Icardi's goal earned a slender 1-0 victory at
Empoli.
The league leaders at Christmas were briefly
deposed by Fiorentina, but Inter -- far from
convincing against a plucky Empoli side -- are
again one point clear of La Viola following Icardi's
first-half stoppage-time strike at the Stadio Carlo
Castellani.
Two goals from Josip Ilicic had helped Fiorentina
briefly top with a 3-1 win over Palermo.
Paulo Sousa's Tuscans were largely grateful to
Ilicic, who returned to the Stadio Renzo Barbera
to smash a brace past his previous employers.
Alberto Gilardino also scored against his former
paymasters to set up a nervy finish but Jakub
Blaszczykowski made sure of the win with a third
goal for Fiorentina in stoppage time.
Juventus stormed back into the title race by
beating hapless Hellas Verona 3-0 to register an
eighth straight win.
Massimiliano Allegri's men -- the reigning
champions -- made a poor start to the season,
spending most of the autumn in mid-table after
kicking off their latest title defence with back-to-
back defeats.
But they are now well and truly in the fight for
the Scudetto with the likes of Inter Milan and
Napoli, thanks to goals from Paulo Dybala,
Leonardo Bonucci and substitute Simone Zaza at
the Juventus Stadium.
Winless Hellas, meanwhile, remain rooted to the
bottom of the table after losing for the 10th time.
Emanuele Giaccherini's late goal stunned AC Milan
as Bologna snatched a 1-0 victory at San Siro.
The on-loan Sunderland winger has struggled
with injuries this season but managed to make a
huge impact for resurgent Bologna at just the
right time.
Giaccherini's 82nd-minute strike will also send a
shockwave through the Milan camp, with a new-
year push for the Champions League places
already looking unrealistic for a club now fallen to
seventh place.
Substitute Simone Pepe had the last laugh in a
six-goal thriller that saw Chievo hold Roma to a
3-3 draw.
Champions League-chasing Roma were two goals
up at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi thanks
to Umar Sadiq and Alessandro Florenzi, but
Chievo hit back through Alberto Paloschi and
Dario Dainelli.
I
ago Falque then thought he had grabbed a late
winner for Roma, only for Pepe to climb off the
bench to score.
Ten-man Sassuolo shared the points with
Frosinone after a 2-2 draw at the Mapei Stadium.
Frosinone's Federico Dionisi opened the scoring
with a cross-shot in the 16th minute, but
Sassuolo were soon level, Gregoire Defrel's finish
taking a deflection off Arlind Ajeti on its way in.
Frosinone took the lead before the break as Ajeti
headed Daniel Pavlovic's corner into the net. In
the 75th minute Sassuolo equalised once more as
substitute Diego Falcinelli grabbed his first Serie A
goal when converting Alfred Duncan's lay-off.
Sassuolo's Lorenzo Pellegrini was dismissed in
stoppage time after picking up a second yellow
card.
Lazio's inconsistent form carried into the new year
as relegation-threatened Carpi ground out a 0-0
draw at the Stadio Olimpico.
The Biancocelesti are a disappointing 10th in
Serie A and do not look like making progress any
time soon, with a toothless first-half performance
summing up their approach to the season so far.
Earlier, Udinese held off Atalanta for a 2-1 victory
at Stadio Friuli.
Udinese took the lead in the 23rd minute when
Brazilian defender Felipe saw his back-post header
saved and Cyril Thereau was alert to lash in the
rebound for his seventh goal of the season.
The lead was doubled in first-half stoppage time
when Fernandes clipped over a cross from the left
which curled through the Atalanta penalty area to
Perica who headed home powerfully.
Atalanta
pulled a goal back with 16 minutes left when
Marco D'Alessandro scored from close range
following a deflected left-wing cross but were
unable to force an equaliser.
0 comments:
Post a Comment