Serie A leaders Juventus won 3-1 at SSC Napoli to move three points clear of AS Roma, who fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 against SS Lazio in the capital derby earlier on Sunday.
Miguel Britos leveled for Napoli, canceling out a stunning Paul Pogba volley, but Juventus restored their advantage five minutes later through Martin Caceres, who was making his first appearance in more than three months.
There was a suspicion of offside on that goal and Napoli were further infuriated after having a late equalizer ruled out for a foul on Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, before Arturo Vidal sealed the victory in stoppage-time.
Photo: AFP
“We are tired of this,” Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis wrote on Twitter. “Juve are a strong team, if they are then also helped by referees then they become unbeatable. It is unacceptable that with six officials they cannot see two players who are offside. Either it’s bad faith or incompetence. These six officials have to be frozen out for a long time.”
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri shrugged off the comments after steering the Bianconeri to a first win at the Stadio San Paolo since 2000.
“It makes me smile, if we start protesting at refereeing decisions then it’ll be chaos,” he said. “Mistakes happen and everyone makes them, from presidents to referees, it’s normal.”
Photo: EPA
Napoli remained fourth, a point behind Lazio after the latter’s derby disappointment.
Francesco Totti scored both Roma’s goals in the second half. Roma’s talismanic captain celebrated his second in unusual fashion by taking a selfie of himself on the pitch.
UC Sampdoria moved level on points with Napoli after beating Empoli 1-0, while Genoa slipped up in the race for third when they lost 3-1 at Inter and they are level with ACF Fiorentina, who won a thrilling encounter with US Citta di Palermo 4-3.
Elsewhere, Cagliari defeated AC Cesena 2-1, Atalanta BC drew 1-1 with AC Chievo Verona and Hellas Verona beat Parma 3-1.
Juventus were hoping to avenge their Supercoppa Italiana defeat at the hands of Napoli and took the lead just before the half-hour mark when the ball fell to Pogba and the youngster fired a spectacular volley into the far corner.
Napoli leveled in the 64th minute when Britos escaped the Juventus defense to volley in a corner from close range.
However, Juventus restored their lead almost immediately when Caceres turned in Andrea Pirlo’s free-kick on the half-volley for his first goal since 2012.
Napoli thought they had leveled again five minutes later when Buffon dropped a cross after colliding with Kalidou Koulibaly and Caceres bundled the ball into his own net, but the referee awarded a foul amid furious protests from the hosts.
With Napoli fighting hard for the equalizer, Juventus sealed the match on the counterattack when Alvaro Morata raced from the halfway line before picking out Vidal, who smashed the ball past the goalkeeper from long range.
Roma were looking to move top — for a few hours at least — after cutting the gap to Juventus to one point last week, but Lazio were also full of confidence after a decent run had seen them climb to third.
Felipe Anderson set up Stefano Mauri’s opener before doubling Lazio’s lead before halftime. The young Brazilian has five goals and five assists in as many games.
Rudi Garcia made two changes at halftime, bringing on Kevin Strootman and Adem Ljajic for Radja Nainggolan and Alessandro Florenzi.
That had an immediate effect as Totti reduced the deficit three minutes after the restart following a delightful ball from Strootman.
Totti then had the Stadio Olimpico on its feet with a magnificent equalizer, flying in at the back post to volley Jose Holebas’ cross into the far corner from the tightest of angles — before an equally memorable celebration.
The race for the final UEFA Champions League spot promises to be a riveting battle and just six points separate Lazio in third and Palermo, who slipped to 10th.
Sampdoria moved a point behind Lazio thanks to a magnificent curled goal from Eder shortly after halftime.
Fiorentina were three points further back after a fantastic match which also saw Palermo come back from two goals down with a double from Robin Quaison.
However, Fiorentina who had also hit the woodwork twice, recovered with goals from Juan Cuadrado and Joaquin.
Earlier, Nemanja Vidic scored his first goal for Inter as Roberto Mancini’s side continued their impressive start to the year, following Tuesday last week’s 1-1 draw against Juventus.
Lukas Podolski made his full debut for Inter, while fellow new signing Xherdan Shaqiri was on the bench.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
RSS