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October 27, 2009

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Home » Sports » Soccer

Juventus, Milan pick up wins

JUVENTUS labored to a 1-0 win at struggling Siena to end a barren four-match run in Serie A on Sunday while a late Alessandro Nesta double earned resurgent AC Milan a stunning 2-1 comeback triumph at Chievo Verona.

Juventus' Brazilian-born forward Amauri rose between two markers to head home a Diego freekick in the 72nd minute to break the deadlock after the visitors had struggled to pose a threat for much of the match.

The Turin side is third with 18 points from nine games, four behind Inter Milan and two shy of second-placed Sampdoria, after the leading duo beat Catania 2-1 and Bologna 4-1, respectively, on Saturday.

Milan is three points further back in joint fourth after Nesta's headers in the 81st minute and in injury time wiped out Giampiero Pinzi's seventh-minute strike for the hosts.

It shares fourth spot with Fiorentina, which suffered its first home defeat of the season by going down 0-1 to Napoli, and Palermo, which beat Udinese 1-0, thanks to Cesare Bovo's deflected late volley.

Juventus had plenty of problems with the defensive wall erected by its Tuscan opponents and center back Giorgio Chiellini headed its only decent chance of the first half wide.

But it reaped the maximum reward for raising the tempo briefly in the middle of the second half and Amauri's goal sank Siena to the foot of the table, putting more pressure on coach Marco Giampaolo.

"It was fundamentally important for us to get back to winning," Juventus coach Ciro Ferrara said. "We managed to do that even though we had problems. I think it bodes well for Wednesday's match (against Sampdoria)."

Milan left it late in Verona but it had laid siege to the Chievo goal in the second half and deserved to continue its revival from a shaky start after comeback wins over AS Roma and Real Madrid. Goalkeeper Dida, guilty of a terrible blunder in its 3-2 win in Madrid in the Champions League, was one of the heroes of the night with a pair of excellent saves.

Livorno moved off the bottom by beating AS Roma 1-0 away thanks to former Roma forward Francesco Tavano's 40th-minute strike to give new coach Serse Cosmi a win in his first game in charge despite having goalkeeper Alfonso De Lucia sent off in the 64th.





 

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