Well this was a fun weekend in Italy, wasn’t it?
Serie A scores, Week 6: Juventus and Roma slug it out, Milan staggers to win
Juventus and Roma went blow-for-blow in a wild match, AC Milan didn’t impress but won anyway, and the top half of the Serie A table got a lot more interesting in week six.
Maurizio Lagana
Juventus and Roma were the headline matchup, and wow what a display they put on. Well, them and the referee. There were three controversial penalties, a stellar open-play goal from Juan Iturbe, a brawl on the pitch, and a manager sent off for playing an invisible violin. And that was just the first half.
The second was a somewhat cagier affair, with both sides getting chances but not quite proving able to finish them off. That all changed when Leonardo Bonucci scored a stunning goal to put Juventus up 3-2 late in the match, and Roma looked shocked and upset at the turn of events. Things came to a head not long after, as Roma defender Kostas Manolas and Juventus striker Álvaro Morata came to blows in the waning minutes of the match, getting both players sent off.
AC Milan were able to get back to winning ways, though their 2-0 victory over Chievo Verona wasn’t as convincing as the scoreline might indicate. The Flying Donkeys were very poor on the day and were practically begging to get thrashed, but for much of the match Milan weren’t much better. They struggled mightily to break Chievo down, even through their defending was much more static and vulnerable than normal.
It took a lucky deflection off a Sulley Muntari shot to break the deadlock in the second half, and even with the boost in confidence that came from that goal, Milan still nearly conceded on a Chievo counter-attack not long after. Lucky for Milan, Dejan Lazarević apparently misplaced his passing boots before the match, and a three-on-one break went to waste. Keisuke Honda would add a second through a great free kick, and Milan were able to ride out a much-needed win from there.
Fiorentina absolutely whipped Inter, with two top-shelf goals in the first half giving way to an easy second half. Khouma Babacar scored a stunner just seven minutes in, then set up Juan Cuadrado for another early goal. Fiorentina took control of the match after that, leaving Inter fans shaking their head at another listless performance away from the San Siro especially when their defense just let Nenad Tomović waltz through the box to score Fiorentina's third.
Napoli fans breathed a sigh of relief, as Lorenzo Insigne finally showed signs of life today. After Napoli went down at home thanks to a quality goal for Torino from Fabio Quagliarella, Insigne had two glorious chances go wasting in the first half, as he hit the post on an open goal, then hit a diving Jean-François Gillet when a simple lob would have equalized for Napoli. It looked like more of the same broken season for Insigne, but the second half was a different story; a header whipped in off the post brought a tearful celebration for Insigne as he finally broke his bad streak, then he set up Jose Callejón later in the half as the Spaniard looped in a crazy shot to put Napoli ahead. Maybe now, Napoli's local star can get his season back on track.
Elsewhere, Lazio managed to edge Sassuolo in a crazy 3-2 match that saw both sides reduced to 10 men in the second half. Domenico Berardi scored a brace for Sassuolo, but it wasn't enough to overturn the stellar first half that Antonio Candreva had, with a goal, an assist, and a heavy hand in Lazio's opener. Genoa were able to win on the road, however, thanks to a goal from Alessandro Matri in the dying moments of their match against Parma, as the crociati continue their early-season tailspin and find themselves in 18th place.
Speaking of the relegation race, Palermo did themselves no favors today, going to Empoli and laying an egg as they got whipped 3-0, allowing their fellow newly-promoted side to pull themselves out of the relegation zone and keep Palermo firmly in it. At the other end of the table, Sampdoria continued their early-season surge, beating Atalanta through Manolo Gabbiadini’s first half goal and vaulting in to third place, just one point behind Roma in second. Sooner or later, the rest of Serie A is going to have to take Sampdoria seriously.
Round 6 Results
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