Juve beat Frosinone, Napoli held
Juventus ................ 3
Frosinone .............. 2
Cagliari ................. 1
Napoli .................... 1
ITALY – Daniele Rugani saved Juventus with a last-gasp strike in yesterday’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 fifth 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 had not won in four before this weekend, looked set for another embarrassing result after 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.”
Rugani’s goal also gave Juve a fivepoint cushion between them and AC Milan who host Atalanta at the San Siro in yesterday’s late match.
Frosinone are 16th and three points above the relegation zone after a fourth straight defeat for Eusebio Di Francesco’s leaky side, with 14 goals conceded in that run. Victor Osimhen’s second goal in a matter of days wasn’t enough to reignite Napoli’s hopes of European football as Zito Luvumbo struck in the 96th minute to snatch a draw for Cagliari.
Nigeria forward Osimhen looked to have given Francesco Calzona a win in his first league match in charge of the ailing Italian champions when he nodded home Giacomo Raspadori’s cross in the 66th minute.
Instead Napoli stay ninth, four points behind Roma who are in the Europa Conference League spot ahead of the capital club’s match with Torino on Monday, and 11 behind fourth-placed Bologna.