Milan: Juventus moved up to third in Serie A with a 1-0 win over Fiorentina on Sunday as three fine goals earned Napoli a 4-2 win at Monza.
Federico Gatti scored the only goal of the game at the Allianz Stadium in Turin in the 21st minute after Gleison Bremer’s header bounced off the post in time for the Italian defender.
Gatti’s goal lifted Juve four points clear of Bologna, who remain in fourth place after a lopsided draw with threatened Frosinone in the opening game of the day.
Bologna are aiming to qualify for the current Champions League for the first time – they played a round in the old European Cup in 1964 – and are on course to do so thanks to eight wins from their last 10 games.
Juve had collected just seven points from their previous nine league games, but Sunday’s victory came just days after they beat Lazio in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final.
It was a hard-fought three points when three goals were disallowed for offside, including former Fiorentina Dusan Vlahovic’s 45-minute benching for almost the second half of the game.
In the end, Veuve was grateful for the win when he saved Polish goalkeeper Nicolas Gonzalez’s curling shot in the 74th minute with a superb save.
Reigning champions Napoli, who entered at half-time through Milan Djuric and a backlash from the fans, roared victory in Monza after strikes from Victor Osimhen, Matteo Politano and Piotr Zielinski in six and a half minutes.
Andrea Colpani’s strike closed the gap just seconds after Zielinski’s first goal since October, but Giacomo Raspadori added a fourth in the 69th minute to secure Napoli’s seventh place.
“We all have to try to give something extra because there are seven games left and we can still get a lot of points.”
Francesco Calzona’s side will surely surrender the league title to Inter Milan at the end of the season and are currently 10 wins behind Bologna who are placed at the bottom of the Champions League.
Roma are three points behind Bologna after beating local rivals Lazio 1-0 for the first time in two years on Saturday.
Two points ahead of sixth-placed Napoli is Atalanta, who lost 2-1 at Cagliari but have Fiorentina.
Frosinone, who won Serie B last season, are one point behind Verona, who sit outside the relegation zone after losing 2-1 to Genoa.
Juve scrape past Fiorentina, Napoli win with stunners at Monza
