Fiorentina heap more misery on Milan; Roma, Lazio triumph
AC Milan’s Davide Calabria (left) and Fiorentina’s Franck Ribery vie for the ball during their French League match on Sunday. Associated Press
All the Italian teams in European action this week warmed up with wins with Napoli seeing off promoted Brescia despite Mario Balotelli scoring his first goal for the newcomers.
First-half goals from Dries Mertens and Kostas Manolas ensured the hosts took all three points after their midweek loss to Cagliari, to boost their confidence ahead of a Champions League trip to Belgian club Genk.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side stay fourth with 12 points from six games, six behind league leaders Inter Milan who beat Sampdoria 3-1 on Saturday, before they play Barcelona in Europe.
Inter have a maximum 18 points from six games -- two ahead of Juve -- after winning their first six league matches for the first time since the 1966-67 season.
Champions Juventus beat SPAL 2-0 to stay second with Atalanta third -- a point ahead of Napoli -- after thrashing Sassuolo 4-1 on Saturday.
Juve play Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday with Atalanta’s first ever Champions League home game against Shakhtar Donetsk.
But AC Milan are in crisis with new coach Marco Giampaolo’s days now looking numbered as the former European giants have lost four of their first six games.
Former Bayern Munich midfielder Ribery sealed back-to-back wins for Fiorentina for the first time this season.
Elsewhere, both Roman clubs also warmed up for their Europa League games with wins after Serie A losses during the week.
Edin Dzeko’s header, his fourth goal in six games, made the difference for Roma against promoted Lecce, whose goalkeeper saved an Aleksandar Kolarov penalty.
Lazio eased past Genoa 4-0 largely thanks to Ciro Immobile, who scored the final goal and set up another, with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Stefan Radu and Felipe Caicedo also on target.
Agencies
