Italian Serie A – Round Seventeen

December 17, 2016

Empoli                                        2-0                      Cagliari

Levan Mchedlidze 8’ 72’

After three consecutive defeats, Empoli made progress from their draw against Bologna to a victory over Cagliari.  The closes the gap in points between the two sides, even though Cagliari maintains a six-point lead.

AC Milan                                       0-0                 Atalanta

AC Milan couldn’t take advantage of the fixture between Juventus and Roma. A goalless draw against Atalanta means that

Juventus                                     1-0                           Roma

Gonzalo Higuain 14’

Juventus new boy Gonzalo Higuain scored a very important goal to dispose their closest rival to the league title.

After defeating on major competition (AC Milan), defeating the other would have given Roma momentum that could see them as the Serie A title favorites.

December 18, 2016

Sassuolo                                        0-1                 Inter Milan

                                                                               Antonio Candreva 48’

Inter Milan defeated  Sassuolo to open a ten point gap between the two sides.

It was a consecutive victory  for Inter Milan and a consecutive defeat for Sassuolo.

Chievo Verona                                2-1                Sampdoria

Riccardo Meggiorini 10’                                      Patrik Schick 90’+4’

Sergio Pellissier 42’(pen)

ChievoVerona used home advantage to get a victory over Sampdoria. The victory allowed ChievoVerona to separate themselves in points from Sampdoria.

Napoli                                                        5-3                    Torino

Dries Mertens 13’ 18’(pen) 22’ 80’                                Andrea Belotti 58’

Vlad Chiriches 70’                                                             Luca Rossettini 76’

                                                                                             Iago Falque 84’(pen)

Dries Mertens helped Napoli secure a home victory over Torino by scoring four goals for his team.

The victory took Napoli to third place in the league table.

Pescara                                                   0-3                        Bologna

                                                                                               Adam Masina 7’

                                                                                               Blerim Dzemaili 41’

                                                                                               Ladislav Krejci 57’(pen)

A ten man Pescara side suffered a ‘3-0’ home defeat to Bologna.

Two first half goals and a second-half penalty helped Genoa to a league victory after going three league matches without one.

Udinese                                                    2-0                     Crotone

Cyril Thereau 43’61’

Cyrillic Thereau scored a brace to deliver Udinese a victory over newly – promoted  Crotone.

Crotone remains in the relegation zone.

Genoa                                                 3-4                             Palermo

Giovanni Simeone 4’ 57’                                                    Robin Quaison 42’

Nikola Ninkovic 65’                                                              Edoardo Goldaniga 69’

                                                                                               Andrea Rispoli 88’

                                                                                               Aleksandar Trajkovski 90’

Palermo’s  second  victory in the 2016/17 Serie A season came in a 7-goal  thriller against  Genoa.

Palermo came from a goal down in the first half and had to do double the task in the second half to leave Genoa with the maximum points.

This is a must re-watch match.

Despite victory, Palermo remains in the relegation  zone.

Lazio                                                    3-1                               Fiorentina

Balde Diao Keita 23’                                                             Mauro Zarate 65’

Lucas Biglia 45’+4(pen)

Stefan Daniel Radu 90’

It was a consecutive  victory  for Lazio  and a consecutive  defeat for Fiorentina.

Lazio opened  an 8-point gap between  the two teams with a home victory