Juventus win fifth successive Serie A title

Rome, April 25

Advertisement

Juventus won the Serie A for the fifth season in a row without kicking a ball on Monday after Napoli, the only team who could have caught them, were sunk 1-0 by a late Radja Nainggolan goal at AS Roma.

Juventus, who have led the table since beating Napoli 1-0 in February, were left with an unassailable 12-point lead with three games each left to play as they clinched a record 31st league title.

The match, played at a half-empty Stadio Olimpico on a sunny bank holiday afternoon, was an anti-climatic end to a season which had at one stage promised to be one of the most exciting Italian title races for years.

During the first half of the season, the lead had changed almost weekly with AS Roma, Napoli, Inter Milan and Fiorentina all taking turns at the top. But, as their rivals faltered, Juventus put together an astonishing run in which they took 73 points out a possible 75 to win the title with games to spare.

Buffon the hero 

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon saved a last-gasp penalty from Nikola Kalinic as Juventus pulled off a dramatic 2-1 win over Fiorentina on Sunday.

It was a rollercoaster game at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, Alvaro Morata scrambling in what turned out to be the winner on 83 minutes just after Kalinic had cancelled out Mario Mandzukic’s 39th-minute opener only two minutes earlier. 

Buffon then stopped the Croatian’s spot-kick at the death after he had been hauled down by Juan Cuadrado. Davide Astori spurned a great chance in injury time, the Italian’s header from a tight angle coming off post and crossbar as Buffon scrambled to get the ball to safety. — Reuters, AFP