Juventus overcome Torino to stay level with Napoli

MILAN: Juventus earned a narrow 10 win in a heated derby match at city rivals Torino yesterday to move provisionally joint top of the table with Napoli.

Inter are two points behind after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Cagliari, while Sassuolo picked up a second point, coming from two goals down to draw 2-2 against high-flying Lazio.

Elsewhere, striker German Denis tormented former club Udinese as his two goals gave Atalanta a controversial 2-0 win.

In other matches, Catania defeated Chievo 2-0 and Hellas Verona beat Livorno 2-1.

In Turin, Paul Pogba scored a contentious 54th minute winner for Juventus, heading in the rebound after Carlos Tevez’s header came off the crossbar. There were fierce protests from Torino, however, as Tevez appeared to be offside.

Torino had gone close in a scrappy first half, with Danilo D’Ambrosio heading just over the bar and Alessio Cerci whipping a free kick just past the left post.

Juventus dominated after scoring and never looked like conceding. They moved level with Napoli, and a point ahead of Roma who host Bologna later.

Torino have not won the Derby della Mole since 1995, and have not even scored in the past 15 editions.

Inter had several chances to take the lead but Cagliari were rescued by the heroics of goalkeeper Michael Agazzi, who pulled off impressive saves to deny Yuto Nagatomo, Fredy Guarin (twice) and Ishak Belfodil.

Inter broke the deadlock in the 75th minute when Mauro Icardi headed in Nagatomo’s pass following a well-worked move.

However, Cagliari levelled five minutes from full time as a deflection off Rolando took Radja Nainggolan’s shot past a hapless Samir Handanovic.

Sassuolo had the worst attack and worst defence heading into the match against Lazio, with two goals scored and 16 conceded.

However, their first ever Serie A point – in a 1-1 draw at Napoli midweek – had given them confidence and Sassuolo dominated the first half.

But it was Lazio who netted two goals first through Andre Dias (50th) and Candreva (54th) before Sassuolo drew level through Ezequeil Schelotto (55th) and Floro Flores (76th). — AP