Juve spurn chance for nine-point lead
MILAN: Juventus spurned the chance to go nine points clear of title challengers Roma in a scoreless draw away to Udinese yesterday, as Napoli crept closer to second place in Serie A.
On a day of several surprises in Italy’s top flight, Juve failed to capitalise after Roma’s fourth consecutive draw on Saturday as Udinese held on to end a six-game losing streak to the Turin giants to leave them seven points in front of Roma.
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri lamented his side’s poor first-half display, but admitted they were ultimately lucky to escape with a point.
“In the first half we played badly, gave possession away far too often and they put up a wall in defence and tried to hit us on the counterattack,” he told Sky Sport.
“There was improvement in the second half but it wasn’t easy because Udinese were playing with a lot of intensity. It was a fair result because we also risked losing this game.”
Rafael Benitez’s Napoli held on for a precious 2-1 win at Chievo to finish the weekend as the only top-five side to take all three points, tightening their grip on third place to now sit just four behind Roma, who were held 1-1 by Empoli on Saturday.
Both Sampdoria and Lazio saw their respective bids for a third-place finish dented by respective defeats to Torino and Cesena. Samuel Eto’o’s debut for Sampdoria, the Cameroonian replacing Eder on 71 minutes, ended in a chastening 5-1 defeat away to Torino, with former Juventus striker Fabio Quagliarella notably hitting a hat-trick to send Giampiero Ventura’s side up to ninth in the table.
Humbled Sampdoria coach Sinisa Mihajlovic told Sky Sport: “I want to say sorry to the fans, I hold my hands up for this terrible performance today. I’m the one who is responsible.
“But the players should be taking a long hard look at themselves. It was embarrassing but... I would always prefer to lose 5-1 once than five games 1-0. “I can only take my hat off to Ventura and to his team. They were superior on all fronts.”
Samp’s slip proved costly, especially in the light of Napoli’s 2-1 away win over Chievo which tightened their grip on the last Champions League qualifying position.
Manolo Gabbiadini helped give the visitors an 18th minute lead when his shot came off the head of Bostjan Cesar in comical fashion to finish in the back of the net.
After Miguel Britos scored an own goal for Napoli to level the score seven minutes later, Gabbiadini-signed from Sampdoria two months ago-rescued the points with a 62nd minute winner.
“It’s our third win in a row, the team is growing in confidence,” said Benitez. “But we have to keep on focusing on just one game at a time and then see where it takes us.”
Lazio travelled to struggling Cesena looking for a second consecutive win after last week’s 21 defeat of Milan, but Andre Defrel put the hosts in front on the hour and Danilo Cataldi’s own goal doubled the score in the 77th minute.
Miroslav Klose reduced arrears for Lazio three minutes from time but Cesena held on to end a previous four-game losing streak to the Biancocelesti.
Elsewhere, Paulo Dybala and Andrea Belotti struck one apiece in either half to secure a 2-1 home win over Verona, who hit an early opener through Panagiotis Tachtsidis, to move up to seventh place, nine points off third.
Atalanta moved five points clear of Chievo in the relegation zone thanks to a 2-1 home win over Gianfranco Zola’s on-form Cagliari, with Mauricio Pinillo hitting an injury-time winner.
Earlier, Inter Milan’s Champions League qualification hopes were kept in check by a 3-1 defeat away to Sassuolo when both sides finished with 10 men.
Frustrated Inter coach Roberto Mancini told Inter Channel: “It’s clear we’re making stupid errors. “We let them score two great goals, but we could have avoided at least the first one. We have to knuckle down. I’m sorry for the lads and the fans but we’ll do everything to get out of this.” Milan, who sit 12th, can move several places up the table with a home win in Sunday’s late game against basement side Parma.—AFP