Juventus’ Dybala, Higuain on target in comfortable victory for league leaders
Paulo Dybala scored his first league goal of the season and his striking partner Gonzalo Higuain added two more to give Serie A leaders Juventus a 3-0 win at struggling Empoli yesterday.
Juventus took more than one hour to break down their stubborn opponents, then scored three times in six minutes to claim their sixth win in seven Serie A matches this season.
The titleholders survived a few worrying moments before Dybala put them ahead in the 65th minute, lashing a left-foot shot into the roof of the net from Alex Sandro's pass after finding space between two defenders.
Fellow Argentine Higuain quickly doubled their lead two minutes later, powering forward as the Empoli defence retreated and driving home a shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Empoli gifted Juve the third in the 70th minute when Marco Zambelli's dreadful back pass was intercepted by Higuain who rounded Lukasz Skorupski to notch his sixth league goal of the season.
Napoli crumble at Atalanta
Relegation battlers Atalanta earned a shock victory over Napoli, inflicting the first competitive defeat of the season.
An early Lorenzo insigne free kick whistled just wide of the near post, bur after eight minutes of constant pressure, Napoli went behind in Bergamo.
Papu Gomez’s cross from the left was over Kalidou Koulibaly and ricocheted off Faouzi Ghoulam’s face for Petagna to fire in on the half-volley at the near stick.
Gomez continued to wreak havoc down that left flank, having a shot charged down and almost setting up Petagna again, but at the other end Jose Callejon’s angled drive was beaten away by Etrit Berisha following a Boukary Drame slip. Atalanta's Andrea Petagna celebrates after scoring against Napoli yesterday Photo: AP
Petagna almost completed his brace with a header off target from yet another Gomez cross down the left. Arek Milik did get a great chance before half-time, but Berisha got down very quickly to palm his low volley off the line.
Maurizio Sarri threw on Manolo Gabbiadini for what was essentially a 4-2-4 formation. It was wide open, as Gabbiadini’s hook at the back post was practically cleared off the line, sparking a counter that saw Alberto Grassi fire straight at Reina.
Koulibaly nodded over late on, but Napoli were simply too toothless to turn this around.
Milan-Sassuolo in sevengoal thriller
Milan completed an incredible comeback from 3-1 down to beat Sassuolo 4-3 in the space of 20 minutes in this San Siro thriller.
Milan took the lead when Jack Bonaventura’s snapshot took a huge deflection off Francesco Acerbi to leave Andrea Consigli wrong-footed.
However, it lasted only a minute, as Ignazio Abate on his comeback passed straight to Matteo Politano, who kept his cool to draw out Gianluigi Donnarumma and slide his finish into the empty net.
Adjapong thought he’d scored his first Serie A goal on 22 minutes, but it was correctly disallowed for handball during a clumsy diving header at the back post.
Pol Lirola’s dangerous low cross for Gregoire Defrel was crucially intercepted by Gustavo Gomez. Donnarumma was caught in possession by Politano and the goalkeeper ran a big risk, using his strength to nudge him off the ball in a very risky move indeed. Politano saw penalty appeals waved away.
Carlos Bacca blasted wide and Luiz Adriano got his head to an Abate cross when Bonaventura in a better position was absolutely furious.
Vincenzo Montella walked back his experiment, introducing Niang for Luiz Adriano, but was sent off for dissent at half-time.
Consigli got down to beat away a Suso curler, but Sassuolo did turn the game around completely on a set play situation. Lorenzo Pellegrini dinked it to the back post for Acerbi, who had time and space to turn in undisturbed.
Moments later it was 3-1 to the Neroverdi, as Pellegrini completed a give-and-go to enter the box, shimmied past Gustavo Gomez and placed a cool finish into the far bottom corner.
Niang ran between two defenders into the area and fell, the referee pointing to the spot, but the Milan striker was pulling Lirola’s shirt and there didn’t seem to be much contact from Luca Antei either. Nonetheless, Bacca converted to put the hosts back in the match.
It proved a decisive moment, because Milan got it on to 3-3 with a stunner of a debut Serie A goal from Manuel Locatelli. The 18year-old substitute was on the edge of the box to gather a cleared corner and absolutely blast it into the top corner. He celebrated with his head in his hands, his face clearly showing he couldn’t believe this was happening.
It still wasn’t over, as the Rossoneri managed to restore their lead from 3-1 down to 4-3 in just 20 minutes. Niang was involved again, his cross met by a towering Gabriel Paletta header into the far bottom corner.
Yesterday Empoli-Juventus ............................ 0-3 Dyabala 65’, Higuain 67’, 70’ Atalanta-Napoli ............................. 1-0 Petagna 9’ Bologna-Genoa ............................. 0-1 Simeone 77’ Cagliari-Crotone ............................. 2-1 Di Gennaro 38’ (Cag), Padoin 56’ (Cag), Stoian 90+1’ (Cro) Sampdoria-Palermo ...................... 1-1 Nestorovski 60’ (P), Fernandes 90+5’ (S) AC Milan-Sassuolo ......................... 4-3 Bonaventura 9’ (M), Politano 10’ (S), Acerbi 54’ (S), Pellegrini 56’ (S), Bacca 68’ pen (M), Locatelli 73’ (M), Paletta 77’ (M) Torino-Fiorentina ........................... 2-1 Falque 15’ (T), Benassi 60’ (T), Babacar 84’ (F) AS Roma-Inter ............................... 2-1 Dzeko 5’ (R), Banega 72’ (I), Manolas 76’ (R)
Standings
Juventus Napoli AS Roma Lazio Chievo AC Milan Genoa Torino Inter Cagliari Bologna Atalanta Sassuolo Fiorentina Sampdoria Udinese Pescara Palermo Empoli Crotone
Serie B 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 3 3 1 1 1 15 4 18 1 14 6 14 2 16 9 13 2 13 7 13 2 9 6 13 2 12 10 13 1 8 5 11 2 13 8 11 2 9 8 11 3 11 13 10 3 811 10 4 10 12 9 4 9 12 9 2 6 6 8 4 7 10 7 4 6 12 7 3 7 10 6 3 4 8 6 5 2 11 4 6 5 16 1
Yesterday Cesena-Latina .................................. 2-2 Ascoli-Spezia .................................... 0-2 Today Carpi-Pisa
Lega Pro A
Yesterday Arezzo-Pro Piacenza ........................ 1-0 Como-Racing Roma ......................... 2-1 Giana Erminio-Livorno .................... 2-2 Lupa Roma-Viterbese ...................... 0-1 Piacenza-Olbia ................................. 2-1 Siena-Pistoiese ................................ 1-1 Renate-Prato ................................... 2-0 Carrarese-Tuttocuoio ...................... 1-1 Pontedera-Lucchese ........................ 2-4 Today Alessandria-Cremonese
Lega Pro B
Today AlbinoLeffe-Gubbio
Lega Pro C
Yesterday Akragas-Catanzaro ........................... 0-0 Melfi-Siracusa .................................. 2-2 Messina-Paganese ........................... 0-2 Matera-Foggia ................................. 1-1 Monopoli-Fondi ............................... 1-0 Casertana-Andria ............................ 0-0 Cosenza-Virtus Francavilla ............... 1-0 Juve Stabia-Vibonese ...................... 3-0 Lecce-Reggina 1914 ......................... 1-0 Taranto-Catania ............................... 0-0