Euro Beat: Sanchez hat-trick sends Barcelona top, while Juventus extends Serie A lead Chilean Alexis Sanchez's hat-trick put Barcelona back on top of La Liga. EURO BEAT: A hat-trick from Alexis Sanchez ensured Barcelona returned to the top of La Liga, while Juventus crushed Roma in Serie A. LA LIGA Barcelona moved back to the top of the table on goal difference with a comfortable 4-0 win over Elche thanks to a hat-trick from Alexis Sanchez. The Catalans are tied with Atletico Madrid on 49 points with the two set to meet for the first time in the league this season next weekend at the Vicente Calderon. Lionel Messi was once again watching from the sidelines as he nears a comeback from a hamstring injury and Neymar was left on the bench having recently returned from a Christmas break in Brazil. However, Sanchez and Pedro Rodriguez once again proved able deputies as they slotted home inside the opening 15 minutes. Xavi Hernandez also missed a second-half penalty for the hosts, but it mattered little as Sanchez rolled home his second goal from Pedro's pass shortly afterwards. And the Chilean sealed his first hat-trick for the club with a stunning free-kick 21 minutes from time. Barca now lead Real Madrid by eight points, but Madrid can cut the gap on the leaders to five with victory over Celta Vigo on Monday. We played very well. We had variation, precision, control and we had a lot of chances," said Barca boss Gerardo Martino. We were always concentrated through the game and limited the opponent to very few sights of goal. In the second-half especially we controlled the game completely. And the Argentine was particularly pleased with the contribution of Pedro and Sanchez in the absence of Messi and Neymar. I was happy for Alexis because, as a coach, you always like to see players like he and Pedro who work so hard for the team get their reward. Arturo Vidal puts Juventus in front in its top-of-the-table clash with Roma. Juventus romped to a 3-0 win over nine-man Roma to end the visitors' unbeaten run in the league this season and extend their lead in Serie A to eight points. High-flying Roma came to Turin confident of taking at least a share of the spoils in a bid to close the gap to Antonio Conte's leaders and to protect their unbeaten streak after 17 games. However the early spark shown by Rudi Garcia's men fizzled out quickly and any kind of fightback from going 2-0 down in the 48th minute looked slim after Daniele De Rossi and Leandro Castan were sent off late in the second half. Juve's 16th win of the campaign left it top on 49 points, eight ahead of Roma and 13 ahead of Napoli ahead of its home game against Sampdoria. Roma started brightly and alerted Gianluigi Buffon in the Juve goal after just six minutes. Captain Francesco Totti led the counter-attack after Leaonardo Bonucci had been dispossessed but when he laid off for Adem Ljajic his effort from a tight angle was thwarted by Giorgio Chiellini's superbly-timed sliding tackle. Roma suffered a blow on 13 minutes when lively midfielder Miralem Pjanic was forced off with a sore knee. Juve took full advantage of his absence and broke the deadlock two minutes later when Arturo Vidal chipped Morgan De Sanctis at his near post after Carlos Tevez had been given far too much time to set up the Chilean. Juve resumed in similar fashion after Tevez narrowly missed from Pogba's cut-back Roma's defence was stunned when Bonucci ghosted in at the far post to slid Pirlo's sublime free kick past De Sanctis three minutes after the restart. Roma created two half-chances but an alert Buffon came out to block Pjanic's deep cross for Strootman, while Totti was promptly pushed off the ball after being put through with a chance on goal. Totti, who had added spice to the fixture with criticism of the club in previous days, was jeered off the pitch on his way to being replaced by Alessandro Florenzi. With one elder statesman gone, Roma's chances looked slim but suffered another blow when Daniele De Rossi saw red on 75 minutes for a needless but vicious tackle on Chiellini. Barely two minutes later he was followed by defender Leandro Castan, who was sent off for handball on the goalline, handing Juve a penalty which Mirko Vucinic, who had replaced Tevez on the hour, drove with ease past De Sanctis. Monaco's Colombian pair Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez celebrate another goal. Big-spender Monaco was given a scare in the French Cup on Sunday before a late Yannick Ferreira Carrasco winner eased it past third division Vannes 3-2 and into the last-32. Monaco's Colombian striker Radamel Falcao cancelled out a first minute strike from Hendrick Cakin 60 seconds later, only for the hosts to move ahead again nine minutes before half-time through 21-year-old French striker Yannick Aguemon. Falcao's compatriot James Rodriguez tied the match just before the break before Belgian midfielder Ferreira Carrasco avoided extra-time and a potentially embarrassing exit, with the winning goal for the Ligue 1 high-flyers four minutes from the conclusion of a spirited Cup tie. Top-flight leader Paris Saint-Germain had their match at Brest postponed until Tuesday at the weather-hit Brittany club, while Lille, Bordeaux, Lyon, Guingamp, Rennes, Montpellier and Ajaccio all advanced.