Late Fiorentina rally stuns Juve
Print Edition
Giuseppe Rossi scored a hat-trick for Fiorentina in a stunning come-from-behind 4-2 win over Juventus yesterday which helped Roma maintain its five-point lead at the top of Serie A.
Roma’s 2-0 defeat of Napoli on Friday opened up a five-point cushion over both Rafael Benitez’s side and Juventus ahead of the latter’s visit to Florence.
And despite Juventus holding a 2-0 lead at half-time following a Carlos Tevez penalty and a strike from Paul Pogba, the champion crumbled during 14 second-half minutes in which ‘La Viola’ staged a remarkable comeback.
Roma now has a maximum 24 points from eight wins with Napoli back up to second at five points adrift with Juventus, suffering its first defeat of the season, slipping one place to third.
Fiorentina’s win was not the only shock of the day, however, as Atalanta secured a precious 2-1 win at home to Lazio thanks to German Denis’s 84th-minute winner.
Early season surprise package Verona kept its place in the top five thanks to a 3-2 win over Parma which came courtesy of two penalties from Jorginho in the 61st and 88th minutes.
Verona, one of three promoted teams from Serie B, now sits fourth, eight points behind Roma and one ahead of Fiorentina although both sides could be overtaken by Inter if Walter Mazzarri’s men beat Torino later in the day.
Elsewhere, it was: Livorno 1, Sampdoria 2; and Sassuolo 2, Bologna 1.
Rossi’s triple strike in Florence means the former Manchester United striker is now Serie A’s top scorer with eight goals.
He helped spark the fightback when he beat Gianluigi Buffon from the penalty spot in the 66th minute after Ghanaian Kwadwo Asamoah was adjudged to have fouled Matias Fernandez.
Rossi levelled for the hosts when he held off the threat of Pogba on the edge of the area and sent a superbly-struck angled shot across Buffon and into the net.
Just as Arturo Vidal, who started on the bench after missing training due to a late return from Chile, was preparing to replace Claudio Marchisio for the final quarter hour Fiorentina took the lead.
Juventus’ defense was in disarray when Borja Valero saw Joaquin unmarked to the right of the area and the Spaniard made no mistake, beating Buffon with a precise right-foot shot at his near post to claim his first goal in Serie A.
Two minutes later Rossi grabbed his third when Fiorentina caught Juventus sleeping on the counter-attack.
Fiorentina had not beaten Juventus at home since 1998.
On Saturday, injury-hit AC Milan edged visiting Udinese 1-0 for just its third win in eight Serie A matches, with Slovenia midfielder Valter Birsa scoring with a long, curling shot in the 22nd minute.
Also, Cagliari rallied to beat 10-man Catania 2-1 on its return to the Sant’Elia stadium after an 18-month absence.
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