European roundup: Lazio make Napoli wait for Serie A title, Inter win ...
Goals by Felipe Anderson and Toma Basic earned Lazio a 2-0 home win over Sassuolo in Serie A, sending Maurizio Sarri’s side back to second place and delaying runaway leaders Napoli’s title celebrations.
There was confusion after eight minutes at the Stadio Olimpico when Ciro Immobile was first awarded a goal after a lengthy VAR check, only for it to be disallowed moments later. However, there was no doubt six minutes laterwhen Marcos Antonio scooped the ball over the top and Anderson finished well past Andrea Consigli.
At the end of the first half, Davide Frattesi hit the crossbar from a tight angle as Sassuolo searched for an equaliser, and the result was still in doubt until two minutes into stoppage time at the end of the match when the substitute Basic tapped home a cross.
A draw or a loss against Sassuolo would have given Napoli an unassailable lead before their match at Udinese on Thursday.
Internazionale were ruthless at Hellas Verona, causing the hosts to concede more than five goals at home for the first time in Serie A with a 6-0 victory that included two from both Edin Dzeko and Lautaro Martínez.
Milan stumbled against relegation-threatened Cremonese at San Siro. David Okereke gave the visitors the lead before Junior Messias equalised with a free-kick three minutes into stoppage time, ending the match 1-1. And by cancelling out Stephan El Shaarawy’s opener with a stunning Luca Caldirola volley, Monza dented Roma’s push for a top-four finish with a 1-1 draw at home.
Juventus continued their push for a top-four finish with goals from midfielder Leandro Paredes and striker Dusan Vlahovic earning a 2-1 win over Lecce.
The visitors saw Assan Ceesay’s early goal ruled out for offside, before Paredes gave the hosts the lead with a well-placed free-kick from outside the box that found a gap in the Lecce wall. Ceesay did get on the scoresheet in the 37th minute, levelling from the spot after Danilo gave away a penalty for handball.
Vlahovic restored Juve’s lead three minutes later with a left-foot half-volley from the edge of the box, with Danilo hitting the post in the second half. Ceesay had a late chance to grab a draw for Lecce, but his header and the following rebound were saved by the Juve goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny.
“Lecce are a tough side to play against, they have caused problems for a lot of opponents and we risked conceding an equaliser,” the Juventus manager, Massimiliano Allegri said. “We allowed too much in defence, even from nonexistent situations, and we have to improve.”
Atalanta boosted their hopes of Champions League qualification with a 3-2 win at home against relegation-threatened Spezia. Marten de Roon, Davide Zappacosta and Luis Muriel were all on target in Bergamo.
Boulaye Dia followed up his goal at Napoli on Sunday with a hat-trick as Salernitana drew 3-3 at home to Fiorentina, who equalised three times through Nicolás González, Jonathan Ikoné and Cristiano Biraghi. Rock-bottom Sampdoria stay 10 points adrift of safety after a 2-0 home defeat to Torino.
In La Liga, Atlético Madrid scored five for the second consecutive game as they thrashed lowly Cádiz 5-1 to move above their city rivals Real Madrid into second-place in the standings.
It was a great atmosphere at the Metropolitano stadium with Diego Simeone’s team in a great vein of form. Atlético took an early two-goal lead with La Liga player of the season contender Antoine Griezmann scoring both.
Álvaro Morata extended their advantage right after the break and Yannick Carrasco netted their fourth from the penalty spot after a handball. One minute after Anthony Lozano netted for Cádiz, Nahuel Molina rounded off the scoring with a close-range strike from a counterattack
Valencia earned a precious point in their battle with the drop, and damaged local rivals Villarreal’s top-four push, as the sides drew 1-1 at Mestalla. Nicolas Jackson fired the visitors in front, but Samuel Lino slotted home 20 minutes from time to help Los Che move three points clear of the bottom three.
