Genoa stun Juventus
An injury-time goal from Genoa midfielder Luca Antonini handed Juventus their first defeat of the season Wednesday when a 2-0 win for Roma allowed the title challengers to pull level at the top of Italy's Serie A.
Udinese's 3-0 defeat at Fiorentina allowed AC Milan, held 1-1 at Cagliari, to move three places up to third with Sampdoria still in fourth despite suffering a last-gasp 1-0 defeat at Inter Milan.
Both AC Milan and Sampdoria are six points off the leaders' pace, with Udinese dropping to fifth, also on 16 points and one ahead of Lazio who face Verona on Thursday.
Gonzalo Higuain should have handed Napoli all three points in the dying minutes away to Atalanta but the Argentinian striker saw his spot-kick saved by Marco Sportiello.
Napoli remain seventh and are now seven points adrift of Juventus and Roma.
Juventus had moved clear of Roma last weekend after Rudi Garcia's men were held to a scoreless draw away to Sampdoria but were frustrated at the Luigi Ferraris stadium where goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was making his 500th appearance in a Bianconeri jersey.
Carlos Tevez was the victim of a brutal foul by Aleandro Rosi in the opening minutes, the midfielder escaping without a booking despite a lunge which left the Argentinian writhing in pain.
Juventus spurned several chances, notably when home goalkeeper Matia Perin pulled off a superb one-handed save from Alvaro Morata at the death after he had replaced fellow Spaniard Fernando Llorento on 65 minutes.
The match looked to be heading for a draw until Antonini stunned Massimiliano Allegri's men by bundling a cross from the left past Buffon after being left unmarked in front of goal.
It was Juve's first league defeat in injury time since a reverse to Roma in 2010, and gave Garcia's men a huge boost as they dominated Cesena at the Stadio Olimpico.
Lukasz Skorupski replaced Morgan De Sanctis in goal for the hosts and Seydou Keita returned to the midfield while Ashley Cole was brought in at left-back following a spell on the sidelines due to a dismal display in a 7-1 drubbing by Bayern Munich.
RESULTS
Atalanta 1 (Denis 57) Napoli 1 (Higuain 86)
Cagliari 1 (Ibarbo 24) Milan 1 (Bonaventura 34)
Fiorentina 3 (Babacar 44, 70, Valero 80) Udinese 0
Genoa 1 (Antonini 90+4) Juventus 0
Inter 1 (Icardi 90-pen) Sampdoria 0
Palermo 1 (Rigoni 81) Chievo 0
Roma 2 (Destro 9, De Rossi 81) Cesena 0
Torino 1 (Darmian 10) Parma 0
Comments