A late strike by Marcello Trotta put the icing on the cake as Sassuolo maintained their surprise bid for a place in the Europa League with a shock 3-1 away win at Torino. Elsewhere Sampdoria and Bologna claimed precious wins, over Lazio and Genoa respectively, to move further away from the relegation zone with three games left in the campaign.
Leaders Juventus were to be crowned champions if they beat Fiorentina later last night and Napoli concede defeat to Roma in today’s late game. But yesterday’s fixtures were all about top flight survival and the ongoing fight for Europa League places.
Sassuolo remain in seventh, one place behind AC Milan in the last possible Europa League spot, ahead of the Rossoneri’s match today against Carpi, who are fighting for their Serie A survival.
Sampdoria’s abysmal season under Vincenzo Montella took a turn for the better with a 2-1 defeat of Lazio, who opened the scoring on three minutes thanks to Filip Djordjevic.
Fernando levelled on 20 minutes and Mobido Diakite’s strike 12 minutes from time sealed a win that left the hosts eight points clear of the drop zone. Bologna are one place behind, also on 40 points, after goals from Emanuele Giacchierini and Sergio Floccari sealed their 2-0 home win over Genoa.
Elsewhere, Marco Borriello’s second-half strike was enough for Atalanta in a 1-0 home win over Chievo that left the hosts nine points clear of the danger zone.
Earlier goals by Alberto Gilardino and Aleksandar Trajkovski secured a crucial 2-0 win for Palermo yesterday in a relegation battle that has dimmed Frosinone’s hopes of staying in Italy’s top flight. Palermo, claiming their first league win since the end of January, remain third from bottom and will be hoping Carpi, on the same points but one place above them, stumble at home to Empoli today.
Frosinone, in their first season in Serie A, conceded their second consecutive defeat after last week’s 5-1 hammering at Chievo and remain second from bottom, two points behind Palermo and Carpi with three games remaining. Verona, at a further eight points adrift in last place, will be virtually relegated if they fail to beat an ailing AC Milan today.
Results
Frosinone 0 Palermo 2 (Gilardino 56, Trajkovski 90+2)
Atalanta 1 (Borriello 55) Chievo 0
Bologna 2 (Giaccherini 12, Floccari 63) Genoa 0
Sampdoria 2 (Fernando 20, Diakite 78) Lazio 1 (Djordjevic 3)
Torino 1 (Peres 7) Sassuolo 3 (Sansone 2, Peluso 75, Trotta 94)
On Saturday: Inter Milan 3 (Jovetic 36, 75, Eder 90+5) Udinese 1 (Thereau 9)
Today’s matches: Roma v Napoli (1300), Verona v AC Milan (1500), Carpi v Empoli (1845)
Inter Milan’s Stevan Jovetic (left) fights for the ball with Udinese’s defender Molla Wague during the Italian Serie A at the San Siro Stadium in Milan. Inter won 3-1. (AFP)
