Inter leaves Napoli no chance and regains the top spot. The big match of the 14th matchday of Serie A rewards Simone Inzaghi’s team who maintain their two-point advantage in the standings in the long-distance head-to-head match against Juventus: the Nerazzurri also celebrate at Maradona, beating 3-0 Mazzarri’s team thanks to goals from Calhanoglu, Barella and Thuram.
The other challenges
In the other matches, Roma and Fiorentina advance confidently towards the Champions League zone. The Giallorossi come back and beat Sassuolo, breaking the external taboo and are fourth with Napoli. The Viola, however, found no difficulty in getting into high gear against a submissive Salernitana team. The championship, at the top levels, regains a protagonist in difficulty: Milan comes out of the corner and strengthens third place while Bologna loses a golden opportunity as Lecce catches up with time expired.
At the end a precious point for Verona and Empoli who hold back Udinese and Genoa. The goals continue to pour in in injury time: Piccoli’s penalty makes D’Aversa happy and saves the bench, Henry’s gives Baroni oxygen. Leaders Inter return from Naples with three very precious points in the lead: exciting match right from the start, with several chances on each side, a goal disallowed for offside by Thuram who however manages to seal the deal by scoring the 3-0 which ends the match. Calhanoglu had broken the deadlock at the end of the first half, while Barella had scored the second goal in the 17th minute of the second half. The French son of art closes it: three points for Inter who will have Udinese at home next time, while Juve awaits Mazzarri’s Napoli at the Stadium on Friday.
Mourinho takes back the stage
After the tumultuous eve due to the sharp words on the choice of the referee, Mourinho takes center stage again following Roma’s comeback victory conquered and in clear controversy for having ended up under the scrutiny of the Prosecutor’s Office, the post-match is all in Portuguese: “My Italian is evidently not so clear” he says. As for the match, Roma suffer Sassuolo who passes through Henrique. Advice save on Dybala and on Lukaku, then in the second half the red card in Boloca changes the balance. Azmoun, Pellegrini, El Shaarawy come on: another bench player, Kristensen, decides. First he gets a penalty which Dybala converts, then his deflected shot brings three points to the Giallorossi who strengthen their ambitions in the Champions League zone.
Fiorentina forgets the 4 defeats
The Conference’s effort leaves no trace on Fiorentina’s legs as they forget the four defeats in the previous five matches by overwhelming a sadly last-place Salernitana team. Downhill match thanks to a penalty converted at the start by Beltran, the first goal in Serie A, and the beautiful second goal by Sottil, before the eyes of his father in the stands. Ikwuemesi missed a goal by hitting the crossbar, then Bonaventura found his sixth to close out the game.
It takes a desperate initiative from goalkeeper Falcone, pushed recklessly by Calafiori, to give away a penalty in the 100th minute of the game against Lecce which Piccoli coldly converted to earn a point which saved D’Aversa from the bench and momentarily blocked Bologna’s race towards Europe. It seemed done when Lykogiannis found a perfect trajectory to take the lead, then the Greek and Ferguson wasted the second goal and Piccoli’s recovery further postponed the Emilians’ first away victory. Entertainment and six goals in the salvation clash at the Dacia Arena. Udinese goes on the run and seems to stun Verona who recovers two goals, then finds themselves behind again but finds a point in injury time, vital for Baroni’s bench.
Fiorentina-Salernitana (Ansa)