Champions
Juventus consolidated third place with a 3-1 win over Genoa as Napoli moved
fourth and back into the Champions League spots with a 2-0 win at Sampdoria.
Inter are
11 points clear of second-placed AC Milan who won 3-1 at Parma on Saturday, as
a first title since 2010 beckons for Antonio Conte’s side with eight game left
to play.
Moroccan
Achraf Hakimi came off the bench and minutes later set up Italy defender
Darmian to grab the winner in the San Siro to inflict a fourth consecutive defeat
on Cagliari.
“AC Milan
won yesterday so it was important for us to get a result,” Conte said.
“It’s not
easy to be under constant pressure but we’re getting used to it.
“We just
need to continue pedalling to the max as we approach our goal.”
Inter had
been pegged back against 18th-placed Cagliari whose goalkeeper Guglielmo
Vicario, replacing Covid-19 hit Alessio Cragno, kept his team in the game.
Vicario
denied Christian Eriksen in both halves, while Inter loanee Radja Nainggolan
also missed a chance to open the scoring for the visitors against his parent
club.
Romelu
Lukaku set up Alexis Sanchez who thought he had broken the deadlock after
quarter of an hour, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
Stefan de
Vrij rattled the crossbar before Conte made a double substitution bringing on
Hakimi for Ashley Young after 69 minutes, with Lautaro Martinez replacing
Sanchez.
It paid off
and minutes later Hakimi combined with Lukaku to tee up Parma loanee Darmian to
push Inter closer to a 19th Serie A crown after finishing runners-up last
season.
“On a
psychological level we gave an important signal today,” said former Manchester
United defender Darmian.
“Conte
transmits the passion and the desire to win, you can see this on the pitch.
“Everyone
feels they have a role to play.”
Juve’s
nine-year reign looks set to end, but Andrea Pirlo’s side kept their push for
Champions League football on track against Genoa.
Juan
Cuadrado pulled the ball back to an unmarked Dejan Kulusevski to curl in the
opener after four minutes.
Juve
doubled their lead after 22 minutes when Federico Chiesa forced a Mattia Perin
save with a Cristiano Ronaldo follow-up coming off the post before Alvaro
Morata sent in the rebound.
Gianluca
Scamacca headed in to pull a goal back for Genoa four minutes off the break,
with Marko Pjaca missing two quick-fire chances to equalise for the visitors
six minutes later.
Substitute
Weston McKennie sealed the win after 70 minutes for a valuable three points
before next weekend’s trip to Champions League rivals Atalanta.
Napoli
returned to winning ways after their midweek defeat to Juventus with goals from
Fabian Ruiz 10 minutes before the break and Victor Osimhen three minutes from
time.
Gennaro
Gattuso’s side climbed one point ahead of Atalanta who travel to Fiorentina
later on Sunday.
Sixth-placed
Lazio beat Hellas Verona 1-0 thanks to a Sergej Milinkovic-Savic header in
injury time.
0 comments:
Post a Comment