MILAN — Fernando Llorente scored twice in three minutes to keep Juventus on course for a third successive Serie A title with a 2-0 home win over struggling Livorno Monday. Japan midfielder Keisuke Honda scored his first Serie A goal since joining AC Milan in January to give it a 2-1 win at Genoa in Monday's other game. Second-placed AS Roma had brought the title race to life by slashing Juve's lead from 14 to five points in the previous eight days but Monday's comfortable win left Antonio Conte's side eight points clear with six matches to play. Juventus, which has 84 points from 32 games, also has the easier run-in with matches against midtable Udinese, Atalanta and Cagliari and relegation-threatened Bologna and Sassuolo as well as a visit to Roma in the penultimate round of the season. Roma must still face Fiorentina and AC Milan and finish with a tough match at Genoa. “The championship is not over,” Juventus coach Antonio Conte told Sky Sport Italia. “Juventus and Roma are getting extraordinary results and setting records. Both teams are playing well, there are six games to go and nothing is settled.” The visitors defended bravely for half an hour, occasionally threatening themselves, before Llorente opened the scoring with a superb strike in the 32nd minute, firing home on the turn. The Spaniard struck again three minutes later, taking his tally to 13 in his debut Serie A season, with a glancing header which goalkeeper Francesco Bardi appeared to have covered but then allowed to slip through his hands. Juventus, which is still in the Europa League, relaxed in the second half, often playing the ball around between the back three to eat up time. Livorno stayed in the relegation zone in 18th place with 25 points, two adrift of safety. Athletic maintains Euro charge Aritz Aduriz hit a first-half double as Athletic Bilbao kept its Champions League ambitions on track with a 2-1 victory at Levante, which only came to life after the break. Athletic is fourth on 59 points in Spain's final Champions League spot, six more than Sevilla which thumped Espanyol 4-1 over the weekend, and nine ahead of sixth-placed Real Sociedad, beaten 4-0 at home by Real Madrid Saturday. The three-way battle at the top of La Liga remains fierce with Real three points adrift of leader Atletico Madrid, which beat Villarreal 1-0 at home Saturday and has 79 points. Barcelona is on 78 points following its 3-1 victory over bottom side Real Betis. — Agencies
