Milan (AFP) – Juventus maintained their 13-point lead at the top of Serie A on Sunday after Paulo Dybala hit the winner in a 1-0 victory at Bologna and Napoli easily saw off Parma.
Dybala came off the bench to temporarily send a spotty Juventus 16 points clear, slotting home in the 67th minute after defender Danilo deflected Blaise Matuidi’s low cross straight to the Argentine international in front of a gaping goal.
Napoli cut the gap back to 13 points with a simple 4-0 win at mid-table Parma, Piotr Zielinski opening the scoring in the 19th minute before Arkadiusz Milik rolled a cheeky free-kick under the wall and past Luigi Sepe.
Milik added the third with a fine strike past Sepe in the 73rd minute following sloppy play from Parma, and Adam Ounas completed the rout by finishing off a superb passing move with an angled strike.
The goals were the first in Serie A for Carlo Ancelotti’s side in three matches and put them 10 points ahead of third-place Inter Milan, who travel to Fiorentina in Sunday’s late game, although their chances of a first title since the days of Diego Maradona are still slim.
Juventus travel to Napoli next week knowing that anything other than a defeat effectively seals their eighth straight league title before they try to overhaul a 2-0 deficit against Atletico Madrid in their Champions League last-16 second leg at the Allianz Stadium.
“We’ll be up against an even more defensive Atletico, we’ll have to be even more quick and precise with our passes, something that we weren’t today,” said Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri.
“I’m convinced we can go through.”
Bologna stay third-from-bottom on 18 points and three from safety, despite pushing Juve, much-changed from the side that lost in Madrid midweek, all the way and almost equalising in the final minute when Mattia Perin pushed Nicola Sansone’s long-range drive onto the post.
“Today we played at the same level as Juventus, at some points we were better than them,” said Sinisa Mihajlovic.
“I came here because after seeing this team play I was convinced I could keep them up. I’m more sure of that with each passing day.”
– Roma fightback –
SPAL picked a point at Sassuolo and moved five points ahead of Bologna thanks to Andrea Petagna’s 68th-minute equaliser from the spot.
Rock-bottom Chievo held Genoa to a goalless draw.
from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2GGRrb5
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