Torino on Sunday pulled off a shock 2-1 win over AC Milan which extended SSC Napoli’s Serie A lead to five points in their bid for a first league title in more than three decades.
Reigning champions Milan were on a run of four straight league wins, but defeat dropped them down to third, six points behind Napoli, after Koffi Djidji and Aleksei Miranchuk netted twice in two first-half minutes to claim the win for Torino.
Stefano Pioli’s side have been overtaken by Atalanta BC, who are one point ahead of Milan thanks to their 2-0 win at Empoli in Sunday’s early match.
Photo: Reuters
However, the weekend’s big winners were Napoli, who kicked off the action on Saturday with another avalanche of goals and look increasingly like a team that could bring the title to Naples for the first time since 1989-1990.
“We weren’t sharp, didn’t bring any real quality and we weren’t at it during the moments that changed the game. We were poor in both our and the opposition’s areas,” Pioli told DAZN.
Torino had scored just twice at home before the weekend, but they are up to ninth following their fifth win of the season, a match which nearly boiled over after Junior Messias pulled a goal back for the away side midway through the second half.
A dreadful mix-up between goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and Alessandro Buongiorno — plus what looked like a clear push by Messias — allowed Milan’s Brazilian to clip in his second goal of the season.
Torino coach Ivan Juric was sent off for his furious protests at no foul being given, but he calmed down after his team held out for the big win.
“It’s all over. Now I’m happy,” Juric said, before saying he was wrong about Messias’ goal after seeing footage with DAZN’s analysts. “From my angle at the time it seemed a lot worse ... life’s funny like that.”
Without injured Italy striker Ciro Immobile, SS Lazio looked set to claim their sixth win in seven league matches and provisional second place when Mattia Zaccagni rolled them ahead four minutes before halftime in Rome, but US Salernitana 1919 did not lose their heads and came away with their first ever win, a 3-1 victory, at the Stadio Olimpico thanks to a beautiful 51st-minute lob from former Lazio player Antonio Candreva and further second-half strikes from former AS Roma defender Federico Fazio and Boulaye Dia.
Lazio were further hurt by star man Sergej Milinkovic-Savic being given a soft yellow card after colliding with Dylan Bronn, meaning the Serbia midfielder will miss the derby with Roma.
“If I say what I think about that decision they’ll ban me for six months,” a fuming Sarri said.
Ademola Lookman continued his good form by netting his fourth goal in five league matches in Atalanta’s comfortable win at Empoli.
Hans Hateboer netted the other in an eighth win in 12 matches for Atalanta.
Empoli sit 13th after their fifth defeat of the season, two points behind ACF Fiorentina, who won 2-1 at Spezia thanks to Arthur Cabral’s last-minute winner.
Udinese are now 10 points off the pace in eighth following their third draw in their past four matches, 0-0 at bottom team US Cremonese.
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