The Malta Independent on Sunday
Inter’s crisis deepens with home draw against Lazio
Italian football ● Roma also lose further ground with draw against Sassuolo ● Benevento make history with first ever Serie A win ● Donnarumma makes 100th appearance for AC Milan
Inter Milan's crisis deepened as it was held to a 0-0 draw at home by Lazio oyesterday to leave it without a win in four league matches.
Inter, which was undefeated and top of Serie A only two weeks ago, is now seven points behind leader Napoli and six below Juventus.
Roma is two points further back after a 1-1 draw with Sassuolo, while Lazio remained fifth. The two capital sides have played a match less than Napoli and Inter.
Inter moved top of Serie A with a credible 0-0 draw at Juventus on December 9. However, that was mainly down to the performance of goalkeeper Samir Handanovic, and its struggles in front of goal have continued.
Three days later, Inter needed penalties to get past third-division Pordenone in the Italian Cup after a goalless draw. That was followed by league losses to Udinese (3-1) and Sassuolo (1-0) before Wednesday's surprise Cup defeat to AC Milan.
Inter has scored just one goal in its past six matches in all competitions.
It was the visitors who went closest to scoring at the end of the first half when Inter midfielder Borja Valero attempted to head clear Lazio's corner and it came off the crossbar.
Valero almost scored at the right end for Inter but Lazio goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha did well to turn his effort onto the post.
Lazio was awarded a penalty on the hour mark but, after reviewing the incident on video, the referee revoked his decision as Ciro Immobile's cross had hit Milan Skriniar's leg before bouncing up onto his arm so the handball was involuntary. ROMA FALTERS Sassuolo started the season badly but was revitalized when Giuseppe Iachini replaced Cristian Bucchi as coach and won its previous three league matches, including a notable victory over Inter.
It fell behind in the 31st minute against Roma when Edin Dzeko rolled the ball across the area for an unmarked Lorenzo Pellegrini to fire into the far bottom corner.
Pellegrini left Sassuolo in the offseason along with current Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco.
Roma thought it had doubled its lead in the 71st minute but Dzeko's strike was ruled out for offside. Simone Missiroli equalized seven minutes later for Sassuolo, heading home Federico Peluso's cross.
Alessandro Florenzi almost marked his 200th Roma appearance with a late winner but that was also ruled out as teammate Cengiz Under was offside. FIRST-EVER WIN Benevento recorded its first Serie A victory with a 1-0 win over Chievo Verona.
Benevento had the worst start to a season in modern history among Europe's five major leagues, losing 17 of its previous 18 matches in its debut season in Serie A.
Massimo Coda netted the historic goal for Benevento in the 64th minute, flicking Marco D'Alessandro's chipped pass beyond Chievo goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino.
Benevento picked up its first Serie A point at the beginning of the month when goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli's injury-time equalizer secured a 2-2 draw against AC Milan. CENTURION Teenage goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma marked his 100th appearance for Milan by helping it rescue a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina.
Donnarumma made several crucial saves, notably palming Gil Dias' header onto the crossbar from close range in first-half injury time.
Fiorentina eventually broke the deadlock in the 71st minute when Giovanni Simeone headed in Cristiano Biraghi's cross.
Milan leveled three minutes later as Marco Sportiello only blocked Suso's effort and Hakan Calhanoglu fired in the rebound.
Milan, mid-table in the league standings, had lost its previous two Serie A matches but beat city rival Inter in the Italian Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday. OTHER MATCHES Paulo Dybala proved he is back with two late goals – scored with his weaker right foot – as Juventus struggled to beat Verona 3-1.
Medhi Benatia’s header was over the bar from a corner and Juve broke through within six minutes. Gonzalo Higuain’s strike cannoned off the upright and into the path of Blaise Matuidi who, despite shinning the shot, got it into the far bottom corner.
That goal set a new all-time Serie A record, as for the 23rd away game in a row, Juventus found the back of the net. The previous record also belonged to Juve of 22 from 2013 to 2014.
Nicolas got down to beat away another Higuain solo effort, then Pipita’s free kick hit the side-netting, but half the crowd thought it had gone in.
Caceres pounced on a Benatia error and hit a right-foot scorcher from 20 metres out, as the fact he slipped while taking it perhaps gave the ball an extra spin to go past Wojciech Szczesny.
La Joya was well and truly back, as he completed his brace soon after. This was more of a trademark Dybala goal, as he gathered in midfield, surged forward dribbling between four players and smashed the precise angled drive into the far bottom corner, again with his right foot to anticipate the goalkeeper from 12 yards.
Incredibly, Dybala had only ever scored two right-foot goals in his entire Serie A career, but got two in five minutes.
Cagliari boosted its hopes of avoiding relegation by winning 2-1 at Atalanta to move five points above the bottom three.
Udinese won 2-1 at Bologna for a fifth consecutive victory, while Sampdoria beat Spal 2-0 and Torino drew 0-0 with Genoa.