Leonardo Bonucci's goal on his return to former team Juventus ultimately counted for nothing as the Bianconeri beat AC Milan 3-1 to move four points clear in Serie A on Saturday.
"It was pre-written," Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri said. "He scored on his return but Juventus won, no one could have imagined a better night."
Bonucci cancelled out Paulo Dybala's opener in the first half and Hakan Calhanoglu rattled the crossbar as Milan surprisingly outplayed the six-time defending champion.
But Juan Cuadrado and Sami Khedira struck late for Juventus.
Second-placed Napoli slipped further behind after drawing at Sassuolo 1-1.
Juventus drew at lowly Spal 0-0 last time out, and this will boost it ahead of the Champions League quarterfinal against Real Madrid on Tuesday.
All 10 matches were played on Saturday because of Easter.
JUVE JUMP AHEAD
Juventus got off to the perfect start when Dybala fired it in front with a powerful shot from outside the area in the eighth minute.
Andre Silva headed wide from six yards and Milan leveled in the 28th minute when Bonucci got between his former teammates Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini to head in.
It was Bonucci's first match at Juventus since his surprise exit in July after seven years at the club, and his every touch was met by jeers and insults. The Italy defender celebrated with a wash-your-mouth action.
It was the first league goal Juventus conceded this year.
Milan almost took the lead 10 minutes after the break as Calhanoglu's effort crashed off the crossbar and Gianluigi Buffon turned Suso's follow-up round the post.
Cuadrado was brought on for his first appearance of 2018 on the hour and he marked his return from injury with a goal 19 minutes later, heading in Khedira's cross.
Khedira got on the scoresheet himself three minutes from time following a low cross from Dybala.
It was a blow for Milan, which slipped eight points off fourth place and the final Champions League qualifying berth — occupied by Inter Milan, which it faces in the derby on Wednesday.
"This result hurts ... we played really well," Milan manager Gennaro Gattuso said. "It wasn't so long ago that the Champions League was an unattainable fantasy."
COSTLY POLITANO
Matteo Politano almost joined Napoli in January. He could have just cost the southern-based club the Serie A title.
Napoli was desperate to sign Politano in the January transfer window but failed to get the paperwork completed in time.
He showed Napoli what it missed when he volleyed in a rebound in the 22nd minute after Federico Peluso headed Stefano Sensi's free kick off the right post.
Napoli leveled 10 minutes from time when Jose Callejon turned in Mario Rui's low cross to the back post.
Napoli threw everyone forward and substitute Arkadiusz Milik hit the crossbar with an overhead kick.
"It's two points lost, we're disappointed," Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri said. "We created a lot but we're in a period where we're struggling to convert chances."
SCORING RACE
The race to be Serie A top goalscorer is heating up with leading candidates Ciro Immobile and Mauro Icardi both scoring twice.
Mauro Icardi scored after 38 seconds and it was pretty much plain sailing from there, as Inter disposed of Hellas Verona 3-0.
The Nerazzurri were fresh from a 5-0 hammering of Sampdoria, in which Mauro Icardi broke his drought with four goals, that put them in the top four. Momentum was needed ahead of next Wednesday's rescheduled Milan Derby and Luciano Spalletti had practically a full squad to choose from. Verona had boosted their chances of survival with back-to-back wins over Torino and Chievo, but their confidence was undone by a 5-0 home thrashing by Atalanta. Moise Kean was still out injured, with Matos Ryder suffering from flu, Alessio Cerci and Thomas Heurtaux not fully fit either.
Hellas had never beaten Inter at San Siro, managing just 11 draws and 16 defeats here, during which they scored nine goals.
It took all of 38 seconds to break the deadlock, as Verona were somehow caught out by an Ivan Perisic throw-in and Mauro Icardi drilled home relatively undisturbed. This took his tally to five goals in two games.
Perisic added a goal to his assist, chesting down a Marcelo Brozovic ball over the top and firing in off the inside of the near post.
Danilo D'Ambrosio nodded over and Mohamed Fares was booked for taking down Rafinha from behind.
Inter added a third after the restart, because Rafinha caught Hellas in possession and Perisic's ball flashed all the way across the face of goal to meet Icardi sliding in at the back post.
Verona tried to fight back and Mohamed Fares was unlucky to see his angled drive bounce off the inside of the far upright.
Nicolas parried a Perisic effort into the path of Joao Cancelo, who incredibly blasted over, while Roberto Gagliardini saw his header whistle wide from a Cancelo free kick.
Antonio Candreva's strike cannoned off the upright and Nicolas saved the follow-up from Eder. However, Nicolas saw red in stoppages for rushing outside his box to clatter into Eder. Hellas had already completed their substitutions, so Romulo had to go in goal.
