Race for Premier League heats up as Liverpool just 1 point behind Man City

By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp

ANKARA (AA) - Europe’s top football leagues, English Premier League and Italian Serie A, have been in the limelight over the past weekend as the competition gears up.

The race for the top spot in the English Premier League heated up as Liverpool are just one point behind Manchester City.

In Italian Serie A, Napoli and Milan (1 game missing) share the top with 66 points. Inter (one game missing) with 63 points follow these two teams.

- English Premier League

Manchester City beat Burnley 2-0 in an away game in the Premier League. The winning goals were scored by Kevin de Bruyne in the 5th minute and Ilkay Gundogan in the 25th minute.

Ilkay, 31, became the German top scorer in the history of the Premier League with 34 goals, surpassing former Arsenal player Mesut Ozil with 33 goals.

Ranking second, just one point behind the leader, Liverpool defeated Watford 2-0 to take their 10th consecutive win in the Premier League.

Chelsea, who had a hard time due to sanctions, lost 1-4 to Brentford at home.

Manchester City, which has 73 points in the Premier League, was followed by Liverpool with 72 points and Chelsea with 59 points.

- Spanish La Liga

Defeating Celta Vigo 2-1 in an away match in the 30th week of the Spanish La Liga, Real Madrid consolidated its position at the top spot of the league.

Barcelona beat Sevilla 1-0 in the match played at home. Continuing their good form lately in the league and grabbing their sixth consecutive win, Barcelona, despite missing one match, equalized its points with Sevilla and Atletico Madrid (57) and rose to the second place.

Real Madrid, which are leading La Liga with 69 points, are 12 points ahead of its closest rivals.

- Italian Serie A

In the 31st week of the Italian Serie A, Inter defeated Juventus 1-0 in a derby game with a penalty goal by Turkish player Hakan Calhanoglu. The Nerazzurri has now 63 points with this win.

Still having one more game to play in the league, Inter are at third spot, 3 points behind the 66-point leader Milan, who have not played this week's match yet.

Losing to Inter at home, Juventus' 16-game unbeaten streak came to an end. The Bianconeri, who are 4th place with 59 points, lost for the 6th time this season in the league.

Starting the week as the leaders, Milan will face Bologna tonight.

In the 31st week of Serie A, Napoli and Milan (one game to play) are at the top with 66 points, followed by Inter with 63 points (one game to play) and Juventus with 59 points.

- German Bundesliga

Bayern Munich, the reigning champions of the last nine years, at the top of the German Bundesliga, defeated Freiburg 4-1 in an away game.

The closest follower of the summit, Borussia Dortmund, lost 1-4 to Leipzig at home and could not prevent the gap to be widened between them and the leaders Bayern Munich.

Third-placed Bayer Leverkusen defeated Hertha Berlin 2-1 at home.

At the end of the 28th week of the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich with 66 points was followed by Borussia Dortmund with 57 points and Bayer Leverkusen with 51 points.

- French Ligue 1

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) defeated Lorient 5-1 at home in the French Ligue 1.

The goals of the home team were scored by Neymar in the 12th and 90th minutes, Kylian Mbappe in the 28th and 67th minutes and Lionel Messi in the 73rd minute. Lorient's only goal came from Terem Moffi in the 56th minute. Reaching 68 points with this score, PSG opened the point gap between the runners-up to 12.

Olympic Marseille defeated Saint-Etienne 4-2 in an away match. Turkish player Cengiz Under, who played in Olympic Marseille, was included in the game in the 46th minute. Olympic Marseille, which won its third game in a row, increased its score to 56.

PSG maintained their lead in the league with 68 points. Olympic Marseille with 56 points and Rennes with 53 points were behind the Paris team. The reigning champions Lille are in seventh place with 47 points.