Inter Milan 2-1 Hellas Verona: Inter keeps pace with Juventus for first place
In the first 20 minutes of the match, Hellas Verona started off very well and kept pace with Inter Milan. Many chances were created and Eddie Salcedo stood out as he was effective upfront. At the 19th minute of the match, Verona received the first quality chance after being awarded a penalty shot. Samir Handanovic came out to challenge Mattia Zaccagni for the ball, however, the goalkeeper was called for a foul on the play. Valerio Verre took the penalty shot for Verona and scored to make it 1-0. After taking the lead, the game shifted and Inter controlled most of the play while Verona defended the lead. Inter’s strong play finally paid off at the 65th minute when Matias Vecino scored on a nice pass into the box from Valentino Lazaro. Lazaro continues to impress for Inter after his poor showing in Sassuolo. The wing-back was very effective throughout the match, making nice dribbles and crosses into the box. At the 81st minute, Nicolo Barella scored a brilliant goal from the just outside of the box on the left side. Barella made a nice move to beat Sofyan Amarabat and followed up with a shot into the top right-hand corner of the net where Marco Silvestri had no chance of stopping. The final score of this match was 2-1 for Inter Milan.
Napoli 0-0 Genoa: Napoli continues to struggle
A lacklustre performance from the home side had Napoli tie Genoa 0-0. In the first minute of the match, Napoli thought they took a 1-0 lead, after a poor pass from Christian Romero to Christian Zapata which was intercepted by Dries Mertens. The goal from Lorenzo Insigne was called off, after being called offside. At the 35th minute of the match, Napoli had another opportunity to score. Insigne made a nice pass into the box to Jose Callejon, yet the midfielder was unable to follow up after being defended off the ball. Genoa had the first opportunity in the second half as they made a good run when Andrea Pinamonti made a pass to Goran Pandev to the right of the box. The forward delivered a nice shot, yet was unable to hit the net. At the 61st minute, Kalidou Koulibaly made a brilliant block in front of the net to prevent a goal from Genoa. David Ospina was caught out of position and Kevin Agudelo sent in a pass from the byline into the box, however, Koulibaly was well positioned to block the shot and bail his goalkeeper out.
At the 85th minute, Napoli was denied a goal after a save from Ionut Radu. Hirving Lozano sent a nice cross into the box that Elif Elmas headed, yet the goalkeeper made a nice save with his hand to keep the ball out. Video Assistant Referee was needed to see if the ball crossed the line but the goalkeeper prevented the ball from going in. Neither team were able to score the rest of the way and the match ended in a 0-0 draw. A result which Napoli was hoping to avoid as they seem have now gone winless in their last three matches in Serie A. As for Genoa, it’s a result which Thiago Motta will surely be happy with.
Cagliari 5-2 Fiorentina: Cagliari extends their unbeaten streak to ten games
Cagliari’s strong first-half performance was the difference in their matchup against Fiorentina. Throughout the half, Cagliari consistently created chances while the Viola had none and were struggling to create any build up in the first half. Marko Rog, Fabio Pisacane and Giovanni Simeone all scored in the first half which was enough to defeat Fiorentina. Simeone’s goal was the game-winner against his former club who sent him out on loan to Cagliari this past summer. As for Radja Nainggolan, he continues to impress this season with one goal and three assists in this match. The midfielder’s goal was a beautiful strike from near midfield to score into the top right-hand corner and has now scored two impressive goals this season. Fiorentina scored two late goals in the match, however, it was too little too late to help the Viola get back into the match as they were already down 5-0. Fiorentina will look to rebound against Verona after losing their past two matches, while Cagliari will look to extend their unbeaten streak to ten games and will now face Lecce in their next matchup.
Lazio 4-2 Lecce: Lazio continues to win with their fourth straight victory
Lazio entered their match after a disappointing loss midweek in the Europa League against Celtic. Lazio’s match against Lecce was highly entertaining with many goals and some debatable calls. Early in the match, Lazio had the help of Thomas Strakosha after Khouma Babacar had a clear break on the left side with an opportunity to score. His attempt was poor as he shot straight at the goalkeeper who positioned himself well. Lazio opened the scoring with Joaquin Correa’s first goal of the match after a nice pass from Luis Alberto. The lead was short for the Biancocelesti as Gianluca Lapadula scored ten minutes later to tie the match. In the second half, Babacar once again had the best chance to start the half where he was able to beat Francesco Acerbi and head the ball on net, yet Strakosha made a brilliant save to keep Lecce from scoring. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic scored his second of the year to give the Biancocelesti the lead back after a nice pass from Acerbi into the box where Savic connected to find the back of the net. Lecce had a good opportunity at the 67th minute after a debatable call on Savic in the box where Lecce were awarded a penalty shot. Babacar was denied by Strakosha, however, Lapadula scored on the follow-through after the goalkeeper made the save. Further review from VAR showed Lapadula entering the box too early and Lecce were denied the tying goal. Minutes later, Lazio was awarded a penalty shot after a handball in the box from Lecce. Ciro Immobile made no mistake finding the back of the net and scored the eventual game-winner as they defeated Lecce 4-2. Correa scored his second of the game and Andrea La Mantia scored for the visitors giving them their second of the match.
Elsewhere, Atalanta failed to make ground in the standings against a struggling Sampdoria as the game resulted in a 0-0 draw.
Udinese and SPAL were also unable to solve anything in their match in a scoreless draw.
Sassuolo entered their match against Bologna finding themselves two points off from the relegation zone. A match up which anticipated many goals had Francesco Caputo score two goals and Jeremie Boga score the other to help the Neroverdi defeat Bologna 3-1. Roberto Orsolini scored for Bologna, however, it was not enough to help the Rossoblu come back into the game. Bologna now has three straight losses while Sassuolo ended a two-game winless streak.
Andrea Belotti helped convert two penalty kicks in the first half as Torino ended their six-game winless streak. The Granata have been on a poor run as of late and needed a win to help prevent from falling further down the standings. Alex Berenger also scored two goals in the second half to help Torino defeat Brescia 4-0. For the Biancazzurri, it was Fabio Grosso’s team debut as new head coach and was not the start which he had hoped for.
Roma fall behind in the standings after Parma scored two late goals in the second half to win 2-0. The Gialloblu finally beat the Giallorossi after seven years at the Stadio Ennio Tardini.
Juventus continues to find ways to win with a late goal from Paolo Dybala. The Bianconeri defeated AC Milan 1-0 to stay atop of the table going into the international break.