Juventus overcomes injuries to beat Spezia; Napoli vs. Milan
MILAN (AP) — Injury-depleted Juventus ground out a 1-0 win against lowly Spezia on Sunday to keep up the pressure on the top three in Serie A ahead of AC Milan’s match against Napoli.
Álvaro Morata scored the only goal of the game following an error by the Spezia goalkeeper.
Fourth-place Juventus stretched its unbeaten run in the league to 14 games and moved five points behind league leader Inter Milan. Napoli and AC Milan are both one point behind Inter and they play each other later Sunday.
Juventus moved six points above fifth-place Atalanta, which has played a match less. The unbeaten run has been despite an injury crisis that saw Massimiliano Allegri’s team start the match in Turin without nine regular players.
The match sparked into life when Juventus broke the deadlock in the 21st minute. A terrible kick from goalkeeper Ivan Provedel was intercepted in midfield and played through to Manuel Locatelli, who rolled it across to Morata in a great position on the left side of the area. The Juventus forward drilled the ball into the bottom far corner for his first league goal since December.
Spezia started the second half more aggressively and almost leveled but Emmanuel Gyasi’s header was straight at Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny, who gathered it on the line.
CHASING EUROPE
Fiorentina was made to rue several missed opportunities as it was held to a 1-1 draw at home to Hellas Verona.
Only two points separated the two teams, which were both desperate for a win to close in on the European places.
Krzysztof Piątek fired Fiorentina ahead in the 10th minute but Gianluca Caprari equalized from the penalty spot 10 minutes later.
At the other end of the table, Genoa recorded its sixth successive draw as it continues to try to inch its way toward safety.
Genoa drew 0-0 against Empoli to move within seven points of safety. Venezia also remained in the bottom three as it lost 4-1 at home to Sassuolo. Torino drew 0-0 at Bologna.
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