Serie A SRL Round-Up | Inter Milan, Lazio and Juventus all win as race for Scudetto heats up
An intense Saturday in the Serie A with five games to watch in the Italian top tier and it was a goal-fest. A total of 15 goals scored by the end of the day with Inter Milan and Lazio scoring a large portion of them although Parma, Lecce, and Sampdoria put up rather impressive fights.
Brescia Calcio 1-2 Parma Calcio 1913
Despite them sitting at the bottom of the Serie A table, Brescia put up an incredible fight with just four games left in the season. They have little chance of surviving the drop but while Parma took the lead two minutes into the game, the hosts fought back and made their visitors fight to keep their lead. But that worked only for about 24 minutes before Brescia eventually struck back.
Parity didn’t last for long with Parma firing themselves ahead less than five minutes later and it made for an interesting second half. Not as interesting as many hoped however, with just 19 shots in total by both sides, it made for an interesting half but not a goal-fest. Both sides failed to find the net again and Parma walked away with three points and moved up the table.
Bologna FC 1909 1-2 US Lecce
A boring start to the first half was soon replaced by a shot flurry just after the 15-minute mark with both sides taking their chances on goal. However, Lecce eventually made the most of their chances and found the net with a brilliant strike and that forced their hosts’ to pull up their socks. They took six shots in the final 15 minutes of the first half but failed to find the net.
That changed in the second half, but it took Bologna a while to find the net. In the mean-time, Lecce doubled their advantage and that once again forced their hosts’ hand. Bologna finally scored ten minutes from full-time and despite three shots on target in the final six minutes, the host were forced to settle for the loss.
Genoa CFC 1-4 Inter Milan
On paper, this was no contest, but football is rarely ever played on paper. Instead, while Genoa dominated most of the first half with Inter struggling to cope up with a barrage of shots and dangerous attacks. The Nerazzurri held on long enough before eventually making their move and that saw the hosts pay for their failure to find the net.
Two goals in the space of two minutes saw the away side-walk into the break with a lead and nothing changed in the second half. Genoa put up a decent fightback after the restart and while Inter did open the scoring, the hosts pulled one back minutes later. But despite the comeback and everything Genoa tried, Inter dominated the game and added another in extra time to seal the deal.
Hellas Verona 1-2 SS Lazio
This was supposed to be a cake-walk for Lazio especially with them chasing fellow title challengers Juventus and all it would take was a win to change the game. However, Verona never made things easy for the away side with them taking the lead 15 minutes into the game. That made no difference to Lazio with them still taking things rather easy in the opening forty-five minutes. Verona tried to double their lead but eventually, Lazio found their groove.
A goal just before half-time meant that parity was restored and it would last long into the second half despite Verona’s attempts to change that. They took seven shots on goal in comparison to Lazio’s five but the away side utilized their chances, scored the winner and managed to walk away with the win.
Juventus 3-0 UC Sampdoria
With Lazio winning in the early kick-off, Juventus needed a win to keep them in the running for the title and win they did. It certainly took them a while to do that with Sampdoria putting up an incredible fight in the first half. Eight shots and only in the final minutes of the first half did the away side eventually fall apart. After that, it was all Juventus with them dominating the stat line and the score-line.
Nothing changed in the second half and while Sampdoria did their best to try and change the scoreline, Juventus scored minutes after the restart. They added a third fourteen minutes into the second half and that proved to be that. It took the fighting spirit out of the away side and they fell to their third loss in four games.