Lazio 6 - 2 Benevento
Lazio had a real scare when trailing 2-1 to 10-man Benevento, but eventually ran out with a tennis-style 6-2 victory and Ciro Immobile's brace.
The Aquile were starting to feel the strain and had to prepare for next Thursday's Europa League quarter-final against RB Salzburg, but also needed to get back into the top four after two points from the last three Serie A rounds. Their draws with Cagliari and Bologna only added to the controversy over VAR and refereeing decisions. Wallace was suspended with Jordan Lukaku, Stefan Radu and Senad Lulic not fully fit. Benevento were rock bottom with no real chance of safety, but also missed Luca Antei, Bacary Sagna, Vittorio Parigini, Nicolas Viola, Ledian Memushaj and Cheick Diabate. It was a homecoming for Danilo Cataldi, on loan from Lazio and a product of their youth academy.
These sides met only twice before and both ended with 5-1 victories for Lazio. They came earlier this season and in the Coppa Italia in August 2008.
Cristian Lombardi almost scored against his parent club in the opening two minutes when an angled cross-shot flashed past both the far bottom corner and the outstretched foot of Djuricic.
However, Benevento shot themselves in the foot as goalkeeper Cristian Puggioni came running off his line to clear and didn't realise he handled outside the box, so had to be sent off.
After several attempts to get past substitute 'keeper Alberto Brignoli, Ciro Immobile sprung the offside trap on a Felipe Anderson through ball and drilled in.
Nonetheless, Thomas Strakosha had to be alert to parry a Djuricic solo effort, then ex-Lazio youth product Danilo Cataldi took the goalkeeper by surprise, curling a free kick directly into the near top corner from a tight angle to draw 10-man Benevento level. It was Le Streghe's first away goal since another visit to the Olimpico, losing 5-2 to Roma on February 11.
Immobile had the ball in the back of the net again, but only after Patric had clearly been flagged offside.
Simone Inzaghi had to go all-out in attack, so replaced defender Bastos with striker Felipe Caicedo for the second half. The gamble did not pay off at all, because 10-man Benevento turned the game around completely to lead at the Olimpico.
Lombardi dribbled past Patric to the by-line, pulled it back for Guilherme to score with a low drive from 10 yards. The ball was a good three-quarters over the by-line when Lombardi crossed, but VAR showed a tiny portion of it was hovering to keep it in play.
Substitute Felipe Caicedo got the equaliser, controlling a smart Luis Alberto chipped pass over the top for his delicate angled drive into the far bottom corner.
The game was turned on its head once again, this time by Luis Alberto's cross for a towering Stefan de Vrij header to put Lazio 3-2 up.
Brignoli's awful goal kick moments later gifted Immobile his personal second and gave the Aquile a two-goal cushion.
Lucas Leiva curled a scorcher into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area for goal number five, replicating the 5-2 defeat Benevento suffered in this stadium against Roma last month.
However, Lazio went one better, as Djimsiti brought down Luis Nani and Luis Alberto converted the penalty for a tennis-style 6-2.
Chievo 2 - 1 Sampdoria
Chievo completed a comeback from Fabio Quagliarella's penalty to end their dismal run and intensify the Sampdoria crisis.
Although Chievo have been top flight mainstays for many years, that was increasingly under threat, as they came into this Easter weekend only one point clear of the relegation zone and on a run of three consecutive defeats. Samp weren't doing much better, as European ambitions were rapidly evaporating after heavy losses to Crotone and Inter, in which they conceded nine goals. Edgar Barreto was out injured, with Fabio Quagliarella not fully fit, but still able to start.
Sampdoria had managed just one point in their last three visits to Chievo, since a 1-0 victory here in December 2013.
The Blucerchiati came out fighting, as Gianluca Caprari went clear on a Dennis Praet assist, but both his first attempt and the rebound were beaten away by Stefano Sorrentino.
Mariusz Stepinski's header whistled just wide and Caprari's pull-back for Quagliarella was deflected out of his path by Fabrizio Cacciatore.
Quagliarella's overhead kick was just wide from a Duvan Zapata cross, but Massimo Gobbi blocked off the Colombian in the box for a penalty. Quagliarella converted, sending Sorrentino the wrong way.
The veteran would've tapped in a second, but Nenad Tomovic made a decisive interception to stop the assist getting through.
Neither Roberto Inglese nor Stepinski made the most of a fine Cacciatore cross, as Chievo started to pile on the pressure in the second half.
It paid off with an equaliser, as Emanuele Giaccherini burst down the left and floated in a cross for Lucas Castro's header at the back post, which bounced right in front of Emiliano Viviano.
Sorrentino palmed a Lucas Torreira snapshot out from under the bar, while Viviano's gloves were stung by a Castro scorcher from distance.
Perparim Hetemaj came off the bench and turned the game around completely within 60 seconds. His cross from the left went past everyone, including the head of Inglese, to curl in at the far post. Play was halted for several minutes while the VAR footage was checked, as if Inglese had got a touch, he would've been offside.
