Defending champions Juventus needed two late goals from substitutes to achieve a 2-0 win over SSC Napoli in a top-of-the-table clash to take control of Serie A and extend their unbeaten league run to 47 matches on Saturday.
Uruguayan defender Martin Caceres scored in the 80th minute and French teenager Paul Pogba added another goal two minutes later. It was both players first goals this season, and 19-year-old Pogba’s first ever in Serie A.
The best Napoli could muster was a free kick that hit the crossbar from Edinson Cavani in the 26th minute.
Photo: Reuters
Juventus moved three points clear of Napoli, which is attempting to win its first league title since Diego Maradona led the southern Italian club to the honor in 1987 and 1990.
SS Lazio are four points behind in third place following a 3-2 win over struggling AC Milan at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.
Hernanes put Lazio ahead in the 25th minute with a deflected shot, before Antonio Candreva doubled the lead in the 41st minute with a long-range effort.
Miroslav Klose added another for the team in the 49th minute — the Germany international’s sixth goal in eight matches — with a volley from the edge of the area while virtually unmarked.
Newly signed Nigel de Jong pulled one back for AC Milan in the 61st minute, just barely redirecting a free kick from Urby Emanuelson, and teenager Stephen El Shaarawy added his fifth of the season in the 79th minute to make for a tense finish.
Budget-stricken AC Milan, which let an entire squad’s worth of players depart in the summer, has lost five of its eight matches and trail Juventus by 15 points.
In Turin, Caceres was left unmarked to score from a header following a corner kick from Andrea Pirlo two minutes after he came on.
Pogba, a midfielder who had also just come off the bench, scored with a long, bouncing volley to set off delirious scenes inside the year-old Juventus Stadium, where the Turin-based club has yet to lose.
Pogba left Manchester United at the end of last season when his contract expired, signing a four-year deal with Juventus.
Napoli’s victory in the Italian Cup final inflicted Juve’s only loss last season, and this was their second meeting this season, with Juventus beating Napoli 4-2 in the Italian Super Cup in Beijing in August, after which Napoli skipped the awards ceremony.
AC Milan hold the record unbeaten streak in Serie A at 58 games from 1991-93.
Juventus next visit Danish side FC Nordsjaelland in the Champions League tomorrow.
SIBLING RIVALRY: Marc Marquez was locked in a duel with his little brother, falling behind at one point before recovering for his first season-opening victory since 2014 Six-time world champion Marc Marquez yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening Thailand Grand Prix to complete a dominant debut weekend at his new Ducati Lenovo Team, having also romped to Saturday’s sprint. The Spanish great took the 26-lap grand prix by 1.732 seconds for his 63rd MotoGP victory from younger brother Alex Marquez, who is still seeking a first checkered flag, with Francesco Bagnaia third to complete an all-Ducati podium. It completed a perfect weekend for Marc Marquez, who took pole position, the sprint victory and the grand prix win for a maximum 37 points to open the 22-leg 2025 campaign. He led from
AC Milan’s slender hopes of reaching next season’s UEFA Champions League took another hit on Thursday with a 2-1 defeat at Bologna which left them eight points from Serie A’s top four. Sergio Conceicao’s team sit eighth, some way behind fourth-placed Juventus after losing an entertaining contest at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, a match which was rescheduled from October last year due to torrential rain and flooding. Swathes of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, much of which is fertile agricultural land, had been left under water following a massive autumn downpour. Dan Ndoye prodded home the decisive goal in the 82nd minute
Former Australian motorcycle gang member-turned-golfer Ryan Peake, who served a lengthy jail term for assault, yesterday produced a “life-changing” maiden win to qualify for The Open Championship. Peake held his nerve for a one-stroke victory at the New Zealand Open, earning him a berth at the major in Portrush, Northern Ireland, in July, pending clearance to travel as a convicted criminal. The 31-year-old from Perth celebrated animatedly and was showered with champagne by friends on the 18th green of the Millbrook Resort course near Queenstown after a redemption story rarely seen in the refined sport of golf. Peake held back tears as he
MILWAUKEE PREVAIL: Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points as the Bucks withstood Nikola Jokic’s 27th triple-double of the season to beat the Nuggets Golden State star Stephen Curry on Thursday drilled 12 three-pointers in a scintillating 56-point display that carried the Warriors to a 121-115 victory over the Orlando Magic. Curry’s explosive performance helped the Warriors dig themselves out of a 17-point hole, with the point guard signaling the start of the fightback with a three-pointer from beyond the half-court line to end the first half that pulled the Warriors within 66-52 at the break. In the third quarter, he single-handedly outscored the Magic with 22 points to Orlando’s 21. The four-time NBA champion finished two three-pointers shy of former teammate Klay Thompson’s record for most
RSS