for Ronaldo.
Ronaldo's main rival for the Pichichi award is Lionel Messi, who scored two goals himself in Barcelona's 5-0 home win over Seville. Messi scored his first early on before setting up David Villa, who curled in Barça's second. Dani Alves scored against his former club after intercepting a back pass before Messi scored a trademark second, taking the ball past two defenders before shooting into the bottom corner. Villa added a fifth in stoppage time. His former club, Valencia, lost ground on the leaders after only managing a 1-1 draw at home to Real Zaragoza.
In Germany, Borussia Dortmund overtook Mainz at the top of the Bundesliga after beating them 2-0 yesterday. Steve McClaren's Wolfsburg ended a three-game winless streak by beating Stuttgart 2-0 at home, with goals from Simon Kjaer and the much-coveted Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko.
Marseilles missed a chance to go top of Ligue 1 when their match with Rennes was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch at the Stade Vélodrome.
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