Juventus closed the gap at the top of Serie A with a 2-1 win over bottom
club Benevento yesterday as leaders Napoli were held by Chievo and
Inter Milan drew 1-1 against Torino.
Amato Ciciretti’s first-half opener for Benevento stunned Juventus
before Gonzalo Higuain and Juan Cuadrado scored after the break to seal
three points for the six-time defending champions.
Napoli drew 0-0 in Verona and have 32 points from 12 games, one point
ahead of Juventus who move ahead of Inter, now another point back in
third.
Despite their battling performance, newcomers Benevento, nicknamed ‘Le
Streghe’ (The Witches), have now lost their first 12 games of the
campaign, matching the worst start to a season in any of Europe’s big
five leagues set by Manchester United in 1930.
“It seemed like a cursed game, but we needed to be calm, sharp and not too hasty,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri.
Benevento looked determined to gatecrash Juve’s 120th anniversary
celebrations when Ciciretti struck from a free-kick that left Wojciech
Szczesny helpless — the first time this season that a team have opened
the scoring against the champions.
Higuain got the equaliser after 57 minutes when he met Blaise Matuidi’s
knockdown with a volley into the top corner, and Cuadrado sealed the
victory with a 66th-minute header.
“These games are always complicated,” continued Allegri. “Winning games is never easy or to be taken for granted.”
Napoli — after falling 4-2 to Manchester City in the Champions League in
midweek — dropped two points as they struggled with the absence of
injured trio Pepe Reina, Faouzi Ghoulam and Arkadiusz Milik.
“We were coming off a difficult run of games and are lacking sharpness,”
said coach Maurizio Sarri of his unbeaten side’s second draw of the
campaign after a goalless stalemate with Inter.
“We created the chances, but some players lacked brilliance and didn’t
have the guile to finish them off. Chievo did what they had to do.”
‘Still hungry’
Inter remain clear of fourth-placed Lazio, however, after the capital
club had their match against Udinese in Rome called off at the Stadio
Olimpico because of heavy rain.
Meanwhile, Roma — fresh despite their midweek 3-0 Champions League rout
of Chelsea — stayed in touch in fifth with a game in hand after a
thrilling 4-2 win over Fiorentina in Tuscany, with Brazilian Gerson
scoring a first-half brace.
“I was afraid of this match, because after the win over Chelsea there
was a risk that we might have become over-confident, but instead it was a
good response from the players. They are still hungry,” said Roma coach
Eusebio Di Francesco.
Earlier Inter fought back after Iago Falque put Torino ahead on 59
minutes, with Eder coming off the bench to snatch a point 11 minutes
from time after a neat touch from captain Mauro Icardi.
But the hosts missed a golden opportunity for the winner at San Siro
which would have put them joint top after a powerful Matias Vecino
effort late in the match rattled the crossbar.
“The draw leaves something of a bitter taste in the mouth, we made some
mistakes where we usually manage things in a different way,” said Inter
coach Luciano Spalletti.
“We had an opponent on our level in front of us, a team of substance.”
Torino moved up to seventh with 17 points from 12 games.
Seven-time European champions AC Milan, in the midst of a poor run of
form in Serie A and sitting ninth, will be looking for some relief later
when they go to struggling Sassuolo in a game which could be decisive
for coach Vincenzo Montella’s future.
RESULTS
* Inter Milan 1 (Eder 79) Torino 1 (Falqué 59)
* Fiorentina 2 (Veretout 9, Simeone 39) Roma 4 (Santos da Silva 5, 30, Manolas 50, Perotti 87)
* Chievo 0 Napoli 0
* Cagliari 2 (Ceppitelli 28, Farago 85) Verona 1 (Zuculini 6)
* Juventus 2 (Higuain 57, Cuadrado 65) Benevento 1 (Ciciretti 19)
* Atalanta 1 (Cristante 23) SPAL 1 (Rizzo 63)
Juventus’ Juan Cuadrado (right) celebrates with teammates after scoring during the Italian Serie A football match against Benevento in Turin yesterday. (AFP)