The Italian Serie A got off to an earlier than usual start this weekend with the league leaders Juventus hosting Atalanta on Friday (2/20) due to Juventus’ Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday (2/24). Nonetheless, the current 3-time Scudetto holders were able to stave off any attempts from the relegation contender Atalanta in a hotly contested 2-1 victory. In Verona, Roma continued their skid by drawing with Hellas Verona resulting in their 7th draw in their past 9 Serie A matches. Napoli and Lazio inched closer to the coveted 2nd place spot with some big wins and the highly-anticipated derby match between Genoa and Sampdoria was postponed due to heavy rain.
Let’s get to the games:
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Juventus | 2 | (17-6-1) |
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Atalanta | 1 | (5-8-11) |
| Full Time | |||
Juventus skipper Massimiliano Allegri did not make too many changes to his starting line up for this game even with the Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund coming up on Tuesday. The Juve stars Carlos Tevez, Giorgio Chiellini, Paul Pogba and Andrea Pirlo were all in action with hopes of keeping their 7 point lead over Roma intact. The game began with a heavy onslaught of attacking plays towards the Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Sportiello while Atalanta was looking to catch Juventus on a breakaway. Shockingly, the first major chance of the game came in the 24th minute when a deflected ball landed right at the feet of Atalanta midfielder Daniele Baselli which forced a Gianluigi Buffon into a save that resulted in a corner. The ensuing corner gave us the first breakthrough of the game as Giulio Migliaccio’s header bounced off the post and slightly crossed the goal line before being gobbled up by Gianluigi Buffon. Juventus came roaring back with some great chances created by Roberto Pereyra and Claudio Marchisio until finally Fernando Llorente was able to tie the game up by forcing the ball into the net through a crowded penalty box in the 39th minute. Andrea Pirlo gave Juventus the lead with a classic wonder strike from outside the box right before the half time break. The second half saw Juventus in complete control of the game and ended in a 2-1 victory enforcing their spot at the top of the table.
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Sampdoria | (8-11-4) | |
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Genoa | (9-8-6) | |
| 12:30 PM ET beIN | |||
The highly anticipated “Derby della Lanterna” was postponed due to an unplayable playing surface. The match will be played on Tuesday (2/24).
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Lazio | 2 | (12-4-8) |
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Palermo | 1 | (8-9-7) |
| Full Time | |||
One of the hottest prospects in European soccer right now is Paulo Dybala. The Palermo talisman is on the shortlists for plenty of the top sides around Europe. Mr. Dybala continued his excellent run of form with his 12th goal of the season early on in this match. The goal came in the 26th minute off of an incredibly clumsy mistake by Lazio defender Mauricio who seemed to pass it directly to the opposing team. Lazio seemed determined to make up for the mistake and tied up the game shortly after with a classy finish by captain Stefano Mauri. The crucial moment of the game came in the 78th minute when Lazio’s Antonio Candreva scored the go-ahead goal which would give his side the win. The goal was followed by some parody as Candreva slipped and fell right as he was heading to celebrate with his fans.
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AC Milan | 2 | (8-9-7) |
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Cesena | 0 | (3-7-14) |
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Cesena came into this game brimming with confidence after their 2-2 draw with Juventus last week and would look to steal some more points from Milan this week. Unfortunately for the relegation threatened Cesena, Milan and Giacomo Bonaventura had other plans. Milan midfielder Andrea Poli had a goal wrongfully disallowed early in the game as his teammate Mattia Destro was considered to be in an offside position interfering with the Cesena goalkeeper. It was in 22nd minute that we would see the first goal in this game as previously mentioned Bonaventura hit an outside-of-the-foot strike that went right under the arms of Cesena keeper Nicola Leali. Bonaventura would then go on to do his best Leandro Bonucci impression as he mistimed his jump over the barrier and would take a tumble during his goal celebration. Milan would continue to attack throughout the game until they doubled their lead with a penalty goal scored by Giampaolo Pazzini in the 90th.
