Juventus missed a chance to go top of the Serie A table on Saturday as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Atalanta, and that after La Dea had a man sent off.
Atalanta have been Juventus’ bogey team for some time and it looked like the same old story for I Bianconeri when Kamaldeen Sulemana gave the visitors a half time lead. Juve started strongly and dominated for much of the game; Piere Kalulu came very close to scoring in the first minute, when he smashed his shot against the post and Teun Koopmeiners had the crowd on its feet when his shot flew into the side netting.
Kephren Thuram hit a long range effort which flew just wide of the post, but the Old Lady was floored by a sucker punch in first half stoppage time, as Sulemana found space to fire an unstoppable shot low into the corner.
Despite being on the back foot for long periods, conceding 24 shots to 12 and ten to two on target, Atalanta should have doubled their lead when Nikola Krstovic had a one on one with the Juve keeper but he screwed his shot wide with the goal gaping.
Igor Tudor rang the changes and it was substitute Juan Cabal who grabbed the leveller. The Colombian left back finished from close range to set up a grandstand finish. Atalanta’s defensive midfielder Marten de Roon was sent off for a push on Weston McKennie and Juventus threw everything at La Dea in search of a winner, but it didn’t come as McKennie spurned the best chance, shooting weakly when he had the goal at his mercy.
Juventus dropped to third, a point behind leaders Napoli, with Atalanta in sixth.
Happy Martinez gets Inter back on track
Inter Milan’s Serie A 2025 results have been patchy so far this season, leaving them in tenth position at the start of the weekend, but a trip to seventh placed Cagliari turned out to be productive as captain Lautaro Martinez inspired his team to a 2-0 victory in Sardinia. The Argentina ace scored with just nine minutes on the clock and I Nerazzurri looked in control from that point on: “When I score and the team wins I’m always very happy,” beamed the skipper in the after-match press conference.
And Martinez had reason to be cheerful as this was a much better performance from Inter, who moved up to fifth place thanks to their third win of the campaign. Hakan Calhanoglu was back to his best in the midfield while the experienced Henrikh Mkhitaryan put a serious shift in. The former Manchester United man said he has been putting time in the gym to keep up his fitness for a team still adapting to the methods of new boss Cristian Chivu, and it certainly looked to be paying off. And Inter’s efforts were rewarded by a great moment from young striker Pio Esposito who climbed off the bench to make it 2-0 and collect all three points.
The SBOTOP Serie A 2025 betting odds back Napoli to make it a second Scudetto in two years and a third in four; but any rumours of Inter’s impending demise have been greatly exaggerated after they recorded back to back league wins.
Roma make a move
Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma made it three wins in a week thanks to goals from Artem Dovbyk and Matias Soule to hand them a 2-0 victory over a wasteful Hellas Verona. While the visitors’ strikers spurned their chances, having 12 shots to Roma’s ten, but only managing three on target, I Giallorossi were more clinical as they moved up to second place in the league table.
After losing the first match of the season to Torino, Gapserini’s men have responded brilliantly, winning the Rome Derby 1-0 last week and then beating Nice away in the Europa League. And they deserved this win over Verona, playing controlled and incisive football while their visitors huffed and puffed. Hellas held Juventus to a 1-1 draw last week but they had little answer to Roma who went ahead when Dovbyk headed home with just seven minutes on the clock. And when Soule finished off a lightning fast break on 79 minutes it was game over.
Gift Orban thought he’d halved the deficit, five minutes into added time, but his goal was ruled out by VAR and Roma kept a clean sheet to go with their three points, which moved them level on 12 with leaders Napoli.
And with Milan hosting Napoli on Sunday night this could turn out to be a pivotal weekend if I Rossoneri can upset the favourites…but that’s a big ‘If’.
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