Gonzalo Higuain on Sunday scored the winner as Juventus inflicted a first Serie A defeat of the season on Inter with a 2-1 victory which sent the defending champions top of Serie A.
Substitute Higuain slotted home on 80 minutes after fellow Argentine Paulo Dybala had opened the scoring in the fourth minute at the San Siro.
Another Argentine, forward Lautaro Martinez, pulled Inter level from the penalty spot on 18 minutes, but coach Antonio Conte lost in his first meeting against his former club since leaving Juve to take over the Italy national team in 2014.
Photo: AFP
Juventus moved one point ahead of Inter after seven games as they target a ninth consecutive title, and first under Maurizo Sarri.
“Overtaking at the top is insignificant right now,” former Chelsea boss Sarri said. “The important things is that we showed a performance of character and personality against a strong team in a high-tension environment. We deserved to win.”
Sarri started with Dybala and Federico Bernardeschi up front alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.
Higuain — who also scored in Juventus’ 3-0 UEFA Champions League win over Bayer 04 Leverkusen last week — began on the bench.
The champions got off to a blistering start with Miralem Pjanic setting up Dybala, who took Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic by surprise.
Ronaldo rattled the crossbar and then had a goal ruled out when Dybala was in an offside position, but Inter got back on level terms when Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt handled the ball, with Lautaro drilling past Wojciech Szczesny.
The hosts were hit with Stefano Sensi going off injured and Sarri made a double substitution after an hour, bringing on in-form Higuain and Rodrigo Bentacur.
Ronaldo and Bentancur combined to send Higuain through for the winner, with Szczesny doing well to deny Matias Vecino as Inter desperately pushed forward for an equalizer.
“Juve showed their heavy artillery,” said Conte, who coached the Turin giants to the first three of their eight consecutive titles.
“Congratulations to them, we’ll roll up our sleeves now,” added Conte, whose side lost their Champions League game to Barcelona 2-1 last week.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta BC celebrated moving back to the Gewiss Stadium with a 3-1 win over promoted US Lecce that keeps the Bergamo side third on 16 points, but last season’s runners-up SSC Napoli are now six points behind Juventus in fourth following a goalless draw at Torino.
AS Roma are fifth, a point behind Napoli, after their match against Cagliari at the Stadio Olimpico finished 1-1 after Nikola Kalinic’s last-gasp goal for the hosts was disallowed.
Roma stay a point ahead of city rivals SS Lazio, who drew 2-2 at Bologna, with Serie A top-scorer Ciro Immobile getting both goals for the visitors to bring his tally to seven goals in as many games.
In Tuscany, Nikola Milenkovic nodded in the only goal after 72 minutes to give ACF Fiorentina their third consecutive win.
Fiorentina are eighth, while Udinese are a point above the relegation zone.
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS