Rome (AFP)
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored his 19th goal this season, but champions Juventus were content with a 1-1 draw at Hellas Verona in Serie A on Saturday.
The draw gives Inter Milan executives the chance to clear a 10 point lead over Juventus when they face Genoa in the middle of the table on Sunday at San Siro.
Juventus are third and three points behind AC Milan, second, who will travel to Rome, two points behind the champions, fourth, on Sunday.
Ronaldo broke through four minutes after the break by connecting with a perfect cross from Federico Chiesa.
But Andrea Pirlo’s team paid for his many absences including defensive duo Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini.
Antonin Barak led a tie with a quarter of an hour to go to score a point for his ninth side.
Lazio’s European ambitions took a hit with a 2-0 defeat at Bologna, days after a heavy loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Ciro Immobile missed a penalty with goals in either half of Ibrahima Mbaye and Nicola Sansone sealing the three points for Bologna who broke their 15-game winless run against the Romans.
“The missed penalty set the tone for the game,” said Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi.
Inzaghi’s side have shown signs of fatigue coming out of a 4-1 Champions League in the last 16 games, losing in the first leg to Bayern Munich.
“We must forget these two defeats that hurt. An ambitious team like ours must roll up its sleeves and do better. “
Lazio have lost some of their momentum since losing to Inter Milan in the league two weeks ago, and next host Torino before traveling to Juventus.
Last season’s European gold shoe winner Immobile had a chance to score on the spot after Joaquin Correa stumbled into the box, with goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski easily holding up the striker’s weak effort .
And 11th-placed Bologna got the breakthrough two minutes later when Mbaye kicked off a rebound after Pepe Reina parried a Riccardo Orsolini volley.
Musa Barrow prepared Sansone for second place after 64 minutes as Lazio’s 19-game league streak came to an end, two short of their 1956 record.
Lazio remain sixth with 43 points and could also be overtaken by Napoli on Sunday, while European rivals Atalanta travel to Sampdoria.
© 2021 AFP
–
