Juve restore lead with Atalanta win

Juventus restored their three-point advantage at the top of Serie A with a 2-0 win at Atalanta Bergamo yesterday.
Andrea Barzagli and Mario Lemina scored to take Juve up to 64 points after 28 games, three ahead of second-place Napoli, who defeated Chievo 3-1 on Saturday.
Massimiliano Allegri’s side were humbled 3-0 by Inter Milan in their Italian Cup semi-final second leg on Wednesday, and despite advancing to the final on penalties, will have been eager to rediscover their winning form against Atalanta.
They took the lead in the 24th minute when Barzagli finished smartly from close range but wasted numerous chances to kill off the contest.
Atalanta’s winless run now stretches to 13 league matches and while Edoardo Reja’s team grew in confidence as their visitors failed to extend their lead, they were unable to find a way back into the match.
Midfielder Lemina sealed Juve’s in the 86th minute as he slalomed past two defenders before lashing the ball home from outside the box, leaving Atalanta in 15th on 30 points.
AC Milan’s 12-game unbeaten run in all competitions ended when they fell to a 2-0 defeat at seventh-placed Sassuolo, who move up to 44 points, three behind their opponents.
Alfred Duncan slammed home a thunderous effort from the edge of the area in the 27th minute and Sassuolo wrapped up the win when Nicola Sansone added a second in the 71st.
Milan coach Sinisa Mihajlovic was sent to the stands for dissent, while Sassuolo lost Gregoire Defrel to a second yellow card in the 77th minute.
Sixth-place Milan missed the chance to provisionally move up to fifth and overtake rivals Inter ahead of their home match against Palermo later on Sunday.
Lucas Biglia’s 78th-minute penalty rescued a 1-1 draw for Lazio at Torino, who took the lead through Andrea Belotti’s seventh goal of the season, but failed to double their advantage when Ciro Immobile blasted a first-half spot kick over the bar.
Earlier on Saturday, Napoli moved joint top of Serie A after goals from Gonzalo Higuain, Vlad Chiriches and Jose Callejon saw them beat Chievo 3-1 and get their title challenge back on track after a three-game mini-slump.
Maurizio Sarri’s side are on 61 points, three behind reigning champions Juventus, after a winning a hugely entertaining encounter in which Chievo, who stay 11th on 34 points, more than played their part and opened the scoring with just over a minute on the clock through Nicola Rigoni.
Napoli also maintain their five-point lead over third-placed Roma, who briefly closed the gap to two with a thumping 4-1 win over Fiorentina in Rome on Friday.
Rigoni silenced a rowdy San Paolo stadium when he robbed the dozing Chiriches and drilled past unfortunate Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina, who slipped just as he dived to save the Chievo midfielder’s shot.
Napoli looked affronted by the cheek of the away side, and Higuain swiftly calmed the home fans’ nerves by nipping in front of Bostjan Cesar to meet Faouzi Ghoulam’s low sixth-minute pass and take this season’s remarkable tally to 26 goals in 28 league games.
Napoli created a hatful of chances and should have been further ahead way before Chiriches’ redeemed himself by meeting Jorginho’s whipped cross with close-range header seven minutes before the break.
Callejon went close twice in the space of a minute, first meeting another pinpoint Ghoulam cross only to see his 26th-minute shot blocked, then weakly shooting straight at Chievo keeper Albano Bizzarri when set clean through by the lively Lorenzo Insigne, who missed a golden opportunity of his own when he sliced wide just four minutes after Napoli took the lead.
Napoli wasted more chances in the second half, with Higuain smashing the crossbar in the 66th minute, but Spaniard Callejon finally sealed the three points with 20 minutes to go when he tucked home Allan’s drilled cross.
In Saturday’s early game Sampdoria eased their relegation fears by hammering Hellas Verona 3-0 with goals from Roberto Soriano, Antonio Cassano and Lazaros Christodoulopoulos in the first half an hour. The comfortable win sees Samp up to 13th on 31 points and leaves Verona rock bottom of Serie A, nine points from safety.
Results
Torino 1   Lazio 1
Bologna 0   Carpi 0
Genoa 1   Empoli 0
Atalanta 0   Juventus 2
Sassuolo 2   AC Milan 0
Frosinone 2   Udinese 0