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LEGA CALCIO: Juve ease the pressure on Ranieri by winning derby

Juventus eased the pressure on under-fire coach Claudio Ranieri with a vital 1-0 victory at home to Torino in the Turin derby on Saturday, while Catania missed the chance to go top of Serie A when they drew 1-1 at Siena.

Brazilian striker Amauri was the Juventus match winner against neighbors Torino as the Italian giants ended a run of four Serie A matches without a victory and moved up into the top half of the table.

Torino lost for the fourth match in a row and remain just above the relegation zone, although they deserved something from the game. Tellingly, though, Juve celebrated wildly after the final whistle, hardly behavior befitting one of the continent’s giants following a 1-0 home success over a team fourth from bottom. Although coupled with Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League, it’s been a good week for the Old Lady of Turin.

“It’s been a great week and now the winning goal in the derby,” Amauri said. “It feels like a dream. I’m happy that Juve are back to their old selves again. Now we can’t slacken one bit, if you slacken the others will jump all over you. We have to stay on track to achieve our objectives which are [winning] the title and hopefully the Champions League.”

Juventus had the better of a largely uneventful first half, with Marco Marchionni twice denied by Alex Calderoni in the visitors goal. Even so, the best chance of the half fell to Torino’s Rolando Bianchi after a mistake by Juve keeper Alex Manninger, but the former Manchester City forward failed to find the target.

Juve sprang out of the traps early in the second half, with Amauri out-pacing his marker before shooting under Calderoni’s body from an angle. The hosts mental frailty was exposed thereafter, though, as they clung on desperately to what they had.

Torino pushed forward, but failed to work Manninger despite creating some good opportunities. Juve defended solidly with Nicola Legrottaglie denying Bianchi, while Elvis Abbruscato and Nicola Amoruso were off target with headers from good positions.

Sicilians Catania were lucky to escape with a point in a game hosts Siena dominated throughout.

Siena took a deserved lead on 75 minutes when Emanuele Calaio ghosted between two defenders and headed home a deep cross from Cristiano Del Grosso. But just five minutes later, Siena were stung on the counterattack as Michele Paolucci broke from the halfway line before being brought down by Gianluca Curci after he had rounded the goalkeeper. Giuseppe Mascara made no mistake from the spot, sending Curci the wrong way.

Catania coach Walter Zenga, a former Italy and Inter goalkeeper, made no apologies for the point nicked.

“For me, the cup is half full, when you take home a point on a night like this it means the team is reacting, suffering and continuing to fight for its survival,” Zenga said. “Siena played really well, they were very good tonight, we perhaps waited too much for them to do something, but we did well. A point at Siena is very important against one of our direct [relegation] rivals.”

Siena will feel hard done by though, after dominating throughout. Catania goalkeeper Albano Bizarri denied former Middlesbrough forward Massimo Maccarone and Frenchman Abdel Kader Ghezzal twice each. Ghezzal, who was playing for Crotone in the Italian third division before this season, claimed the point was a kick in the teeth for Siena.

“I feel bitter. Given how we played tonight we deserved the three points,” Ghezzal said.

Siena moved up to second with the point, behind champions Inter.
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