Results from round 12:
Serie A table:
Ballardini rescued at last, but his Genoa days are over
Davide Ballardini becomes the third manager to part ways with his club this season, as Genoa can’t go beyond a draw at Empoli.
The visitors remain in the relegation zone, having won only one out of the 11 games played, against bottom-placed Cagliari, and were rescued by Flavio Bianchi’s 89th minute goal.
Empoli are held to their first draw of the season, still remaining in a good place, with 16 points, even if they thought they could once again claim a victory.
Sala’s wondergoal gets Spezia out of the relegation zone
Jacopo Sala’s stunner helped Spezia get their second win in just eight games, resisting to Torino’s pressure in the final minutes.
It’s Sala’s first goal in six years, with Torino still failing to establish themselves as a top 10 team. The Granata got some interesting results, but can’t add continuity to their results.
It’s their away record which is penalising the Granata, who only got four out of a possible 18 points so far.
Juan Cuadrado punishes his 10-men former team in stoppage time
It could be disappointment all over again for Juventus, but Nikola Milenkovic’s two yellow cards in quick succession gave the Bianconeri a finale to remember.
The final 20 minutes saw Fiorentina trying to hold on to their point, with former man Federico Chiesa striking the crossbar.
It was down to another former man to decide the game, with Juan Cuadrado firing in a goal in stoppage time from an impossible angle to give Juventus some charge back in their season.
In-form Atalanta players consolidate their top four
Mario Pasalic is back to his absolute best, after some injuries ruined his form for a few parts of last season. He has two goals and five assists to his name in this campaign and opened the scoresheet as Cagliari hosted Atalanta.
It was another in-form man, who equalised: Joao Pedro. The Brazilian is Cagliari’s only hope, having scored seven of their 13 goals in the competition.
However, there is only one main man: Duvan Zapata. The Columbian superstar is at the top of his shape, with eight goals and five assits in 14 games this season.
Atalanta’s win on Saturday night once again had the Columbian’s name written all over it.
Stunning Venezia overturn Roma
After dreaming in the Summer with the arrivals of Jose Mourinho and Tammy Abraham, Roma can realistically say farewell to any dream of winning the league.
A crazy lunch-time match in Venice began with Mattia Caldara surprising the visitors and getting his team in front after three minutes.
Three minutes was also the span of time which took Roma to move up 2-1 before half-time, with Eldor Shomurodov and Tammy Abraham apparently putting the game in the bag.
Mattia Aramu equalised with a dubious penalty. Roma put themselves forward to find a goal, leaving inevitable spaces at the back, which were exploited by David Okereke for the final 3-2.
Udinese return from purgatory after some time
A return to victory reached in good fashion, with a 3-2 over Sassuolo which allows Udinese to catch up with the Neroverdi in the standings.
Udinese went up with Gerard Deulofeu, but a defensive mistake from goalkeeper Marco Silvestri gifted Domenico Berardi the equaliser.
Davide Frattesi scored to put Sassuolo ahead, later deflecting into his own net Nahuel Molina’s strike and finally watching his team concede to Beto, who put an end to this exciting clash.
Hectic clash sees Bologna move past Sampdoria
In what was a show put up by goalkeepers Emil Audero and Lukasz Skorupski, the first-half at the Stadio Marassi finished 0-0, despite a series of good chances for both teams.
Bologna broke the deadlock with Mattias Svanberg, but Sampdoria equalised with a free-kick thanks to Morten Thorsby’s header. It looked set for a Sampdoria charge, but 102 seconds later, Bologna were up again thanks to Marko Arnautovic.
This win moves Bologna up to a surprise joint-seventh, just four points off the top four. Sampdoria are in danger, tied to city rivals Genoa at nine points, in 17th.
Lazio grab fourth consecutive victory
Claudio Lotito, formerly owner of Salernitana, had to sell his shares, due to being the owner of Lazio and the two teams had to play in the same league for 2021/22.
He will have been happiest to see the Biancocelesti grab a clear 3-0 win, which continues their excellent home score of five wins and one draw.
Salernitana were unlucky, hitting the post twice when 2-0 down, but Luis Alberto’s chirurgical finish sealed the game at 3-0.
Even Napoli can’t get past Verona
When the most in-form attack meets the best defence, the game can be expected to be tactical and Napoli and Verona produced a great encounter.
Giovanni Simeone’s ninth goal in his last five starts gave Verona the lead, with Giovanni Di Lorenzo equalising minutes later.
Napoli were on the verge of scoring a winner multiple times and in the final minutes, Verona went down to nine players, but their resistance was on.
Since Igor Tudor took over, they played Napoli, Milan, Juventus, Lazio and Roma, scoring a respectable 10 points in those five games.
Plenty of excitement in the Milan derby
Milan and Inter both had the opportunity to make a good step forward in the table by winning the derby. Both sides will feel like they had the chance to do so and will leave with regrets.
Former Milan player Hakan Calhanoglu stepped up to take a penalty and scored under the section of his previous fans, showing good personality, but breaking the bond, if there still was any, with them.
Stefan de Vrij’s own goal brought Milan back level and designated penalty-taker Lautaro Martinez missed a penalty, continuing his period of drought.
Inter had three shots cleared off the line, dominating until the last 10 minutes, in which Milan suddenly stepped up, hit the post with Alexis Saelemakers and made the Nerazzurri feel lucky they could even snatch a point.
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