Napoli take over leadership of Serie A from AC Milan as title race in top 5 European leagues continue full throttle

By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp

ANKARA (AA) - Napoli took over the leadership of Serie A from AC Milan while Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich remain at the top of their leagues.

- English Premier League

Leaders Manchester City beat Everton 1-0 in an away game and maintain their position at the top of the English Premier League standings.

There is a 6-point difference between Manchester City and runners-up Liverpool, which are in second place with a game at hand.

At the end of the 27th week of the Premier League, Manchester City have 66 points while Liverpool have 60 points (one game missing), Chelsea have 50 points -with two games missing - and Manchester United have 47 points.

- La Liga

Real Madrid, which are currently at the top of Spanish La Liga, defeated Rayo Vallecano 1-0 in the away game.

Real Madrid's closest follower Sevilla defeated Real Betis 2-1 and kept the 6-points difference.

Barcelona, which is Galatasaray's rival in the UEFA Europa League, beat Athletic Bilbao 4-0 at Camp Nou.

At the end of week 26 of the La Liga, Real Madrid has 60 points while runners-up Sevilla has 54 points, Real Betis has 46 points, both Barcelona (one game missing) and Atletico Madrid have 45 points.

- Serie A

Starting week 27 of the Italian Serie A as the leader, AC Milan drew 1-1 with Udinese at the Giuseppe Meazza and lost the top spot to Napoli, which beat Lazio 2-1 away and rose to the first spot by goal difference.

Reigning champions, Inter, drew 0-0 away with Genoa and could not take advantage of Milan's loss of points.

Juventus beat Empoli 3-2 and remained in the title race.

In the 27th week of Serie A, Napoli and Milan both have 57 points, followed by Inter with 55 points (one game missing) and Juventus with 50 points.

- Bundesliga

Bayern Munich, the reigning champion of the German Bundesliga for the last nine straight years, kept their lead by defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 in the away game.

The closest follower of the summit, Borussia Dortmund, took a hit in the championship race with their 1-1 draw with Augsburg away.

Third-placed Bayer Leverkusen beat Arminia Bielefeld 3-0 at home.

After the 24th week of the Bundesliga, leaders Bayern Munich with 58 points was followed by Borussia Dortmund with 50 points and Bayer Leverkusen with 44 points.

- Ligue 1

In week 26, leaders Paris Saint-Germain beat Saint-Etienne 3-1 and strengthened their hold at the top spot of French Ligue 1.

Olympique Marseille, which are runners-up in the league, drew 1-1 with Troyes away. The third-placed Nice got a goalless away draw against Strasbourg.

PSG maintained their lead with 62 points while Olympique Marseille are behind the Paris team with 47 points and Nice have 46 points. The defending champions Lille are at the 8th spot with 39 points.