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Parma | (3-2-18) | |
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Udinese | (7-7-9) | |
| Postponed | |||
This game has been postponed amidst financial turmoil problems striking last-place Parma. The organization is going through a potential bankruptcy scenario and cannot afford to pay for stewards and security for the game. One situation that has been constantly thrown out into the mix is for the team to declare bankruptcy which would force the team into relegation and result in every upcoming fixture for Parma to become a 3-0 forfeit.
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Verona | 1 | (6-7-11) |
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Roma | 1 | (13-9-2) |
| Full Time | |||
Roma visited Verona knowing that they had to bring home a win to keep the distance of points with Juventus at 7; especially with the huge game with the ‘Bianconeri’ coming up in the next round of the Serie A. Francesco Totti did his all to get his boyhood team the 3 points with a goal in the 26th minute, but his efforts were quickly wiped away by Bosko Jankovic in the 38th. Roma went on to dominate the match, holding 70% possession and putting 6 shots on target, but they were unable to find the winner in another disappointing draw. With the Serie A season nearing the final stretch, it has to be believed that if Roma are unable to win next week at home vs. Juventus, then the scudetto race may very well be over.
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Empoli | 3 | (5-12-7) |
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Chievo | 0 | (6-6-12) |
| Full Time | |||
Both teams entered this match with 24 points on the season with the goal being to create some breathing room between one of the teams and the relegation zone. It seemed as Empoli clearly wanted this game more as they struck three times with Daniele Rugani in the first half and 35-year-old Massimo Maccarone scoring a brace in the second half. This was a huge victory for Empoli, putting them 7 points clear of the relegation zone.
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Fiorentina | 1 | (10-9-5) |
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Torino | 1 | (8-9-7) |
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The Fiorentina squad knew they had to get a positive result in this match after seeing Lazio surpass them for 4th place earlier on in the day. The game seemed to be played at a stalemate for the majority of the game not including the missed penalty by Fiorentina striker Babacar in the 10th minute. The contest really took a turn when Vincenzo Montella decided to bring on their “Juan Cuadrado” replacement: Mohammed Salah. The player on loan from Chelsea instantly lit a fire under Fiorentina and would eventually go on to score in the 85th minute with a textbook ‘1-2’ exchange with Alberto Gilardino. Unfortunately for the Viola, Giuseppe Vives would even up the score 2 minutes later ending the game in a draw.
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Napoli | 2 | (13-6-5) |
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Sassuolo | 0 | (6-11-7) |
| Full Time | |||
Coming off a whopping 4-0 victory vs. Trabzonspor in the Europa League, Napoli had to have been feeling confident heading into the home match vs. 12th place Sassuolo. That belief and motivation must have doubled after finding out that Roma had drawn with Hellas Verona allowing the Partenopei side an opportunity to cut the 6 point lead that Roma have in half. An interesting decision was made at the goalkeeper position as Rafa Benitez decided to start Mariano Andujar over the former starter Rafael; who had been plagued by inconsistency and a terrible mistake committed in last week’s loss vs. Palermo. The first half got off to a dull start as Napoli looked to hold possession and pick their spots to attack. The vital breakthrough came in the 61st minute as Duvan Zapata scored his 5th goal of the Serie A campaign to put the home team up. Duvan continued to terrorize Sassuolo setting up Napoli captain Marek Hamsik for the second goal of the game. Napoli substitute Dries Mertens was sent off in the 72nd minute for a silly challenge on Missiroli which gave Sassuolo a glimmer of hope to get back into the game. In the end, Napoli was able to hold on for all 3 points and for a 2-0 victory.
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Cagliari | 1 | (4-8-12) |
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Inter Milan | 2 | (9-8-7) |
| Full Time | |||
Inter Milan got off to a great start in this match with plenty of attacking play. Most notably were the three chances from Inter striker Lukas Podolski in the first half which failed to find the back of the net. The frenetic pace of the game continued in the second half after Mateo Kovacic scored in the 47th to put Inter up 1-0. Cagliari responded with a myriad of chances desperately trying to even the score up. Mauro Icardi would attempt to dwindle the Cagliari players’ hopes with a second goal for Inter in the 68th. Instead, Cagliari would continue to attack led behind the determination of Paul M’Poku and second half substitution Samuele Longo. Cagliari would score on a forced own goal from the Inter goalkeeper but they would not have enough to draw level by the end of the game.