Ricky Alvarez stung Sorrentino's gloves at the near post late on, as did Inglese at the other end.
Atalanta 2 - 0 Udinese
Atalanta took a while to break through, but eventually Andrea Petagna and Andrea Masiello made the most from Papu Gomez assists.
The Orobici had to do without Leonardo Spinazzola and Josip Ilicic, but Mattia Caldara recovered from a back problem. The Friulani were in free-fall, losing five in a row and sliding back down towards the danger zone after Massimo Oddo's initial boost wore off. To make matters worse, Antonin Barak was suspended in midfield with injuries ruling out Kevin Lasagna, Seko Fofana, Valon Behrami and Gabriele Angella.
Atalanta's last Serie A victory against Udinese was back in September 2013. They have drawn five matches since, with Udinese winning the other five.
The hosts wore a special patch on their jerseys marking the death this week of former Coach Emiliano Mondonico, who famously took Atalanta to the Cup Winners' Cup semi-final in 1987-88, even though at the time they were in Serie B.
Papu Gomez immediately forced a tough save out of Albano Bizzarri with his lob, then a deflected long-range strike turned into an assist for Andrea Petagna, who was denied from point-blank range by Bizzarri.
Udinese grew as time wore on and Stipe Perica's curler was well saved by Pierluigi Gollini, but Marten De Roon ballooned a promising Atalanta opportunity over the bar.
Petagna did eventually open the scoring with a towering header, as a short corner found Gomez for his delightful dinked assist from the by-line.
Bryan Cristante drilled inches wide moments later, then Andrea Masiello did add a second when a corner was knocked into his path for a volley into the ground, bouncing up under the bar.
Remo Freuler thought he had scored a third, but his header on another Gomez cross was denied by acrobatic Bizzarri.
Cagliari 0 - 4 Torino
Torino moved to Walter Mazzarri's preferred three-man defence and ran riot with a 4-0 victory away to Cagliari.
The Sardinians weren't entirely safe from the drop yet, perched only five points clear of the bottom three, and hosted a Toro side on a dismal run of four consecutive defeats. Joao Pedro continued his ban for failing a doping test, while Luca Cigarini hadn't fully recovered from a broken bone in his foot. M'Baye Niang was suspended for the Granata, with Cristian Molinaro injured and Adem Ljajic still out of favour. After training during the international break, Coach Walter Mazzarri felt ready to launch his favoured 3-5-2 formation.
Cagliari have not beaten Toro since a 2-1 home result in November 2013, followed by one point from the next six competitive meetings.
Daniele Baselli wasted an early opportunity and the ricochet was tapped in by Andrea Belotti, but only after he was flagged offside.
Alessandro Deiola really should've given Cagliari the lead moments later, but ballooned over from close range after Leonardo Pavoletti's acrobatic knock-down.
Simone Padoin controlled a long ball, but Salvatore Sirigu fingertipped his strike on to the far post.
Toro lost Nicolas N'Koulou to a knock for the second half, but the Granata took the lead when Belotti burst down the left side of the box and his left-foot strike bounced off the upright, but into the path of Iago Falque.
The Spaniard turned assist-man moments later, rolling across for substitute Adem Ljajic to drill low into the net.
Cristian Ansaldi had a great game and rounded it off with a goal. Cagliari were again clumsy and chaotic in defence, so the former Inter wing-back hit a daisy-cutter into the near bottom corner from the edge of the area.
It still wasn't over, as a team move saw Ljajic allow Belotti to spring the offside trap and pull back for Joel Obi to tap in undisturbed.
Fiorentina 2 - 0 Crotone
Giovanni Simeone and Federico Chiesa got the better of Crotone at the Stadio Franchi, as Fiorentina made it four wins on the trot.
The Viola had known tragedy in recent weeks with the death of captain Davide Astori, who had scored the equaliser in this fixture last season, but there was hope of achieving a Europa League spot and they came into this match after three straight wins. Marco Benassi and Cristiano Biraghi sat out bans with Milan Badelj injured on international duty, so there were big changes with Maxi Olivera, Valentin Eysseric and Sebastian Cristoforo stepping in. Crotone plunged into the bottom three after losing three of their last four games and lost Ante Budimir and Stefan Simic.
It took under three minutes to break the deadlock, as Alex Cordaz only parried a Valentin Eysseric effort into the path of Giovanni Simeone to tap in the rebound.
Crotone let the tension get to them and started picking up a series of bookings, while Ahmad Benali's curler flashed just wide and a Riccardo Saponara curler was smothered.
Saponara and Federico Chiesa combined for a great chance that flashed across the face of goal, but Chiesa was then elbowed in the face by Marco Capuano for a second bookable offence, reducing Crotone to 10 men.
