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By Terry Daley
ROME, April 29 (Reuters) – Leaders Juventus stayed three
points clear in Serie A on Sunday after they thumped lowly
Novara 4-0 and second-placed AC Milan won 4-1 at Siena with
Antonio Cassano scoring for the first time since heart surgery
in October.
Inter Milan moved level on 55 points with third-placed
Napoli and Lazio in the pursuit of the final Champions League
spot after coming from behind to beat already-relegated Cesena
2-1 thanks to goals from Joel Obi and Mauro Zarate.
Inter looked to have no chance of reaching third just a
month ago but rookie coach Andrea Stramaccioni is boosting his
chances of getting the job permanently as he eases some of the
fans’ pain over their two great rivals bossing the title race.
Visitors Juventus walloped almost-relegated Novara thanks to
a brace from Mirko Vucinic – the first a delightful flick from a
Andrea Pirlo freekick – and goals from Marco Borriello and
Arturo Vidal.
Juve, who next host third-bottom Lecce on Wednesday, are
unbeaten in Serie A with three games left and are on course for
their first scudetto since a 2006 match-fixing demotion.
Champions Milan overcame Siena with Cassano opening the
scoring after 26 minutes on his first start since health
problems wrecked his season and threatened to prevent him
turning out for Italy at Euro 2012.
He now looks poised to be the Azzurri’s talisman in Poland
and Ukraine while Milan can only wonder what might have been.
“It is such as shame we’ve not had Cassano for all of the
season,” Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani said.
A Zlatan Ibrahimovic double, with his second coming deep
into injury time, and a late Antonio Nocerino goal completed the
win.
GENOA BEATEN
Inter had a scare at the San Siro when Luca Ceccarelli’s
effort from distance went in on 56 minutes but Obi replied two
minutes later and on-loan Zarate saved Inter’s blushes with 18
minutes left on the clock.
If Udinese beat Lazio at home on Sunday (1845 GMT), there
will be four teams on 55 points as both the title race and
sprint for third look like possibly going to the wire.
“Will I stay? It depends, my 12 agents have to negotiate my
salary,” joked Inter interim coach Stramaccioni, who replaced
Claudio Ranieri last month after impressing with the youth team.
“It was a difficult game today, because we could take third
place and in the past we would slip up in this sort of
situation.
“It was therefore a really important victory for us. We saw
the best of Inter today, as we created so many chances. We kept
the ball well and were consistent. The players also showed
character to turn the result around and win a tough match.”
At the other end of the table, fourth-bottom Genoa lost 3-2
at Bologna to further anger their “ultra” fans who rioted in
their home defeat by Siena last weekend.
However, Lecce missed the opportunity to move above them and
out of the relegation zone by losing 2-1 at home to Parma.
Atalanta moved themselves into mid-table and safety with a 2-0
home win against strugglers Fiorentina.
Among Saturday’s three matches, Napoli drew 2-2 at AS Roma.
(Editing by Mark Meadows)
