Last-gasp Rugani saves Juve, Napoli held at death by Cagliari
TURIN: Daniele Rugani saved Juventus with a last-gasp strike in Sunday’s 3-2 home win over Frosinone which ended a worrying winless streak, while another added-time strike gave Cagliari a 1-1 draw with Napoli.
Defender Rugani forced home the decisive goal from a tight angle in the fith and final minute of stoppage time in Turin to cut the gap between Juve and league leaders Inter Milan to six points.
Hosts Juve, who hadn’t won in four before this weekend, looked set for another embarrassing result ater goals from Walid Cheddira and Marco Brescianini cancelled out Dusan Vlahovic’s first-half brace.
But Rugani managed to get his boot on Vlahovic’s flick-on from a corner and get Juve going back in the right direction.
“I’m really happy because a goal like that in the last minute, I couldn’t have asked for more. I’m happy to have the team win. Let’s take the positive and go again,” said Rugani to Sky Sport.
“I realised where the ball was going, I stretched for it and I managed to reach it.”
Sunday’s win made Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri the first in Serie A history to get more than a thousand points, his total now at 1,002 according to statistics provider Opta.
Inter can re-establish their nine-point lead later on Sunday when they face Lecce.
Leaders Inter could go into next weekend’s fixtures a full 12 points ahead of Juve as they also have a game in hand against in-form Atalanta on Wednesday.
Rugani’s goal also gave Juve a five-point cushion between them and AC Milan who host Atalanta at the San Siro in Sunday’s late match.
OSIMHEN NOT ENOUGH: Frosinone are 16th and three points above the relegation zone ater a fourth straight defeat for Eusebio Di Francesco’s leaky side, with 14 goals conceded in that run.
The away team played well and were briefly leading when Brescianini rifled in a brilliant finish in the 27th minute, only for Vlahovic to level with his second of the day five minutes later.