The Malta Independent on Sunday
Mauro Icardi strikes again
Italian football
Inter came back from behind yesterday at The Olimpico to beat Roma 3-1 and notch their second consecutive victory.
Roma can consider themselves unlucky as after taking an early lead through Edin Dzeko, they could have easily doubled the score when the hit the post on three occassions and an El Shaarawy effort was cleared of the goal line.
But Inter captain Mauro Icardi was devastating in front of goal scoring two quick goals half way through the second half.
Roma pushed everything forward with nainggolan missing a sitter in front of goal, with Inter sealing the issue with a late third goal scored by ex-Fiorentina player Vecino.
The limitations of video review were obvious at Genoa, where Juventus fought back from two goals down to win 4-2 in Serie A yesterday thanks to a hat trick from Paulo Dybala.
Video review (VAR) was used twice in the first half, to give both sides a penalty. However, Genoa forward Andrej Galabinov was offside before he was fouled by Daniele Rugani, while there were also grumbles about Juve's spot kick.
Meanwhile, Benevento thought it picked up a first ever point in Serie A but the VAR ruled out what would have been a stoppage-time equalizer and it lost to Bologna 1-0.
In a frantic start, Genoa took the lead against Juventus inside 20 seconds when Miralem Pjanic inadvertently turned Goran Pandev's cross into his own net.
Galabinov doubled Genoa's lead six minutes later from the spot after his ankle was clipped by Rugani. It was the second penalty awarded against Juventus by video review in as many matches.
Dybala, who scored in Juve's opening win at Cagliari last weekend, halved the deficit in the 14th minute when he fired Pjanic's pullback into the top left corner.
And Juventus leveled in firsthalf stoppage time through a penalty of its own, which Dybala drove emphatically into the roof of the net after Mario Mandzukic kicked the ball onto Darko Lazovic's hand from close range.
Juan Cuadrado had a poor match, but gave Juventus the lead shortly after the hour mark. The Colombia winger chested down Mandzukic's pass, turned Diego Laxalt and placed the ball into the far top corner.
Dybala sealed the result in stoppage time with an accurate shot into the near corner for his first hat trick for Juventus. NO HISTORIC POINT Benevento's Stadio Ciro Vigorito was hosting its first topflight match and the home fans went crazy when Fabio Lucioni fired in a rebound from practically on the goal-line, only for it to be ruled out for offside.
The final decision was made by the fourth referee Daniele Chiffi, who took the place of injured referee Gianpaolo Calvarese late on.
There were more than 10 minutes of stoppage time because of the injury and consultation with the VAR.
Godfred Donsah gave Bologna the lead with a fantastic solo effort which he started in his own half. Yesterday Benevento -Bologna......................0-1 Genoa -Juventus ...........................2-4 Roma -Inter Milan.........................1-3 Today Juventus Inter Bologna AC Milan Napoli Sampdoria Chievo AS Roma Torino Sassuolo Spal Lazio Genoa Udinese Atalanta Verona Crotone Fiorentina Cagliari Benevento
Serie B
Friday Yesterday Today Tomorrow PW D 2 2 0 2 2 0 2 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 L 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 F A Pts 7 2 6 6 1 6 2 1 4 3 0 3 3 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 3 3 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 4 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 1 3 0 0 3 0 0 3 0 0 3 0 1 3 0