Italian Serie A – Round Twenty

January 14, 2017

Crotone                                              0-1                           Bologna

                                                                                            Blerim Dzemaili 51’

It was another defeat for Crotone.  The newly-promoted side is looking like a strong candidate for a return to Serie B.

Inter Milan                                        3-1                          Chievo Verona

Mauro Icardi 69’                                                              Sergio Pellissier 34’

Ivan Perisic 86’

Eder 90’+3’

Inter Milan scored three goals in the second half to come from a goal behind and get the win. It is the fifth consecutive league victory for Inter Milan. Revival?

January 15, 2017

Cagliari                                              4-1                            Genoa

Marco Borriello 40’ 60’                                                     Giovanni Simeone 28’

Joao Pedro Galvao 44’

Diego Farias 65’(pen)

Cagliari opened up a three-point gap on Genoa after coming from a goal down to win at home.

The victory allowed Cagliari to leap over Genoa in the league standings.

Lazio                                                   2-1                               Atalanta

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic 45’+1’                                           Andrea Petagna 21’

Ciro Immobile 68’

Lazio defeated Atalanta and moved into the top four in the Serie A table. A victory for Atalanta would have seen them made a jump over Lazio.

Sampdoria                                        0-0                                  Empoli

Levan Mchedlidze missed a penalty that could have given Empoli an away victory over Sampdoria.  

Sassuolo                                             4-1                             Palermo

Alessandro Matri 15’ 66’                                                     Robin Quaison 9’

Antonio Ragusa 24’

Matteo Politano 83’

Both teams are at the lower end of the league table, but Sassuolo ensured the Palermo remained in the relegation zone.

Palermo defeat created an eight-point gap between the relegation zone and the rest of the league table.

Napoli                                                   3-1                                Pescara

Lorenzo Tonelli 47’                                                                  Gianluca Caprari 90’+4’

Marek Hamsik 50’

Dries Mertens 86’

Napoli made no mistakes against Pescara and got an expected victory to help in their challenge for the title.

Udinese                                               0-1                                     Roma

                                                                                                        Radja Nainggolan 12’

Despite Edin Dzeko’s missed penalty, Radja Nainggolan’s early strike was good enough to see Roma pick up three points from Udinese.

Fiorentina                                             2-1                                    Juventus

Nikola Kalinic 37’                                                                         Gonzalo Higuain 58’

Milan Badelj 54’

Their last two league meetings have ended in a ‘2-1’ score, and Fiorentina has been at the wrong end of it.  So it is only fair that Juventus have a taste of the other side.

Fiorentina tightened the title race after defeating Juventus.

January 16, 2016

Torino                                                       2-2                                    AC Milan

Andrea Belotti 21’                                                                          Andrea Bertolacci 55’

Marco Benassi 26’                                                                         Carlos Bacca 60’(pen)

AC Milan came from two goals down to salvage an away point against Torino.  

Adem Ljajic could have found the winner if he had converted his first half penalty that would have sent Fiorentina 3-0 up into the halftime break.