Norway leftback John Arne Riise popped up in stoppage-time to head home the winner as AS Roma condemned 10-man Juventus to an eighth defeat in 11 matches with a 2-1 success in Turin on Saturday.
The defeat will surely leave Juve coach Ciro Ferrara on the brink as his mis-firing team slumped to a sixth defeat in eight Serie A clashes, and to make matters worse Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was dismissed.
The win moved in-form Roma to within two points of second-placed AC Milan.
PHOTO: REUTERS
They now have eight wins and three draws in their last 11 league matches, but club captain Francesco Totti doesn’t want to get carried away.
“We’re going through a great period in terms of results, we stood up to Juve,” Totti said. “Where do we want to get to? Right now, we’re not thinking about anyone else but ourselves.”
Ferrara sprung a surprise in his line-up, leaving out former World Player of the Year Fabio Cannavaro in favor of Nicola Legrottaglie, possibly in order to combat the aerial threat posed by Roma forward Luca Toni.
Both coaches’ plans were thrown out the window a couple of minutes in, however, as Toni pulled up with a calf injury and was replaced by Totti, making his comeback from injury.
The switch seemed to suck any attacking threat out of Roma and Juve dominated the first 45 minutes.
Bosnia veteran Hasan Salihamidzic fired well over from distance on nine minutes, before Brazilian forward Amauri rose highest in a crowded box to meet Zdenek Grygera’s right-wing cross, heading wide under pressure from Nicolas Burdisso.
Juve’s best chances were coming from the flanks and Amauri won another header on 31 minutes, this time from Fabio Grosso’s left-wing cross, but again he directed it wide. Next it was a devilish free-kick from Diego that caused a problem in the Roma defense, but Alessandro Del Piero couldn’t get enough contact to direct his header on target.
Juve needed a stroke of luck or a moment of genius to break the deadlock and they got both six minutes after the restart.
Diego’s low ball into the box spun up off Juan’s foot, Del Piero was perfectly placed for the dropping ball and his left foot volley from a tight angle low into the far corner was pure vintage.
If Juve had needed something special to find the net, Roma needed a helping hand, and they got it courtesy of Grosso and the referee.
Rodrigo Taddei ran onto a through-ball in the box and tried to turn inside Grosso, but the fullback left out an arm, Taddei flopped to the ground and the referee pointed to the spot, with Totti slotting home the penalty.
Juve resorted to the tactic that served them well in the first period and substitute Antonio Candreva lofted a high ball into the box, but Amauri’s header was straight at goalkeeper Julio Sergio.
The hosts were almost made to pay as Taddei released the breaking Riise with Juve caught upfield, but Buffon sacrificed himself, charging out of his area and bringing down the marauding Norwegian fullback to prevent him going through on goal. Buffon barely even waited for the red card before walking off the field.
Then it was Riise again who charged forward deep in stoppage-time to meet a David Pizarro cross at the back post.
Earlier, Catania cruised to a crucial 3-0 victory at home to Parma to improve their chances of beating the drop, leaving them 18th, just one point from safety.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS