The Malta Independent on Sunday
Non stop Juventus
Italian football
Juventus mainatined its impressive march at the top of the standings with another victory at The Juventus Stadium against Roma.
Mario Mandzukic scored the all imprtant goal for the champions in the first half.
Napoli prepared for its midweek clash against Inter Milan by beating struggler Spal only 10 in Serie A yesterday.
Raul Albiol headed in during first-half stoppage time as Napoli dominated to such an extent that the score flattered Spal.
Second-placed Napoli moved eight points ahead of Inter, which drew at bottom club Chievo Verona 1-1.
Napoli visits Inter on Wednesday.
Napoli dominated and thought it took an early lead but Lorenzo Insigne's effort was ruled out for offside.
The home side found the breakthrough at the end of the half thanks to Albiol's glancing header into the far side of the net from Dries Mertens' corner.
Napoli almost doubled its lead after the break as Lorenzo Insigne chipped the goalkeeper from the tightest of angles, practically on the byline, but it came off the frame of the far side of the goal.
Kalidou Koulibaly should have doubled Napoli's lead but he headed Fabian Ruiz's cross narrowly wide of the left post from close range. Knowing he should have done better, Koulibaly let out a yell of frustration.
Mertens also hit the post late on after linking up brilliantly with Insigne.
Spal almost snatched a late equalizer but goalkeeper Alex Meret pulled off a stunning save to keep out Mohamed Fares' header.
The Italy Under-21 goalkeeper spent the last two seasons on loan at Spal from Udinese.
PERISIC UNLOCKED
Sergio Pellissier netted a stoppage-time equalizer to cancel out Ivan Perisic's first goal for Inter in nearly three months.
Mauro Icardi rode a tackle and picked out Danilo D'Ambrosio, who sent in a low cross for Perisic to smash into the roof of the net in the 39th minute.
Both goalkeepers pulled off marvelous saves in the second half while Pellissier sent an overhead kick inches wide.
Inter looked sluggish and the visitor was punished late on as a long ball was knocked on for Pellissier and the 39-year-old striker outsprinted the defenders to chip the onrushing Samir Handanovic.
Chievo moved to within nine points of safety after a sixth successive league draw.
FIGHT FOR FOURTH
Lazio ended a seven-match winless run to leapfrog AC Milan into fourth spot and the final Champions League berth.
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic ended his three-month goal drought to set Lazio on its way to a 3-1 win over Cagliari.
Lazio moved a point above Milan, which lost at home to Fiorentina 1-0.
Federico Chiesa scored for Fiorentina and Milan failed to score for a third successive league match.
OTHER MATCHES
Fabio Quagliarella scored for a seventh successive Serie A match, becoming the first Italian to do so in more than 10 years, as Sampdoria won at Empoli 4-2.
Sassuolo drew with Torino 1-1, and Atalanta lost at Genoa 3-1, with Josip Ilicic missing a firsthalf penalty.
Atalanta ended the match with nine men as Jose Luis Palomino and Rafael Toloi were sent off in the final seven minutes.
Udinese moved two points above the relegation zone after drawing with fellow struggler Frosinone 1-1.
Frosinone is 19th, five points from Udinese and safety, and three points below 18th-placed Bologna, which traveled to Parma late.