Agencies
ROME, JANUARY 7
Champions Juventus continued their resurgence by beating Hellas Verona 3-0 at home on Wednesday for an eighth successive Serie A victory as Inter Milan remained top after winning 1-0 at Empoli.
Juventus, who took one point from their opening three matches and were 11 behind the leaders on Oct. 31, remain fourth on 36 points after goals from Paulo Dybala, Leonardo Bonucci and Simone Zaza earned them a comfortable win.
Chasing a fifth consecutive Italian title, Juve are three points behind Inter, who retain top spot after seeing off Empoli, with captain Mauro Icardi scoring the only goal of the game.
Napoli beat Torino 2-1 at home to stay second, level on 38 points with third place Fiorentina, who won 3-1 at Palermo thanks to two goals from Josip Ilicic.AS Roma’s stuttering season continued when they twice let a lead slip to draw 3-3 at Chievo, leaving them fifth on 33 points and increasing the pressure on coach Rudi Garcia.
Roma, who took the lead when teenage striker Sadiq Umar scored for the second game running in his first league start, have won one of their last nine games in all competitions and recently exited the Italian Cup to second-tier Spezia.
Bologna’s Emanuele Giaccherini scored in the 82nd minute to secure a surprise 1-0 win at AC Milan, while Frosinone and Sassuolo drew 2-2, Udinese defeated Atalanta 2-1 and Lazio’s clash with Carpi finished goalless.
With Serie A returning from its winter break, Juventus continued where they left off in December.
DYBALA DECISIVE
The Turin side took the lead when Dybala scored his ninth league goal of the season, curling a fine free kick into the corner of the net in the eighth minute after Samuel Souprayen had brought down Stephan Lichtsteiner.
Dybala was decisive again when his superb free kick was met emphatically by Bonucci in the 45th minute and Paul Pogba set up Zaza with eight minutes remaining to leave winless Verona bottom on eight points.
“We’re back in the Scudetto (title) race and that’s important,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri told Mediaset Premium.
“We’ve won eight in a row and we’ve got to put points in the bag now. The key is to reach the last six rounds in a good position.”
Inter returned to winning ways when captain Icardi found the net in first-half stoppage time against Empoli, turning home a fine cross from Ivan Perisic for his eighth league goal of the season.
“There’s always pressure when you’re top of the table, but it’s a positive thing that we can use in our favour,” Inter manager Roberto Mancini told Sky Sport Italia.
“The key thing was to return to winning ways after the defeat to Lazio (in Inter’s last Serie A match).”
Napoli kept up the pressure on Inter after beating Torino in an ill-tempered contest in which both coaches were sent off for a touchline spat in the 79th minute.
Lorenzo Insigne opened the scoring with a remarkable lob from outside the area, and while Torino levelled from the spot through Fabio Quagliarella, Marek Hamsik bagged the winner in the 41st minute with an angled drive from close range.
Fiorentina’s Ilicic opened the scoring against Palermo in the 13th minute by knocking the ball between Edoardo Goldaniga’s legs and finishing beneath Stefano Sorrentino.
The midfielder added a sublime second in the 42nd minute, making space on the edge of the box before slamming home a curling effort.
Alberto Gilardino halved the deficit in the 77th minute, but Jakub Blaszczykowski added a late third.
Roma’s Umar had found the net as they ended a seven-game winless run against Genoa before the winter break and struck again in the seventh minute against Chievo.
Alessandro Florenzi added a second 30 minutes later, but Chievo drew level with goals from Alberto Paloschi and Dario Dainelli.
Roma’s Iago Falque made it 3-2 with a low strike in the 71st minute, but the home side equalised again when goalline technology showed that Simone Pepe’s effort had crossed the line.
