Super Mario
Croatian striker inspires Juve to easy win over Empoli
MILAN: Mario Mandzukic (pic) overcame a wasteful first half to inspire Juventus to a 2-0 home win over Empoli that edged the Turin giants closer to a record sixth straight Serie A title.
Juventus, claiming their 22nd win in 26 games on Saturday, moved 10 points clear of closest challengers AS Roma ahead of their visit to Inter Milan.
Napoli remain third but are now 12 points off the pace after a shock 2-0 defeat at home to Atalanta virtually ended their hopes of challenging for a long-awaited scudetto.
A Roma defeat at the San Siro would deliver a significant blow to their scudetto hopes, but Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said nothing is won yet.
“Absolutely not,” he said when asked if Juve had one hand on the title. “Roma could be seven points behind us by tomorrow, we still have a lot of games to play, Napoli could get to 90 points and Roma 95.
“We need to win a lot of games and tonight, against Empoli, wasn’t so simple. It took us until the second half to break the deadlock.”
Juventus are also challenging for a third consecutive league and Cup double and Allegri underlined those ambitions by resting several players for tomorrow’s semi-final first leg with Napoli.
The goalkeeper’s gloves went to Brazilian Norberto Neto after Gianluigi Buffon was rested, while Dani Alves and Daniele Rugani
stepped in for veteran defenders Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini, both on the bench.
Argentine playmaker Paulo Dybala also started on the bench but given Empoli’s miserable record at Juventus Stadium there was little to suggest Allegri’s choices would backfire.
Yet Empoli were a tough nut to crack in a balanced opening half
that saw plenty of home chances, most by Mandzukic, go amiss.
After just five minutes Gonzalo Higuain prodded a Mandzukic knock-down straight at Lukasz Skorupski in the Empoli net from six yards.
Mandzukic was at full stretch to meet a great pass from Higuain at the back post, but did better minutes after the interval when he rose high above the Empoli defence to meet Juan Cuadrado’s weighted delivery.
His powerful header beat Skorupski, smacked off the underside of the crossbar and eventually cleared the line after bouncing back off the splayed goalkeeper and into the net for a 52nd minute own goal.
Former Barcelona star Alves hit Juve’s second in Porto last Wednesday when he coolly chested down Alex Sandro’s cross to beat Iker Casillas.
The Brazilian returned the favour for his countryman in the 65th
minute. Sandro was left unmarked on the left side of the area in the 65th minute to pivot around his marker and beat Skorupski with a low angled drive at his far post.
Earlier, a brace from Juventusbound Mattia Caldara torpedoed Napoli’s scudetto hopes as 10-man Atalanta underlined their growing Euro ambitions in style with a shock 2-0 win.
Napoli welcomed high-flying Atalanta looking to tighten their grip on the third and last Champions League qualifying spot.
But less than a week after suffering a 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the competition, Maurizio Sarri’s men saw a 14-game unbeaten streak ended by their second successive league defeat to Gian Piero Gasperini’s men.
Atalanta’s 16th win moved the Bergamo side up to fourth, ahead of Inter before they welcome Roma to the San Siro. — AFP