The Malta Independent on Sunday
Juventus beats Lazio in game dedicated to earthquake victims Napoli beat nine-man Milan 4-2
Football - Italian Serie A
Juventus won 1-0 at Lazio yesterday in a Serie A match dedicated to the victims of the earthquake in central Italy.
Fans held aloft banners to demonstrate their solidarity with the nearly 300 people killed on Wednesday, and a minute of silence was observed before kickoff.
Also, Lazio’s shirts featured a message that read "Noi con voi" - "We’re with you" - including an image of the clock tower in the hardest-hit town of Amatrice, which was stopped at 3.36am on Wednesday when the quake hit.
Amatrice and other towns affected are in the Lazio region.
In the 66th minute, Sami Khedira took a pass from Paulo Dybala and scored with an angled shot inside the far post as Lazio’s defence appeared distracted by prized Juventus signing Gonzalo Higuain, who came on a minute earlier.
Khedira also scored in Juve’s season-opening 2-1 win over Fiorentina last weekend.
There was a two-minute heat timeout at the Stadio Olimpico during the first half, with the temperature 32 degrees (90 F) in the capital.
Higuain started on the bench for the second consecutive match since becoming the most expensive transfer in Italian football history at 90 million euros ($99 million) but again made an impact, this time merely with his presence.
Winger Marco Pjaca, another new Juventus player, also impressed when he came on for the final few minutes. Pjaca dribbled by a defender in stylish fashion before unleashing a powerful shot that went directly at goalkeeper Federico Marchetti.
Lazio’s first shot on goal didn’t come until an effort from Marco Parolo less than five minutes from the end.
In the late match, Napoli obtained their first win of the season when they beat AC Milan 4-2 at the San Paolo in Naples.
In their opening match, Napoli had been held to a 2-2 draw by newly promoted Pescara.
Yesterday they dominated the first half during which they built a 2-0 lead through goals from Milik, but Milan hit back to restore equilibrium early in the second half with goals from Suso and Niang.
Callejon put Napoli ahead on 74 minutes and Milan had Kucka and Niang sent off before the same Callejon scored the fourth.