Juve close gap as Napoli, Inter held

Juventus closed the gap at the top of Serie A with a 2-1 win over bottomclub Benevento yesterday as leaders Napoli were held by Chievo andInter Milan drew 1-1 against Torino.Amato Ciciretti’s first-half opener for Benevento stunned Juventusbefore Gonzalo Higuain and Juan Cuadrado scored after the break to sealthree points for the six-time defending champions.Napoli drew 0-0 in Verona and have 32 points from 12 games, one pointahead of Juventus who move ahead of Inter, now another point back inthird.Despite their battling performance, newcomers Benevento, nicknamed ‘LeStreghe’ (The Witches), have now lost their first 12 games of thecampaign, matching the worst start to a season in any of Europe’s bigfive 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 anniversarycelebrations when Ciciretti struck from a free-kick that left WojciechSzczesny helpless — the first time this season that a team have openedthe scoring against the champions.Higuain got the equaliser after 57 minutes when he met Blaise Matuidi’sknockdown with a volley into the top corner, and Cuadrado sealed thevictory 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 inmidweek — dropped two points as they struggled with the absence ofinjured 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 thecampaign after a goalless stalemate with Inter.“We created the chances, but some players lacked brilliance and didn’thave 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 capitalclub had their match against Udinese in Rome called off at the StadioOlimpico because of heavy rain.Meanwhile, Roma — fresh despite their midweek 3-0 Champions League routof Chelsea — stayed in touch in fifth with a game in hand after athrilling 4-2 win over Fiorentina in Tuscany, with Brazilian Gersonscoring a first-half brace.“I was afraid of this match, because after the win over Chelsea therewas a risk that we might have become over-confident, but instead it was agood response from the players. They are still hungry,” said Roma coachEusebio Di Francesco.Earlier Inter fought back after Iago Falque put Torino ahead on 59minutes, with Eder coming off the bench to snatch a point 11 minutesfrom time after a neat touch from captain Mauro Icardi.But the hosts missed a golden opportunity for the winner at San Sirowhich would have put them joint top after a powerful Matias Vecinoeffort late in the match rattled the crossbar.“The draw leaves something of a bitter taste in the mouth, we made somemistakes where we usually manage things in a different way,” said Intercoach 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 ofform in Serie A and sitting ninth, will be looking for some relief laterwhen they go to struggling Sassuolo in a game which could be decisivefor 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)