For a long time now the Italian league has been all about Juventus. Last season Maurizio Sarri took his Napoli team close to securing the title but they ultimately fell and Juve won it yet again. Napoli are still hot on the heels of Juve, but the defending champions can’t stop winning, and they ended last weekend 8 points clear at the top. Here is a review of Serie A matches that were played last weekend. SPAL 2 vs. 2 Empoli Despite a double from Jasmine Kurtic, SPAL failed to get the win against an in-form Empoli. The home side took the lead on the 5th minute, but the visitors equalized 19 minutes later and took the lead just before the break. SPAL were reduced to 10 men 4 minutes after the break but they still battled hard to get an equalizer on the 67th minute. Fiorentina 0 vs. 3 Juventus Juventus extended their lead at the top of the league table when they beat Fiorentina in Florence on Saturday. Goals from Rodrigo Bentacur, Giorgio Chiellini and Cristiano Ronaldo were enough to earn them a 13th win in 14 games and send them 8 points clear of Napoli who are their closest challengers. Sampdoria 4 vs. 1 Bologna The evergreen Fabio Quagliarella rolled back the years to score two goals for the home side as they beat Bologna 4-1 at the weekend. Dennis Praet had given the home side the lead before Andrea Poli equalized for the visitors. Quagliarella then scored twice either side of a Gaston Ramirez effort to move Sampdoria 10th on the league table. Milan 2 vs. 1 Parma AC Milan had to come from a goal down to get all three points in this game as they look to finish the season in a Champions League place. The visitors had taken the lead on the 49th minute, but Patrick Crutone struck back for Milan 6 minutes later. Franck kessie completed the comeback with a 71st minute penalty to secure Milan’s 7th win of the season. Frosinone 1 vs. 1 Cagliari Cagliari had to play the final 5 minutes plus added time of this game a man down, but still managed to hold on and share the points. The home side took the lead on the 14th minute, but Diego Farias ensured that the spoils are shared with a 77th minute equalizer. Torino 2 vs. 1 Genoa Two dramatic first half stoppage time goals from Torino helped turned this game on its head as they held their nerves throughout the second half to claim all three points from a losing position. Genoa had taken the lead on the 36th minute through Christian Kouame. Torino refused to go into the break on the losing side. They netted the equalizer on the second minute of the first half added time before scoring another goal from the penalty spot on the 5th minute of first half added time. Sassuolo 0 vs. 0 Udinese Having started the season well, Sassuolo seem to be sliding down the table and they failed to win here again. They were held to a bore draw by Udinese and this results means they start the new week on the 8th position after 14 games. Chievo 1 vs. 1 Lazio Chievo and Lazio played out another draw of the weekend when they met at the Marcantonio Bentegodi. The home side had taken the lead through Sergio Pellissier and looked like they would be running away with all the points with some dogged defending. However, Lazio found a way to break them down after a flurry of attacks in the second half through a Ciro Immobile goal on the 66th minute. Roma 2 vs. 2 Inter Milan Roma and Inter played out a 2-2 draw in arguably the biggest game of the weekend in the Serie A. these teams both have ambitions of winning the league or at least finishing inside the top four at the end of the season. After surviving a barrage of attacks from Roma, Inter took the lead against the run of play on the 37th minute. But Roma equalized after 15 minutes, only for Mauro Icardi to give Inter the lead again on the 66th minute. Aleksandar Kolarov scored a 74th minute penalty to give Roma a share of the points. Roma remain 7th while Inter Milan start the new week 3rd on the league table. Atalanta 1 vs. 2 Napoli After Juve won their game and pulled 11 points clear at the top of the league table, Napoli needed to win at Atalanta to keep the pressure on the defending champions. Carlo Ancelotti’s men took the lead just after 2 minutes, but the home side drew level 54 minutes later. The Naples based side then scored an 85th minute goal that proved to be the winner through Arkadiusz Milik. Juventus look set to win the Italian league again, next up for them would be a match against Inter Milan and it would be a cracking game, good bye for now. Cheers.
