Juventus restored their three-point advantage at the top of Serie A with a 2-0 win at Atalanta BC on Sunday, while Inter boosted their chances of returning to the UEFA Champions League with a 3-1 win over relegation-threatened US Citta di Palermo.
Andrea Barzagli and Mario Lemina scored for Juventus, while Gianluigi Buffon had a ninth successive clean sheet. The goalkeeper has not been beaten in Serie A in 836 minutes, the third-longest stretch in league history.
“The lads are doing well, we have won 17 of the past 18 matches, but the second and third teams are still close,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said. “The title will be decided on the last day. We did well in the first 50 minutes, then there was a drop and in that regard we have to improve in managing the lead.”
Photo: Reuters
The battle for third place and the final UEFA Champions League spot is heating up.
Fifth-placed Inter moved two points behind ACF Fiorentina, who slipped three points behind AS Roma in third after Friday’s 4-1 defeat to the capital side.
AC Milan could have leapfrogged Inter, temporarily at least, but lost 2-0 at 10-man US Sassuolo to end a run of 12 matches undefeated in all competitions.
Coach Sinisa Mihajlovic was sent off for dissent after the second goal. There appeared to be a foul in the buildup, but play continued while Andrea Bertolacci was down.
“I am very angry with us and the referees, but I don’t speak about referees,” Mihajlovic said. “We dominated in the first half hour, but as often happens, we struggle to score goals. We can’t create chances and then concede on our opponents’ first chance.”
“I protested because he didn’t blow for a foul... I was angry also with my players, who stopped, which they shouldn’t have done,” Mihajlovic said.
At the other end of the table, Frosinone beat fellow strugglers Udinese 2-0 to give them hope of avoiding relegation. They are one point below Palermo, who occupy the last safe spot in Serie A. Carpi are five points from safety after drawing 0-0 at Bologna.
Genoa also boosted their chances of escaping the drop with a 1-0 win over Empoli.
Torino missed a penalty for the second time in three matches as they drew 1-1 against SS Lazio in the lunchtime kickoff.
Juventus were looking to bounce back from a surprise 3-0 defeat to Inter last week in the Coppa Italia — although they qualified for the final on penalties.
They took the lead in the 24th minute through an unlikely goalscorer as a corner was knocked down by Mario Mandzukic for the unmarked Barzagli to volley in from close range.
It was his second goal for Juventus, almost four years after his first, which also came against Atalanta.
Lemina sealed the win four minutes from time, skipping past two Atalanta players before unleashing a powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Buffon’s unbeaten streak came under threat right at the end, but he got down smartly to turn Andrea Masiello’s effort around the post. The Serie A record is held by Sebastiano Rossi, who kept a clean sheet for 929 consecutive minutes for AC Milan from Dec. 12, 1993, to Feb. 27, 1994, beating the previous mark set by former Juventus goalkeeper Dino Zoff.
Inter had slipped down the table after just two wins in their previous nine matches, but had never lost a home Serie A match to Palermo.
They took the lead in the 11th minute when Adem Ljajic carved out some space for himself before firing into the bottom-left corner for his first goal since December last year.
Mauro Icardi scored and set up one, for Ivan Perisic, either side of the break after Franco Vazquez got one back for Palermo on the stroke of halftime.
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