AS Roma ended their winless streak with a 2-0 victory over Genoa in Serie A on Sunday to relieve some of the pressure on coach Rudi Garcia, while league leaders Inter lost 2-1 at home to SS Lazio.
Alessandro Florenzi opened the scoring just before halftime at the Stadio Olimpico and the whole Roma team ran over to hug Garcia.
Edin Dzeko was sent off 16 minutes before the end, but teenager Sadiq Umar sealed the match late on to end a seven-match winless run for Roma that included last Wednesday’s Coppa Italia exit against second-division Spezia.
Photo: Reuters
“Today we see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Garcia said. “There will be a lot of good things in the second half of the season. This is an important victory, but not the most important since I’ve been sat on the Roma bench.”
Roma remained fifth, only four points behind Inter after Antonio Candreva’s late penalty at the San Siro.
“I’m not angry, but disappointed,” Inter coach Roberto Mancini said. “There are games you can’t manage to win because you play badly like we did tonight, but you shouldn’t lose them by making mistakes like we did. We’ve ruined Christmas for ourselves a bit.”
Also on Sunday, SSC Napoli beat Atalanta BC 3-1 and ACF Fiorentina defeated AC Chievo Verona 2-0 to stay tied for second place on 35 points, two ahead of Juventus, who came from behind to win 3-2 at Carpi.
Carpi almost snatched a point after a stoppage-time own-goal by Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci as Lorenzo Lollo miskicked from close range. Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri was so angry that he tore his coat off and threw it at the bench.
AC Milan moved into sixth after coming from behind to rescue a 4-2 win at relegation-threatened Frosinone, while bottom club Hellas Verona held high-flying US Sassuolo to a 1-1 draw.
UC Sampdoria beat fellow strugglers US Citta di Palermo 2-0, while 10-man Udinese won 1-0 at Torino.
Reports in Italy said Garcia faced dismissal if Roma failed to beat Genoa in the final match before the winter break.
Florenzi netted the all-important goal two minutes before the break, volleying in at the back post after Lucas Digne’s cross was deflected by Genoa defender Ezequiel Munoz.
Dzeko was shown a straight red in the 74th minute for dissent and Genoa almost took advantage of their numerical superiority before Sadiq secured the win seven minutes after coming off the bench, heading in a cross from fellow substitute William Vainqueur.
It was the 18-year-old first Serie A goal in his third appearance.
The top five in Serie A are within four points of each other after Inter’s third loss of the season.
Candreva got Lazio off to the perfect start with a powerful strike that left Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic rooted to the spot.
Mauro Icardi leveled on the hour mark, springing the offside trap to race onto Ivan Perisic’s through-ball and into the penalty area, before netting with Inter’s first shot on target.
However, Lazio snatched all three points in a frantic finale after Felipe Melo clattered into the back of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic three minutes from time. Penalty specialist Handanovic saved Candreva’s spot-kick, but the Italy midfielder fired home the rebound.
Matters swiftly went from bad to worse for Melo as he was sent off for a challenge with a foot so high he kicked Lucas Biglia on top of the shoulder. Milinkovic-Savic was also dismissed moments later following a second booking.
It was Lazio’s first win in eight matches.
In Bergamo, the match sparked into life after the break when Napoli were awarded a penalty after a handball by Marten de Roon.
Marek Hamsik had missed his past five penalties and almost did so again as his spot-kick bounced off the underside of the bar, but went over the line.
Alejandro Gomez leveled less than two minutes later, but the league’s leading goalscorer Gonzalo Higuain scored twice to take his tally to 16 in Serie A this season.
Hamsik missed a late penalty after Gabriel Paletta was sent off for bringing down Dries Mertens.
Napoli played the final 15 minutes with 10 men after Jorginho was dismissed for two bookings in three minutes on his 24th birthday.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two