European Football Friday Round-up
We round up the best of the footballing action across selected leagues in Europe.
French Ligue 1
Lyon returned to the top of Ligue 1 with a convincing win over Valenciennes at a freezing Stade du Hainut.
Goals from Gueida Fofana and Bafetibis Gomis secured an impressive fourth win in five on the road for the visitors, while Valenciennes' recent slump continued following four defeats in their last six league games.
Portuguese Primeira Liga
Beira Mar remain in trouble towards the foot of the Liga table after a 3-1 defeat at Academica on Friday.
Ulisses Morais' men were never in the game, going 3-0 down inside 37 minutes and are third bottom heading into the weekend's fixtures, level on points with second-bottom Vitoria Setubal.
Marinho put the hosts ahead after 15 minutes, before the mid-table side wrapped things up through Edinho (36) and Cleyton (37).
Ruben Ribeiro did score from the spot with six minutes left to pull a goal back for Beira Mar, but the game was up by then.
Belgian Jupiler League
Standard Liege kept up the pressure on the top three in the Jupiler League with a 2-0 victory over KV Kortrijk.
Goals in six second-half minutes from Michy Batshuayi (59) and Jelle Van Damme (65) ensured the points would stay at the Stade Maurice Dufrasne.
The win lifts Standard up to fourth, just one point behind third-placed Lokeren, with Kortrijk now trailing their opponents by three places and 10 points.
Dutch Eredivisie
AZ Alkmaar earned their third win in four Eredivisie matches after downing struggling VVV-Venlo 4-1 away from home on Friday.
Adam Maher put AZ ahead in the 27th minute but VVV, seeking to avoid a third successive defeat, drew level seven minutes into the second half thanks to Uche Nwofor.
However, three goals in 11 minutes immediately after settled the game as a contest as AZ stormed clear with strikes from Donny Gorter (55 - penalty), Jozy Altidore (62) and Etienne Reijnen (66).
The victory lifts 2009 Dutch champions AZ into the top nine ahead of this weekend's matches on 24 points, with VVV remaining in the bottom two.
Turkish Super Lig
Kasimpasa climbed three places to fourth with a comfortable 3-0 victory at Karabukspor in the Turkish Super Lig.
The visitors claimed a shock win over league leaders Galatasaray last time out and first-half goals from Tabare Viudez and Halil Colak set them on their way on Friday.
Karabukspor, who dropped to seventh, kept the Istanbul outfit at bay for much of the second half but Kalu Uche put the result beyond doubt in the 73rd minute.