Red-hot Martinez maintains Inter’s Serie A lead at Juve

Red-hot martinez maintains inter's serie a lead at juve0

Lautaro Martinez scored in Sunday’s tense 1-1 draw against nearest rivals Juventus to guarantee Inter Milan maintained their two-point lead at the top of Serie A.

After excellent play down the right flank by his striking partner, Argentina forward Martinez stroked home Marcus Thuram’s low cross in the 33rd minute to keep second-place Juventus at bay in the fight for the championship.

Lautaro Martinez of Inter Milan beats Wojciech Szczesny of Juventus to score the team’s opening goal. Image courtesy of Reuters


Six minutes after Dusan Vlahovic ended a two-month scoring drought at the Allianz Stadium in Turin with a similar first-time finish, he tied the score with his 15th goal overall.

Inter, the favourites to win a 20th Scudetto, stopped a six-match winning streak in all competitions with the draw. AC Milan, on the other hand, have won the league 19 times.

Coach Simone Inzaghi told DAZN, “We’ll take the point for how the match went.”

“We know it’s not easy to score at Juventus but after going behind the team stayed in the match and we scored a great goal.”

After overcoming their first of many difficult tests, Inzaghi’s team will travel to Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday before taking on Napoli in Naples on Sunday.

They are currently competing with Real Sociedad for first place in Group D, and the Spanish team will be visiting Milan the following month. They have already advanced to the round of 16 in Europe’s premier league.

“Hard squad”

Although Massimiliano Allegri’s team produced virtually little outside of Vlahovic’s fifth goal of the season, Inter’s management has stated repeatedly that Juve are the favourites for the championship because they have no obligations in Europe.

Despite the absence of starting defenders Benjamin Pavard and Alessandro Bastoni, the away team managed to contain Juventus’s predictable attacks with ease, as both teams appeared more interested in avoiding defeat than in attempting to win.

After a boisterous first half, there was a dull second half marked by niggly fouls and protestations to referee Marco Guida. The match eventually petered out to a draw that appeared to satisfy both teams.

It’s a successful outcome. Adrien Rabiot stated, “Obviously, we wanted to win, but they are a very tough team to play against.”

Midfielder Rabiot, a French international, acknowledged that Juve was striving for the championship even though Allegri had stated time and time again that his goal was Champions League qualification.

“Obviously we talk about winning the Scudetto in the dressing room,” he stated.

“We’re all great players, we have to realise that… I believe we can do it.”

Dybala hits

After Paulo Dybala assisted in Roma’s fifth goal—the game-winning goal in a 3-1 victory over struggling Udinese—he felt the need to silence the naysayers.

Romelu Lukaku superbly flipped a pass to Dybala, who rolled Roma into a 2-1 lead with nine minutes remaining at the Stadio Olimpico. Stephan El Shaarawy then completed the scoring in the last minute.

Dybala put his finger to his lips in support of those who “talk too much for no reason” after scoring his first goal of the league since a brace against Empoli in mid-September. It was also his third goal overall.

Dybala said, “I try to give back all the love these people give me,” to DAZN.com.”I want to take home a trophy and create history here. The night was enjoyable.”

Due to Atalanta and Fiorentina’s losses on Saturday, Roma moved up to third place, three points ahead of fourth-place Napoli, who currently hold the final Champions League slot. This was made possible by Dybala’s goal.

Domenico Berardi of Sassuolo condemned Empoli to a late 4-3 home loss, leaving them narrowly outside the bottom three. Udinese is just one point above the relegation zone.

After their 1-1 draw with Monza in Sunday’s early game, Cagliari moved out of the drop zone, moving Empoli down to 18th place on 10 points.

With a 92nd-minute winner against fellow promoted team Genoa, who are now in 15th place following their seventh loss of the season, Ilario Monterisi put Frosinone up to 10th place.

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