Serie A | Football Insane

Inter clear after Sampdoria held at Lazio

Filed under: Serie A by: galacticos

Sampdoria lost ground on Inter Milan at the top of Serie A on Sunday when they were held to a 1-1 draw at Lazio in a game where both teams finished with 10 men.

Champions Inter lead Sampdoria by two points having humbled Genoa 5-0 on Saturday while Juventus and Fiorentina, who drew 1-1 in Turin, are a further two points behind.

Sampdoria needed a win to join Inter on 19 points at the top but despite taking the lead through Giampaolo Pazzini, they were pegged back by a goal from Francesco Matuzalem.

Lazio started the game the brighter and Argentine forward Mauro Zarate fired just wide of the far post before Antonio Cassano almost gave Sampdoria the lead up the other end.

The visitors went in front on 40 minutes after some neat passing before Marco Padalino, who would later be sent off, crossed for Pazzini to head home.

But only two minutes later Brazilian Matuzalem broke from midfield and ran between Sampdoria’s centre-backs before latching onto Tommaso Rocchi’s lobbed through ball to shoot across Luca Castellazzi into the far corner.

Juve struggle to clinch win, Milan held

Filed under: Serie A by: Imad Malik

Martin Caceres scored on his Serie A debut to help Juventus win 2-0 at Lazio on Saturday and maintain their perfect start to the season.

The Uruguay right back, on loan from Barcelona, smashed home a loose ball on the edge of the box midway through the second half.

David Trezeguet, starting up front in place of the rested Vincenzo Iaquinta and the injured Alessandro Del Piero, secured a battling victory late on when he tucked in from close range.

Juve’s third win from three came at a cost, though, with new playmaker Diego, who scored twice in the 3-1 win over AS Roma on their previous visit to the capital last month, going off before the break with a leg injury.

Lazio felt hard done by on the stroke of halftime when Stefano Mauri’s scrambled goal was ruled out for a foul but Juve could have won by more had Amauri managed to connect with debutant Fabio Grosso’s cross.