Juventus surged back into the Serie A title race with a 3-1 home win over ACF Fiorentina on Sunday, while SSC Napoli and AS Roma played out a 0-0 stalemate and 10-man AC Milan were held 1-1 by bottom club Hellas Verona.
Mario Mandzukic and Paulo Dybala struck second-half goals to add further impetus to Juve’s title challenge after a poor start to the season.
Second-placed Fiorentina’s Josip Ilicic had given the visitors the lead from the penalty spot during a breathless opening, but Juventus were level minutes later when Juan Cuadrado equalized against his former club.
Photo: EPA
Roma, who have now gone four league games without a win, had goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to thank for keeping them in the contest against Napoli, but they still dropped to fifth place.
Elsewhere, Valter Birsa scored the only goal of the game as AC Chievo Verona beat Atalanta BC, who had Nicolo Cherubin and Jasmin Kurtic sent off, while Empoli beat struggling Carpi 3-0 to go ninth.
Fiorentina took the lead in the third minute in Turin when Ilicic converted from the spot after Juve’s Giorgio Chiellini was adjudged to have brought down Federico Bernardeschi, although the hosts accused the winger of diving.
Juventus responded almost immediately, equalizing in the sixth minute when Cuadrado met Patrice Evra’s cross with a looping header, before Mandzukic scored in the 80th after Fiorentina goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarunsanu failed to hold Paulo Dybala’s effort.
Dybala added a third in the second minute of stoppage-time when Cuadrado pressured Davide Astori into an error before playing in the Argentine forward, who slotted home past Tatarunsanu.
“As we were so far behind, it is important to close [the gap] even more before the [winter] break,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.
Roma were booed off the pitch last week after an insipid 0-0 UEFA Champions League draw against BATE Borisov, despite qualifying for the round-of-16.
On-loan Chelsea forward Mohamed Salah returned to the starting lineup for the first time since early last month against Napoli and gave them a dynamism that was missing in his absence.
However, Napoli steadily took control of the contest and had their chances to win, with Marek Hamsik forcing Szczesny into an outstanding double save at the death.
“If this was a boxing match, Roma’s corner would have thrown in the towel,” Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri told Mediaset Premium.
“At this moment Inter are in first place, but they have had luck on their side,” Roma playmaker Miralem Pjanic told Sky Sport Italia. “We’ve got all the time in the world to close the gap.”
AC Milan coach Sinisa Mihajlovic was left fuming at the referee after his side drew 1-1 at home to bottom club Hellas Verona.
Carlos Bacca opened the scoring in the 52nd minute, but Luca Toni equalized from the penalty spot in the 57th after Nigel de Jong brought down Leandro Greco and was sent off for preventing a clear scoring opportunity.
“The fans are right to complain, and I am sorry for them and the club,” Mihajlovic told Mediaset. “You’ve never seen me talk about referees, but you can’t fail to mention some things, because for the last two games we’ve been seriously hurt.”
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