Del Piero and Messi sprinkle Euro stardust

Veteran striker Alessandro Del Piero and Argentine international Lionel Messi sprinkled a little stardust over European football at the weekend with the Italian striking a memorable blow for soccer's golden oldies.

Del Piero, 34, hit his 250th career goal for Juventus as the Turin giants crushed relegation-threatened Reggina 4-0 to stay six points behind champions Inter Milan in the Italian title race.

Jose Mourinho's Inter squeezed past fellow title hopefuls Napoli 2-1 to stay top while AC Milan slumped to a shock 3-1 loss at Palermo to remain third.

Del Piero's landmark goal came from the penalty spot following strikes from Mauro Camoranesi, Amauri and Giorgio Chiellini.

Inter coach Jose Mourinho blasted his team's fans for jeering Brazilian full-back Maicon at the San Siro.

“We need the support of our fans. I don't like it when a section of our fans in a match such as this start whistling a player for a misplaced pass,” moaned the former Chelsea boss.

Napoli gifted their hosts a 16th-minute advantage as Sulley Muntari crossed for Colombian centre-back Ivan Cordoba to volley home.

Ghana midfielder Muntari added the second on 25 minutes. Nine minutes before the break, Uruguayan Marcelo Zalayeta pulled one back for Napoli who are now nine points off the pace.

In Spain, Messi struck twice as Barcelona clinched a 3-0 victory over Sevilla while Real Madrid crashed 3-1 at city rivals Getafe.

Messi, 21, who was just four years old when Del Piero made his Italian league debut in 1991, volleyed his first from 25 yards after 78 minutes and then completed his brace in injury time.

Samuel Eto'o had put Barca, who have a four-point lead over Villarreal, ahead in the first half.

“Nothing was going right for me in the first half, but luckily things turned around and I was able to put in a good performance,” said Messi who dedicated his goals to his sister who celebrated her 15th birthday on Sunday.

Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster came under more fire after his side went down to Getafe, their second defeat in their last three league games, leaving them six points off the pace in fourth place.

Villarreal are second after a 2-1 win at rock-bottom Recreativo Huelva with Valencia a point further back despite a 3-2 win at home to Real Betis.

In Germany, Hoffenheim stayed top after a 3-0 home win over Arminia Bielefeld but Bayern Munich remain in hot pursuit with a 2-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen.

Vedad Ibisevic, Carlos Eduardo and Francisco Copado were on target for the small town side who have 34 points.

Bayern are three points adrift after Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose scored to move them above Bayer Leverkusen.

In France, former Liverpool midfielder Bruno Cheyrou gave Rennes a 1-0 win over Paris Saint Germain as his side went second in the table, five points behind leaders Lyon who were held to a goalless stalemate at Valenciennes.

In Holland, AZ Alkmaar have a three-point lead over Ajax after a 2-0 win over Groningen. Ajax could only draw 1-1 with Utrecht.

FC Bruges beat Germinal Beerschot 3-0 to head the Belgian first division by two points from Anderlecht who defeated Dender 2-0.

The Portuguese first division has Leixoes, who drew 1-1 with Naval, enjoying a two-point lead over Benfica who have a game in hand.