Zidane puts Juventus on top

Former Paris Saint German striker, Panamanian Delyvaldes, scored the only goal from the penalty spot in the 63rd minute for northern side Oviedo.

Juventus lead the Serie A with 39 points, ahead of Lazio (36) and as Roma (35), who beat Piacenza 2-1 on Saturday, with three more teams seven points adrift — Inter, AC Milan and Parma all on 32.

Yugoslav Darko Kovacevic, making his first league start for Juventus, gave them a 35th minute lead — meeting Alessandro del Piero’s corner from the left with a glancing header.

Zidane confirmed his superb run of form in the 64th minute, beating three men in the Reggina area before smacking an unstoppable shot under the bar.

Zidane, who cracked home a free-kick last Sunday against Perugia, took Juventus’ unbeaten league run to 14 matches.

AC Milan came from 0-2 down here to snatch a 2-2 draw from Lecce after twice being punished by Cristiano Lucarelli.

Lucarelli volleyed Lecce into a 29th minute lead and then pounced on a catastrophic back-pass by AC Milan’s French defender Bruno N’Gotty to make it 2-0 in the 55th.

But Milan skipper Paolo Maldini pulled one back minutes later and German striker Oliver Bierhoff snatched an equaliser in a goalmouth scramble following a free-kick from Croatian substitute Zvonimir Boban.

Parma slipped to sixth place after the upset of the day saw them slump to a 2-1 home defeat to Perugia — a side who had lost their previous three games, with an aggregate scoreline of 13-0.

In Spain, Barcelona have 37 points from their 21 matches — three less than Deportivo, who are desperate to win their first championship.

Louis van Gaal’s side were workmanlike no more as Rivaldo’s 18th-minute effort — a header from a Boudewijn Zenden cross — proved just sufficient while at the other end the home defence blocked out the threat of goal machine Salvador Ballesta, called into the full Spanish squad in midweek.

Real Madrid continued their pale league form with a goalless draw at Numancia, a result which left Real’s modest hosts a point better off than the fallen giants in mid-table.

Celta Vigo remained fourth in the table, level now on points with Zaragoza, after a 1-0 win at Seville secured courtesy of a goal after just three minutes from South African Benni McCarthy.

Champions League participants Valencia suffered a shock 1-2 home reverse against struggling Espanyol, who moved up four places to within a point of Real Madrid as a result.

Miguel Angel Benitez opened the scoring on 15 minutes and although Kily Gonzalez levelled for Valencia on the half hour, Arteaga bagged the winner six minutes after the break.

Lens’ season of woes took yet another turn for the worse on Saturday when the First Division strugglers meekly tumbled out of the French Cup 2-1 at Third Division Besancon.

Paris Saint Germain almost suffered an embarrassment of their own but pulled a 4-3 win out of the fire at Fourth Division Limoges, who came from 0-2 down to lead briefly 3-2.

Laurent Leroy finally handed PSG the win seven minutes from time, the other Parisian goals coming from Brazilian Christian (two) and former Arsenal man Kaba Diawara (20).

Crisis-torn Marseille meanwhile booked their passage to the last 32 when they put aside miserable league form to squeeze past Fourth Division Segre 1-0.