Matchday 10 of Serie A table was played midweek, with games between Tuesday and Thursday. If the top 2 remain the same, as Juventus and Inter both won their games, the rest of the race became more interesting.
Napoli failed to get closer to Atalanta, as they drew against the latter and city rivals Lazio and Roma got closer to the top 4 as they smashed Udinese and Torino.
Juventus 2 x 1 Genoa
After securing his first win on the weekend on his first game in charge, Thiago Motta’s second match was against the current champions. It is fair to say that Genoa did show signs of improvement once again and they were almost near stealing 2 points to Juventus.
The match started with a superb save from Radu, after a sensational solo play by Dybala. However, the Romanian keeper would turn into the villain as he came innocently out of the goal during the corner, allowing Bonucci to score the opener.
But, 5 minutes before halftime, Kouame skillfully tricked Buffon, who got sent to the wrong side as the Ivorian scored his 5th goal of the season.
The second half initiated with the score 1-1, but early on Genoa would be reduced to 10. A second yellow on Cassata, after a deliberate push on Dybala, reduced the visitors’ chances of getting the 3 points.
Juventus would give some help to level it up, as Adrien Rabiot also got punished with a second card and got sent off too. 10 against 10 and the match opened up.
In the dying minutes, though, Ronaldo got himself a penalty after being fouled in the box. The Portuguese superstar did not miss and gifted 3 points to his team and they remain leaders.
Brescia 1 x 2 Inter
Inter lost 2 points in the last match after a miscalculated draw and now they faced bottom side Brescia. The game was not as easy as Antonio Conte’s probably thought it would be, but the Nerazzurri gathered all 3 points.
Midway throught the first half Lautaro Martinez enjoyed a deflection on a long shot, to open the scoreline for Inter. His 5th goal in Serie A and the 7th in all competitions.
Later on, Balotelli almost scored to his former team, but Handanovic stopped the shot from the Italian forward.
Lukaku doubled Inter’s lead in the second half with a well-placed shot from outside the box, his 7th goal in the Serie A campaign. But Brescia came back into the game, with Skriniar deflecting a shot into his own net.
Inter keeps 2nd place, 2 points away from Juventus.
Napoli 2 x 2 Atalanta
Following’s Atalanta last weekend performance, against Udinese, where they won 7×1, Napoli were warned about the dangers of their opponent. A win to the home side would take them even in points with Atalanta, while the visitors could keep their 2 points margin to Inter and Juve.
However, it was indeed Napoli who stroke first, through Maksimovic. In his return to the pitch, after injury, the Serbian defender broke the deadlock. In the celebrations, Maksimovic showed the shirt of his teammate Malcuit, who suffered a long-time injury and will not play until the end of this season.
Milik was close to making the second, but with an open net, he headed the ball to the post. But it was Atalanta who scored, with Freuler taking advantage of a blunder from Meret, who let the ball pass through his legs.
Napoli’s Polish striker, Arkadius Milik would eventually score and re-establish the lead. It came after Atalanta’s keeper Gollini came out too soon from the goal, allowing Milik to skillfully put the ball behind him. It’s the 4th goal for him in 3 Serie A games.
Before the fulltime whistle, Atalanta put the game back on level terms as he finished after a great pass from Rafael Toloi. Napoli complained about the legitimacy of the goal as the VAR failed to give a penalty at their favor just seconds earlier.
As a consequence, Carlo Ancelotti ended up getting sent off for complaints. Atalanta kept their position in 3rd place, but Napoli dropped to 6th after Roma and Lazio won their respective games.
Udinese 0 x 4 Roma
Possibly still shaken after the defeat against Atalanta (7×1), Udinese were easy prey for Roma. The ‘giallorossi’ were playing most of the game with 10 men but still managed a comfortable win.
Nicolo Zaniolo scored for the second game in a row, after already putting his name on the scoresheet against AC Milan. This time, he got a perfect pass by Kolarov, and one on one against Udinese’s keeper he had cold blood to finish it off.
