Lazio put on Super show to sink Juve
LAZIO thumped Juventus 3-1 to deservedly win the Italian Super Cup – the annual meeting between the Coppa Italia winners and Serie A champions.
Second-half goals from Senad Lulic and Danilo Cataldi sealed the match which was being played in Saudi Arabia for the second year running.
Lazio – still smarting from failing to get out of Celtic’s Europa League group – also beat Juventus 3-1 in Serie A earlier this month, handing their opponents their first defeat under coach Maurizio Sarri.
The Italian Cup winners led after 16 minutes through Luis Alberto’s finish from Sergej MilinkovicSavic’s lay-off.
Paulo Dybala levelled for the Serie A champions at the end of the first-half from a rebound after Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot was parried by Thomas Strakosha.
Juventus seemed to be in control in the second half and Ronaldo was close with a shot which went just over but they were caught out when Marco Parolo’s cross flew across the face of goal and Lulic volleyed in at the far post in the 73rd minute.
The Old Lady had midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur sent off in stoppage time and Cataldi curled the resulting free-kick into the net with the last action of the game.
Elsewhere, AC Milan suffered their heaviest defeat for more than 21 years as they were thrashed 5-0 by Atalanta in Serie A.
Alejandro Gomez fired in a stunning opener, Mario Pasalic scored and Josip Ilicic netted twice before Luis Muriel struck.
Napoli ended an eight-match winless league run and gave new coach Rino Gattuso his first victory when they came from behind to win 2-1 at Sassuolo with a stoppage-time own goal from Pedro Obiang.
In Spain, Real Madrid slipped two points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona after they could only draw 0-0 at home to Athletic Bilbao in their final game of the year.
Madrid are now two points behind their Catalan rivals after collecting consecutive goalless draws in La Liga for the first time since March 2006.
Real’s top scorer Karim Benzema had a shot cleared off the line in a lively first half from both sides while Toni Kroos, substitutes Nacho Fernandez and Luka Jovic all hit the woodwork on a frustrating evening at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Athletic, who beat champions Barca earlier this season, gave an astute performance in defence and also gave their hosts a few scares, with Kenan Kodro having a goal ruled out for offside and Inaki Williams forcing Thibaut Courtois to make a diving save.
It was Real’s third draw in a row after 1-1 and 0-0 stalemates away to Valencia and Barca.
They are second in the league on 37 points after 18 games, two behind Barca who beat Alaves 4-1 on Saturday.
Alvaro Morata was on target as fourth-placed Atletico Madrid sunk Real Betis 2-1.
Angel Correa had earlier given Madrid the lead before Morata fired in the second.
Marc Bartra pulled one back for Betis in stoppage time but Atletico held on to sit just two points behind third-placed Sevilla.