When Juventus were knocked down by a stunner from Roma’s Francesco Totti on Saturday, Napoli had a chance to close down the gap at the top the table. But Napoli stumbled to a 0-0 draw against Sampdoria and blew up their best chance of nearing the champions. As it stands, Juve are 4 points clear off second placed Napoli while Inter and AC Milan switched places 4 and 5.
Balotelli’s goal from a free-kick helped Milan to a 2-1 win over Parma earlier on Friday and Fiorentina thumped 4 goals past Inter last night which changes the whole complexion to the race for the final Champions league spot. Lazio and the Milan clubs are now separated just by a point but the former have a game in hand. It looks like the title race and the Champions league qualification is for from over in Serie A this season.
Roma hosted league leaders Juventus on Saturday and ended a run of seven Serie A matches without a win and what a way to secure a win over the Champions. Totti’s goal in the second half mean 3 valuable points for the Roman side. Despite their recent poor form, Roma started the match with purpose testing Buffon as early as the 10th minute. In return the Old Lady countered Roma’s attack beautifully and it was practically end to end stuff from both teams. However no one was able to break the dead lock and the pace of the ga me naturally started to slow down.
The second half saw the only goal of the game scored by Francesco Totti. Juve chased the game throughout the 90 minutes but a resolute Roman side held on to win the match.
Second placed Napoli hosted Sampdoria last night ended up with just a single point as they blew up their chance to close down the gap. A 0-0 draw at home against a mid-table team is never enough for a side who is chasing the title. Strike pair Cavani and Insigne had as many as 12 shots on goal but none could be converted as Sampdoria goalkeeper Sergio Romero stood strong to block everything that was coming his way.
A string of shots in the opening 20 minutes from Napoli was all in vain and could have conceded a goal after some good work from their midfielders Andrea Poli and Sansone which gave Lorenzo De Silvestri a half chance but the angle was too tight for him. Sampordia continued to press the home side and ended the half time on a real high.
The second half was similar to the first as both sides equally attacked the ball and any neutral watching the match would have went home happily seeing the game. The best chance of the game was created by Napoli’s Marek Hamsik who hit the post and the rebound was saved by Romero.
Meanwhile Inter Milan suffered a humiliating 4-1 defeat at the hands of Fiorentina and in the process losing out a place to rivals AC Milan. Stevan Jovetic and Adem Ljajic scored two goals a piece while Antonio Cassano scored a constellation goal for Inter.
Final scores:
Siena host third placed Lazio tonight.