Minutes later, though, Federico Fazio got a straight red card for a foul on a Udinese player. Still, Roma stood their ground and did not show any signs of being weaker.
In the second half, Chris Smalling scored his first goal for Roma, answering to a corner kick. Justin Kluivert and Kolarov (through a penalty kick) completed the result.
Roma stole the 4th place to Napoli and Paulo Fonseca’s men are now in a Champions League place.
Lazio 4 x 0 Torino
Lazio did not want to stay behind their city rivals Roma and they imitated their result, with a 4×0 against Torino. The Romans are now 5th place and closer to the Champions League spots.
The game started with Francesco Acerbi scoring a beauty into the top corner. An unexpected strike from the veteran Italian defender, that left Sirigu glued to the ground.
Ten minutes later Immobile would double Lazio’s lead and he scored again in the second half from the penalty spot. With this brace, Immobile cements his place as top scorer, as he has 12 goals in 10 goals.
In the sequence of the penalty, though, Nkoulou got a red card for the foul on Caicedo. With 10 men, Torino would suffer the 4th goal, as Belotti touched slightly a corner from Luis Alberto into his own net.
Cagliari 3 x 2 Bologna
The duel between two of the surprise teams of the current Serie A campaign, Cagliari and Bologna, was as exciting as we expected. The game was a goal-fest, with its own part of late drama.
Cagliari arrived with a record of 7 games without being defeated, but Bologna just needed a win to go level on points with his adversary. And the visitors went ahead early in the match when Soriano was fouled in the box. Santander converted the penalty and made it 0x1 for Bologna.
In the second half, Cagliari came back, with Joao Pedro scoring the equalizer at the 48 minutes. Gio Simeone completed the twist, after a run from Nainggolan.
In the last minutes, Joao Pedro made his second of the evening and doubled Cagliari’s advantage to 3×1. An own goal by Farago in the dying minutes was just a consolation for Bologna and the 3 points stayed in Sardinia.
Sassuolo 1 x 2 Fiorentina
Without Ribery, who got suspended for 3 matches, after pushing an assistant referee in the last match against Lazio, Fiorentina visited Sassuolo trying to get back on track.
On the other end, Sassuolo still sought for consistency, with 5 losses in 8 games. They got themselves in front, through Jeremy Boga in the first half.
Fiorentina took some time to get back on the game but finally did so through a header of Castrovilli.
In the late minutes, the ‘Viola’ completed the comeback, through Milenkovic. Fiorentina is now 8th in Serie A.
Sampdoria 1 x 1 Lecce
Ranieri is still trying to save Sampdoria from the relegation zone, but the team still fails to recover its form. They hosted Lecce this time, who had come from a moralizing draw against Juventus.
The guests were the first ones to score, through Lapadula. However, Lecce got reduced to 10 men, when Tachtsidis got sent off.
Playing in advantage, Sampdoria rescued a point in extra time, through Gaston Ramirez. They are still bottom of the league though, with only 5 points.
Parma 0 x 1 Hellas Verona
Four seasons ago they were in Serie D and now Parma had the chance of moving into European spots, following a positive season start. However, Hellas Verona had other ideas and they stopped Parma’s run.
The visitors’ only goal came early in the game, through an incredibly well-placed strike by Darko Lazovic. It was enough to defeat Parma, who was never able to come back from it.
Verona moved to 11th in the league, while Parma remains in the 9th.
AC Milan 1 x 0 SPAL
In the last game of matchday 10, AC Milan hosted SPAL, looking for the first victory in Serie A for Stefano Pioli. In the San Siro, the ‘Rossoneri’ just needed a single goal to finally collect the 3 points, after a draw and a defeat in the last 2 games.
In the Halloween night, Milan avoided a scare, through a Suso free kick in the second half. The Spanish player did not score since May (against Frosinone).
Milan is now 10th, while SPAL continues on the 19th position.
The Serie A schedule is back already on Saturday, with the big game between Roma and Napoli.
Be the first to comment