Juventus struggles past Sassuolo

Valencia snaps two-month winless spell

On the scoresheet: Cristiano Ronaldo’s late goal added a little gloss to Juventus’s laboured show .

Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Welshman Aaron Ramsey helped Juventus secure a 3-1 victory over 10-man Sassuolo in Serie A on Sunday, lifting the champion to fourth place in the standings.

Juventus struggled to create many chances in the first half, but its cause was aided after Pedro Obiang was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Federico Chiesa just before half-time.

Juventus capitalised on the numerical advantage as Danilo was left in plenty of space to fire home a fierce opener in the 50th minute, but the lead lasted just eight minutes as Gregoire Defrel levelled to stun the host.

The result helped Juve close the gap with Milan to seven points, having played one game less. Sassuolo stays seventh.

Valencia snapped a two-month winless spell in LaLiga with a 1-0 victory away to Real Valladolid on Sunday.

The results: Serie A: Udinese 1 (Lasagna 27) lost to Napoli 2 (Insigne 15-pen, Bakayoko 90); Hellas Verona 2 (N. Kalinic 16, Dimarco 25) bt Crotone 1 (Messias 55); Parma 0 lost to Lazio 2 (Alberto 55, F. Caicedo 67); Fiorentina 1 (Vlahovic 72) bt Cagliari 0; Juventus 3 (Danilo 51, Ramsey 82, Cristiano Ronaldo 90+2) bt Sassuolo 1 (Defrel 58).

LaLiga: Cadiz 3 (Alex 15, Lozano 56, Negredo 68) bt Alaves 1 (Joselu 23-pen); Real Valladolid 0 lost to Valencia 1 (Soler 76).

Bundesliga: Augsburg 1 (Richter 46) lost to VfB Stuttgart 4 (Gonzalez 9-pen, Wamangituka 29, Castro 60, Didavi 87); Arminia Bielefeld 1 (Yabo 64) bt Hertha Berlin 0.