Sunday, 18 January 2015

SERIE A PREVIEW

Champions Juventus took a commanding lead in the title race and Milan's misery increased with another home loss in Sunday's Serie A action.

Juventus extended their lead at the top of the Serie A table to five points thanks to Sunday's 4-0 hammering of Verona, while Milan's woes continued with a 1-0 home defeat by Atalanta.

Massimiliano Allegri's men destroyed Verona 6-1 in the Coppa Italia on Thursday and Juve were rampant once again, capitalising on Roma's 1-1 draw at Palermo on Saturday to extend their lead at the summit.

Paul Pogba got the hosts off to a fine start with an excellent long-range drive after just three minutes and Carlos Tevez swiftly doubled their advantage, leaving Verona with a huge task on their hands.

Midfielder Roberto Pereyra, filling in for the ill Arturo Vidal, eventually put Juve 3-0 up, coolly slotting in with 24 minutes to go before Tevez doubled his tally eight minutes later.

Milan slumped to a second successive home Serie A defeat and extended their winless run to four league games after losing 1-0 to struggling Atalanta.

Having withstood what Milan threw at them early on, Atalanta took the lead when German Denis - who also scored in a 2-1 win over Milan in May - made the most of slack defending with a deft finish 33 minutes in.

While a Giampaolo Pazzini header landed on the roof of the net, Stefano Colantuono's side were able to frustrate their hosts and pick up only a second away league win of the campaign - and their first since September.

Napoli left Rome with all three points after beating fellow UEFA Champions League hopefuls Lazio 1-0 in the day's early match.

Gonzalo Higuain's emphatic 18th-minute strike settled it in favour of Rafael Benitez's men, who reclaimed third spot as a result, while Lazio finish the weekend fifth.

Genoa's winless run was stretched to five matches, but they avoided suffering a fourth defeat in five as they salvaged a 3-3 draw at home to Sassuolo.

The visitors went ahead three times, with Domenico Berardi netting twice, but Genoa pegged Sassuolo back each time and ultimately snatched a point thanks to Ioannis Fetfatzidis' stoppage-time penalty.

Sampdoria remain level with Napoli on 33 points after a routine 2-0 win at rock-bottom Parma, while Fiorentina's last-gasp 2-1 victory at Chievo keeps them just three points behind.

Towards the bottom of the table, Cagliari claimed a commendable 2-2 draw at Udinese and, although Cesena lost 3-2 at home to Torino, they climbed above Parma due to having a marginally better goal difference.



posted from Bloggeroid

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