Arkadiusz Milik made sure what is set to be a troubled new year for Juventus began in the best possible fashion with his last-gasp winner in Wednesday’s 1-0 victory at Cremonese.
Poland forward Milik struck his fifth league goal of the season in added time with a free-kick which handed Juve their seventh straight win, a run in which they haven’t conceded a goal.
His finish moved third-placed Juve to within seven points of league leaders Napoli, who face Inter Milan in the day’s big match.
They also stay two points behind reigning champions AC Milan, in second after their 2-1 win over Salernitana, and will be happy that eyes have returned to the pitch after scandal hit late last year.
Juve have been accused by prosecutors of a variety of financial crimes while UEFA are also probing Italy’s biggest club, whose entire board stepped down in November and will be replaced later this month.
Cremonese are still yet to win a game in their first top flight season since 1996 but they struck the woodwork twice and will be encouraged by successive home draws with Milan and Juve either side of the break for the World Cup.
The away fans drew applause from all sections of the Stadio Giovanni Zini in the first half when they displayed a banner in support of former Italy striker Gianluca Vialli, who is battling pancreatic cancer in London.
Vialli began his career at home-town team Cremonese in 1980 and 12 years later moved to Juventus, where he won the Serie A title in 1995 and the following year’s Champions League.
– Milan sink Salernitana –
First-half strikes from Rafael Leao and Sandro Tonali in Salerno moved champions Milan up to 36 points.
Milan will be hoping for a Napoli slip-up ahead of the upcoming weekend round of fixtures in which they host sixth-placed Roma, 1-0 winners over Bologna on their return to action.
They should have run out bigger winners at the Stadio Arechi but a combination of wasteful finishing and a superb display from Salernitana’s new goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa denied Milan the goals they display deserved.
“We were almost perfect because we could have scored one or two more goals to win more comfortably,” Tonali told Sky.
“We’re aware of the importance of what we did last season, we’ll defend the title to the last bead of sweat we’ll leave on the pitch.”
Veteran Mexico international Ochoa moved to Salernitana, in 14th on 17 points, after the World Cup and made his presence felt in the absence of injured Luigi Sepe.
The 37-year-old pulled off a superb double save from from Olivier Giroud and Charles De Ketelaere with eight minutes left which allowed Federico Bonazzoli to lash in Lassana Coulibaly’s deep cross and give the home side some hope in the final minutes.
Lecce stun Lazio –
Six points behind Milan are Lazio, whose defeat at Lecce came after Ciro Immobile had given them a half-time lead with his 189th Serie A goal, which took him above Alessandro De Piero and Beppe Signori in the all-time scoring charts.
Gabriel Strefezza levelled for Lecce just before the hour mark after Federico Di Francesco’s shot was saved by Ivan Provedel.
And Di Francesco was again key when the hosts took the lead, his brilliantly volleyed cross finding Lorenzo Colombo for a tap-in which moved his team up to 12th, nine points clear of the relegation zone.
Lorenzo Pellegrini drew sixth-placed Roma level on 30 points with their local rivals and Inter with an early penalty which gave his team a 1-0 win over Bologna.
Mario Pasalic snatched a last-gasp 2-2 draw for seventh-placed Atalanta at Spezia with a stoppage-time leveller to complete a comeback from two goals down.
Spezia are five points ahead of Sampdoria, who sit 18th after claiming their second win of the season, 2-1 at Sassuolo.
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