Fiorentina took advantage, as Saponara and Chiesa duetted with the ball back and forth until the winger's blasted finish from a tight angle into the roof of the net.
Genoa 1 - 1 Spal
SPAL can feel very hard done by after a controversial penalty and red card incident, but snatched a 1-1 draw at Genoa anyway.
This had unexpectedly become a very close battle in the race to avoid relegation, as only five points separated them – even if Genoa had a game in hand. SPAL's recent form saw them shoot up the standings, unbeaten in four, including a shock draw with leaders Juventus. The Grifone, on the other hand, lost three in a row and were starting to get nervous again. Aleandro Rosi sat out a ban with Miguel Veloso, Armando Izzo and Andrey Galabinov injured, so Gianluca Lapadula led the attack. Jasmin Kurtic was suspended for the Spallini, who missed Boukary Drame, Marco Borriello and Federico Mattiello.
The last time SPAL visited Marassi saw them lose 2-1 in a Serie B fixture on April 18, 1981.
Alex Meret made a mess in the opening minutes when he brought down Andrea Bertolacci after failing to dribble in the box, but also cleaned it up by parrying Gianluca Lapadula's penalty.
There was chaos in the box on 25 minutes, as Lapadula pounced on a terrible Dias Felipe back-pass, went round Meret, but then lost his footing and fell, allowing Francesco Vicari to clear off the line. After several minutes of hesitation and consultation, the referee viewed it again on VAR and inexplicably gave the penalty to Genoa with Vicari sent off. There seemed to be barely any contact between them. Nonetheless, Lapadula converted this time around, firing into the roof of the net, but SPAL were understandably furious.
The visitors kept pushing, with Mattia Perin smothering an Alberto Grassi snapshot and Mirco Antenucci firing just over the bar.
SPAL got their deserved equaliser with a classic counter-attack. Everton Luiz won back possession inside his own half and Pasquale Schiattarella timed the through ball perfectly for Manuel Lazzari.
Genoa should've gone 2-1 up, but Diego Laxalt leapt up to meet a dangerous cross and completely missed the ball. Giuseppe Rossi then saw his tap-in neutralised by a last-ditch Thiago Cionek block and in the final minutes Iuri Medeiros curled inches past the far top corner.
Bologna 1 - 1 Roma
Edin Dzeko came off the bench to rescue a point at the Dall'Ara, but were held to a draw by Bologna and the Erick Pulgar strike.
The Giallorossi were seeking a fourth straight Serie A victory to consolidate third place, but also rest stars after international duty and going into next week's Champions League quarter-final with Barcelona. It was a family reunion for Coach Eusebio Di Francesco and his son Federico, who plays as a winger for Bologna. With Antonio Mirante suspended and understudy Angelo Da Costa injured, Bologna threw third-choice Antonio Santurro into goal for not only his first top flight game, but also his first professional match outside of Serie C.
Roma are now unbeaten at the Dall'Ara since a 3-1 result in September 2004, followed by four score draws and five victories to nil.
Santurro always wears a Batman shirt under his jersey and performed early heroics, parrying a Patrik Schick strike at the near post and getting his feet to a Daniele De Rossi header from the resulting corner.
There was bad news for the Giallorossi, as Radja Nainggolan limped off after just 16 minutes with a muscular issue, putting him at serious risk to face Barcelona.
Bologna took full advantage, as moments later a ball was not cleared properly, came back out to Erick Pulgar on the edge of the box and his low drive flew into the near bottom corner past Alisson. There were suspicions of handball as Andrea Poli accidentally kicked it on to his own arm during the build-up.
Santurro denied Stephan El Shaarawy with another good save, unaware the offside flag was up, then got away with one as he was stuck on his line from a flicked-on corner, but somehow Kevin Strootman prodded it against the upright from all of a yard.
Goalkeeper Santurro was somewhat harshly booked for time-wasting just 36 minutes into his Serie A debut, while Schick and Rodrigo Palacio had timid penalty appeals waved away for going down too easily under pressure. La Trenza wasted another promising move with a heavy touch.
Bologna had penalty appeals on the stroke of half-time, but Kostas Manolas had his arm across his chest.
The Giallorossi struggled to create any genuine chances, failing to make the most of a Santurro fumble and testing the goalkeeper with Alessandro Florenzi from distance.
Edin Dzeko was thrown on and made an impact, as he was on hand to nod in from close range when Diego Perotti dribbled to the by-line and put his cross through the eye of a needle.
It could've been 2-1 to Roma moments later, but when Gregoire Defrel rolled an assist across the face of goal, none of his teammates were there to meet it.
The visitors were piling on the pressure in the final minutes with several corners, including one that Schick flicked on just past Perotti at the back stick and Defrel's shot deflected wide after another Santurro error.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2uCoHes
via
IFTTT
