Lazio wins 2‑0 to prevent Napoli from sealing Serie A title
Lazio kept Napoli from sealing the Serie A title for at least another day by beating Sassuolo 2‐0 on Wednesday.
The result means that Napoli needs a point at Udinese on Thursday to win its first Italian league title since Diego Maradona led the club to its only two cham‐ pionships in 1987 and 1990.
Felipe Anderson put Lazio ahead early with one touch following a ball over the top from Marcos An‐ tonio and then Toma Basic dou‐ bled the Roman club's advantage in stoppage time by finishing off a counterattack.
Lazio moved within 15 points of runaway leader Napoli and back into second place ahead of Juven‐ tus, which beat Lecce 2‐1 earlier.
Relegation‐threatened Cre‐ monese held Champions League semifinalist AC Milan 1‐1 at the San Siro, where Junior Messias scored a late equalizer for the Rossoneri after David Okereke had put the visitors ahead.
Inter Milan, which will face Milan in the Champions League semifinals, routed relegation‐ threatened Hellas Verona 6‐0 with braces from Edin Dzeko and Lautaro Martinez.
Also, Roma was held to a 1‐1 draw at Silvio Berlusconi's Monza.
Stephan El Shaarawy put Roma ahead early following a goalkeep‐ ing blunder but Luca Caldirola equalized for Monza before the break with a difficult volley fol‐ lowing a free kick.
Dusan Vlahovic ended a long scoring drought with the decisive goal and Juventus ended a five‐ match winless streak across all competitions with its victory over visiting Lecce.
Vlahovic scored before the break to end a run of 773 minutes with‐ out a goal in the Italian league. And the Serbia international did it in style, using a half‐volley from the edge of the area to find the tar‐ get.
Leandro Paredes had given Ju‐ ventus an early lead with a free kick around Lecce's wall before Assan Ceesay converted a penalty to equalize for Lecce.
Danilo nearly added another for Juventus with a header off the post.
Juventus hadn't won since beat‐ ing Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of the Europa League quarterfi‐ nals on April 13.
DIA'S DAY
Boulaye Dia scored a hat trick for Salernitana but Cristiano Bi‐ raghi scored a late equalizer for Fiorentina in a wild 3‐3 draw.
It's been a big few days for Dia, who also scored an equalizer at Napoli on Sunday in a regional derby to prevent the title celebra‐ tion. The Senegal forward now has 15 goals in his debut season in Italy.
Also, Atalanta beat Spezia 3‐2 with goals from Marten de Roon, Davide Zappacosta and Luis Muriel; and Alessandro Buon‐ giorno and Pietro Pellegri scored for Torino in a 2‐0 win at last‐ place Sampdoria.
Frankfurt beats Stuttgart 3‑2 to reach German Cup final
Randal Kolo Muani fired Eintra‐ cht Frankfurt into the German Cup final with a 3‐2 win at Stuttgart in their semifinal on Wednesday.
Kolo Muani sealed the result with a penalty after setting up Frankfurt's equalizer to book a showdown with Leipzig on June 3 in Berlin's Olympiastadion.
Leipzig — which defeated Freiburg 5‐1 in their semifinal on Tuesday — is the defending champion after winning the com‐ petition for its first title last year.
Frankfurt has won the tourna‐ ment five times, most recently in 2018.
Tiago Tomás put Stuttgart ahead in the 19th minute as the home team got the better start. But Stuttgart also missed good oppor‐ tunities and the visitors improved, particularly after Stuttgart de‐ fender Konstantinos Mavropanos had to go off with an injury.
Kolo Muani set up Evan Ndicka's equalizer in the 51st, four minutes before Daichi Kamada got Frank‐ furt's second.
Kolo Muani sealed the win from the penalty spot in the 77th after he was brought down on a coun‐ terattack by Stuttgart goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow, who was booked.
Enzo Millot pulled one back against the run of play for Stuttgart in the 83rd, before the home team had defender Borna Sosa sent off with two yellow cards in quick succession.
But Stuttgart kept pushing and a late penalty appeal for an alleged handball was declined after a VAR check.
Frankfurt hadn't won a game since beating Union Berlin in the semifinals last month. That was its only win in its previous 12 games across all competitions.
Erling Haaland sets new Premier League scoring record
Erling Haaland set a new Pre‐ mier League goals record by scor‐ ing his 35th of the season in Manchester City's game against West Ham on Tuesday.
The 22‐year‐old Norway striker struck in the 70th minute at Eti‐ had Stadium to give the defending champions a 2‐0 lead.
Haaland had evened the previ‐ ous record jointly held by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole with his 34th of the campaign against Ful‐ ham on Sunday.
And he moved out on his own with the most Premier League goals in a single season with his latest strike.
Haaland has now scored 51 in all competitions in a remarkable first year at City.
His feat is even more impressive given that Shearer and Cole set the previous benchmark in an era when the league was played over 42 games.
English soccer's top division is now played over a 38‐game cam‐ paign, with Haaland still having five more matches in which to ex‐ tend his record.