Juventus win to extend lead Milan crisis deepens with 1-0 defeat to Sampdoria
Juventus yesterday defeated Inter Milan to extend their lead over second place Napoli to six points.
Juan Cuadrado’s scorcher gave Juventus just before the interval gave Juve a slim 1-0 win.
The first half was entertaining with chances at both ends of the field of play.
Juventus hit the posts twice while Inter’s Icardi had penalty appeals turned down.
Dybala almost put Juve ahead on three minutes, but Handanovic managed to turn his overhead kick to a corner. A few minutes later, Dybala went closer as his sizzler hit the crossbar.
Joao Mario drilled a shot inches wide with Buffon well beaten.
Gagliardini and Higuain both missed good chances before Juve goalie Buffon was tested seriously by a Perisic header. Icardi went on to the rebound, and was tackled by Mandzukic. Inter wanted a penalty but the referee waved play on.
Pjanic had a free kick turned to corner by Handanovic. From the resulting corner the ball was cleared to the edge of the area for Cuadrado to hit home past a beaten Handanovic.
The second half saw Inter trying hard to get back on level terms, but it was Juventus who went closer to scoring.
In fact, it was only goalkeeper Handanovic who denied Pjanic, Higuain and Mandzukic from adding further goals with three splendid saves.
Near the end, Inter’s Perisic was sent off.
MILAN 0 SAMPDORIA 1
Injury-hit AC Milan was plunged further into crisis by a surprise 1-0 defeat at home to Sampdoria yesterday.
Luis Muriel’s 70th-minute penalty was enough to consign Milan to its fourth successive defeat in all competitions.
Milan was third in December but one point from its past four league matches has seen it slip to eighth, 10 points behind the Champions League places.
After a balanced first half, Milan should have taken the lead immediately after the break. Emiliano Viviano could only parry Suso’s cross-shot but Gerard Deulofeu, who was making his first start, struck the rebound onto the post from a good position.
Sampdoria broke the deadlock after Gabriel Paletta tripped Fabio Quagliarella in the area and Muriel fired the resulting spot kick into the bottom right corner.
Filip Djuricic almost doubled Samp’s lead but shot inches wide.
Milan should have levelled three minutes from time but Gianluca Lapadula fired straight at Viviano from close range and two follow-up efforts were blocked before the ball was finally cleared.
Milan’s misery was compounded in the final minute when Jose Sosa was sent off following two yellow cards in five minutes.
PESCARA 2 LAZIO 6
Marco Parolo scored four times as Lazio got back on track following two successive league defeats - although it had to withstand a Pescara comeback.
Two Parolo headers had given Lazio a seemingly comfortable lead inside 14 minutes.
But Pescara levelled the match shortly before halftime with goals from Ahmad Benali and Gaston Brugman.
Parolo completed his hat trick with another header four minutes after the break and Keita Balde Diao restored Lazio’s two-goal advantage shortly before the hour.
Ciro Immobile scored Lazio’s fifth with a half volley at the back post from a corner. Parolo, who only scored three goals all last season, netted his fourth of the game in the 77th minute with a low volley from Senad Lulic’s cross. Lega Pro A
Saturday Racing Roma-Pontedera ................... 0-0 Yesterday Pistoiese-Giana Erminio .................... 0-2 Lucchese-Livorno .............................. 0-0 Olbia-Lupa Roma .............................. 0-1 Tuttocuoio-Arezzo ............................. 0-3 Cremonese-Carrarese ....................... 3-3 Siena-Como ...................................... 0-1 Alessandria-Piacenza ........................ 1-0 Pro Piacenza-Renate ......................... 1-0 Prato-Viterbese ................................. 2-0 Lega Pro B
Saturday Forli-Sudtirol ..................................... 1-3 Yesterday Mantova-AlbinoLeffe ........................ 1-2 Venezia-Ancona ................................ 2-1 Gubbio-FeralpiSalo ........................... 3-1 Maceratese-Padova .......................... 0-1 Fano-Sambenedettese ...................... 1-2 Bassano V.-Lumezzane ...................... 2-0 Reggiana-Modena ............................ 1-0 Parma-Pordenone ............................. 3-2 Teramo-Santarcangelo ...................... 1-1
Saturday Bologna-Napoli .............................. 1-7 Yesterday AC Milan-Sampdoria ....................... 0-1 Muriel 70 pen. Atalanta-Cagliari ............................. 2-0 Gomez 4, 17 Pescara-Lazio .................................. 2-6 Parolo (L) 10, 14, 49, 77, Caprari (P) 37 pen., Brugman (P) 41, Keita (L) 57, Immobile (L) 69 Genoa-Sassuolo .............................. 0-1 Pellegrini 26 Empoli-Torino ................................. 1-1 Belotti (T) 11, Pucciarelli (E) 45 ChievoVerona-Udinese ................... 0-0 Palermo-Crotone ............................ 1-0 Nestorovski 27 Juventus-Inter Milan ...................... 1-0 Cuadrado 44 Tomorrow Roma-Fiorentina ....................................
Standings
Serie B
D L F A Pts 0 4 45 16 54 6 3 55 26 48 2 5 44 21 47 4 6 41 27 43 3 7 37 24 42 3 7 36 25 42 7 5 38 29 37 4 7 32 27 37 8 7 40 33 32 6 9 26 29 30 5 10 27 29 29 5 10 22 30 29 6 9 22 33 27 3 12 32 37 27 3 12 32 48 27 7 10 27 33 25 7 11 14 31 22 4 14 20 37 13 5 15 18 42 11 6 16 19 50 9
Friday HellasVerona-Benevento .................. 2-2 Saturday SPAL-Ascoli ........................................ 1-1 Perugia-Brescia ................................. 3-2 Latina-Frosinone ............................... 0-1 Salernitana-Novara ........................... 0-0 Cittadella-Pro Vercelli ....................... 0-0 Spezia-Ternana ................................. 2-0 Pisa-V. Entella ................................... 1-1 Bari-Vicenza ...................................... 2-1 Yesterday Carpi-Cesena ..................................... 1-2