Sunday, April 11, 2021 at 5:02 PM• Dominic Mostert

Juventus took a step closer to qualifying for Champions League football on Sunday afternoon. The reigning champion of Italy won 3-1 at home against Genoa and therefore remains in third place for the time being. Napoli, the number four in Serie A, won 0-2 at Sampdoria and is three points behind Juventus. Number six Lazio recorded a 0-1 victory over Hellas Verona in injury time and thus took important points in the battle for European football.

Juventus – Genoa 3-1
Genoa has been waiting for an away win over Juventus since 1991 and it quickly became clear that that would not change. In the fourth minute, good preparatory work by Juan Cuadrado resulted in the opening goal. The steamy right back sent Nicolò Rovella into the woods on the right flank, entered the sixteen-meter area and served Dejan Kulusevski, whose rebellious effort with the left leg was too powerful for goalkeeper Mattia Perin. Halfway through the first half, Juventus doubled the margin. Federico Chiesa captured the ball from the lingering Ivan Radovanovic and suddenly had an almost free passage to the goal. Perin turned his back, after which Cristiano Ronaldo fired from close range to the post and Álvaro Morata pulled the trigger in the third instance.

2-1! Former PSV and PEC Zwolle striker Gianluca Scamacca brings the tension back in Turin ??#ZiggoSport #SerieA #JuveGenoa pic.twitter.com/EWmnzUGUvR

– Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) April 11, 2021

Juventus, with Matthijs de Ligt in the base, had no problems in the remainder of the first half. Andrea Pirlo’s team was supreme, but conceded a goal shortly after the break. Gianluca Scamacca, former attacker of PSV and PEC Zwolle, was completely free after a corner from Rovella, because De Ligt dropped. It was therefore a breeze for the striker to head in the connection goal. Wojciech Szczesny prevented Marko Pjaca from making it 2-2, then Weston McKennie made the decision. The American was sent off on the right flank by Danilo, was not offside and was allowed to storm Perin. He outwitted the keeper with a tricky marker and thus crowned his substitution with a goal.

Sampdoria 0-2 Napoli
Napoli broke open the game ten minutes before half-time, after a particularly smooth combination at half of Sampdoria. Diego Demme found Fabián Ruiz, who passed the ball to Victor Osimhen in one go. With a heel ball, Osimhen reached teammate Piotr Zielinski, who in turn served Ruiz who had passed through. The midfielder placed the ball well in front of his left leg and found the right corner from the edge of the penalty area. Three minutes before the end, Osimhen put an end to all uncertainty. The attacker was launched by Dries Mertens and scored the 0-2 with a hard shot from inside the penalty area. Napoli thus recovered well from Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat against Juventus, which was the first loss in eight official games. Gennaro Gattuso’s team continues to actively compete for a Champions League ticket.

Hellas Verona 0-1 Lazio
Lazio in particular lacked fortune in the first act, as none of the seven goal attempts yielded the desired result. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, for example, shot just wide of the left post from within the sixteen-meter area in the fourth minute of play and Ciro Immobile saw a shot from a distance hit the post. Hellas had little to crumble in the milk and could be satisfied with the 0-0 half time score. After the break, Lazio thought to open the score. After a nice individual action, Felipe Caicedo scored, but in the eyes of referee Daniele Chiffi, who was called to the screen by the video referee on duty, the attacker committed a violation prior to the hit: goal rejected. Then an impasse broke out, which was finally broken only deep in injury time. Senad Lulic had a tailor-made cross for Milinkovic-Savic, whose header fell into the far corner: 0-1.