Another week passes and Juventus and AS Roma are still tied at the top of the Serie A table. Roma opened the round with a victory over Hellas Verona, which Juve followed by demolishing Atalanta in Bergamo. However, it was a miserable weekend for both Milan clubs, who both dropped points at the hands of likely relegation strugglers.
Serie A scores, Week 5: Juventus and Roma still inseparable
Juventus and Roma won again in Serie A’s week five, though both Milan clubs dropped more points.
AS Roma 2-0 Hellas Verona / Full match report here
Hellas Verona withstood a Roma barrage for 75 minutes before Alessandro Florenzi finally broke the Venetian resistance. Mattia Destro added a spectacular second from 40 yards with five minutes remaining as the giallorossi go marching on.
Atalanta 0-3 Juventus
Juventus did what Juventus do: win. Carlos Tévez opened the scoring in Bergamo with 10 minutes of the first half remaining, before doubling their advantage with a second just short of the hour. Young Álvaro Morata added the icing to the cake with his debut Serie A goal inside the final 10 minutes.
Sassuolo 0-1 Napoli / Full match report here
Rafael Benítez eased the pressure on his shoulders by overseeing Napoli's laboured win over struggling Sassuolo. It wasn't a spectacular game by any means, and the Neapolitans were left hanging on at the death after José Callejón's first half opener. They only have the crossbar to thank for their three points.
Well, it sure didn’t take long for Filippo Inzaghi’s AC Milan reign to take a turn for the worse. His side were held to a 1-1 draw away at Cesena on Sunday, with Adil Rami scoring after Davide Succi had given the hosts an unlikely lead. Cristián Zapata’s red card inside the final 20 minutes didn’t help Milan’s cause.
Chievo Verona 1-1 Empoli
There really wasn’t much to see at the Bentegodi this weekend, as Chievo were held to a draw by fellow strugglers Empoli. Riccardo Meggiorini gave the hosts the lead early in the second half, only for Manuel Pucciarelli to offer up a swift reply for the Tuscans.
This was undoubtedly the most remarkable result of the round. Zdeněk Zeman's winless Cagliari rocked up to the San Siro and put four past in-form Inter, though, admittedly, the scores were level at 1-1 until full-back Yuto Nagatomo committed a second bookable offence just short of the half-hour. The man of the match was undoubtedly Swedish midfielder Albin Ekdal, who netted a first half hat-trick in the shock rout.
Torino 1-1 Fiorentina
Fiorentina stuttered again this week, as they were held to a 1-1 draw by lowly Torino. Fabio Quagliarella gave Toro the lead just past the hour, only for Khouma Babacar to rescue a point just over 10 minutes from time.
Siniša Mihajlović continued to rebuild his reputation as a coach by masterminding his unbeaten Samp side to a 1-0 victory over Genoa in the Derby della Lanterna. His side have made a terrific start to the season, and this win -- which came courtesy of a late goal from Manolo Gabbiadini -- has lifted them up into fourth in the table.
Parma cemented their status as the worst defenders in the entire league on Monday, as they went down 4-2 to Andrea Stramaccioni's Udinese. A brace from Antonio Di Natale was the highlight of a win that vaults the zebrette up into third place.
Everyone pray for Palermo coach Beppe Iachini, who may not survive his side’s latest setback. The Sicilians were hammered 4-0 at home to Lazio in the last game of the round, with hat-trick hero Filip Đorđević doing most of the damage.
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