Carlos Tevez scored again to help Juventus beat Genoa 1-0 in Serie A on Sunday and maintain their 14-point advantage over AS Roma, who got back to winning ways with a 1-0 victory at AC Cesena.
Tevez, who also had a penalty saved at Juventus Stadium in Turin, scored the only goal of the game with a magnificent finish to increase his tally to a league-leading 16 for the season.
It was also the Argentina forward’s 24th goal in all competitions, following a brace in last Wednesday’s 3-0 win at Borussia Dortmund, which sent Juventus through to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.
Photo: EPA
“The coach always gives me compliments for what I do on the pitch for the team,” Tevez said. “Everyone knows I am happy here, I don’t want to talk about my future at the moment. I have to enjoy this unique moment that I am experiencing. We have to seal the championship as soon as possible so we can focus on the Coppa Italia semi-final and the Champions League quarter-finals. We can’t let our guard down.”
The match at Juventus Stadium was the only one of the weekend with the traditional kickoff of 3pm.
In the evening, Daniele de Rossi fired Roma to their first league victory in six matches as they remained a point ahead of city rivals SS Lazio, who beat Hellas Verona 2-0.
Photo: AFP
UC Sampdoria leapfrogged SSC Napoli into fourth place with a 1-0 win over Inter. Napoli drew 1-1 at home to 10-man Atalanta BC, while ACF Fiorentina also dropped points in the race for a Champions League spot, drawing 2-2 at Udinese after two goals in as many minutes from Mario Gomez.
Crisis-hit Parma lost 2-0 to Torino, while Empoli beat US Sassuolo 3-1 in the lunchtime kickoff for a club record eighth match unbeaten.
Genoa were the only side to have beaten Juventus in Serie A this season, having snatched a 1-0 victory at the end of October last year.
Tevez broke the deadlock with a moment of magic in the 25th minute, beating two defenders as he surged into the penalty area, before firing an unstoppable effort in off the underside of the crossbar.
Genoa goalkeeper Mattia Perin was forced off early in the second half with a shoulder injury and was replaced by Eugenio Lamanna, who saved a penalty 10 minutes later, diving smartly to his right to keep out Tevez’s spot-kick.
It was the second penalty Lamanna has saved in his three appearances this season, after also denying Roma’s Adem Ljajic.
Facundo Roncaglia had given away the penalty by bringing down Roberto Pereyra.
Roma were under pressure after crashing out of the UEFA Europa League at home to Fiorentina.
De Rossi set his side on the way to a valuable win shortly before halftime. Salih Ucan failed to control a Jose Holebas cross from the left, but De Rossi ran up from behind him to drive home.
Lazio got off to the perfect start when Felipe Anderson headed home Dusan Basta’s cross in the fourth minute. It was the Brazilian’s ninth league goal and his third in two matches.
Both sides hit the woodwork, before Antonio Candreva doubled Lazio’s lead on the stroke of halftime with a powerful free-kick.
Anderson also hit the crossbar in the second half after sprinting forward from his own half.
Samp are four points behind Lazio, but up to third after Eder celebrated his debut Italy call-up with a fantastic free-kick in the 65th minute.
Former Samp striker Mauro Icardi had hit the crossbar earlier in Inter’s fourth Serie A match without a win.
Napoli were also on a miserable run in the league, but their hopes of getting a result were boosted when Papu Gomez was sent off following a second booking just 10 minutes into the second half.
However, Atalanta took the lead when substitute Mauricio Pinilla — who had only been on the pitch two minutes — stole the ball off Paulo Henrique and rounded the goalkeeper, before slotting into an empty net.
It was another substitute who snatched the equalizer a minute from time when Duvan Zapata headed in a David Lopez cross from close range.
The tension got to coach Rafael Benitez and he was sent off for dissent in stoppage-time.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS