Fiorentina hit three to move two points clear in Serie A

Justin Davis 03:44 05/10/2015
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  • Joyous: Joan Verdu.

    Goals from Josip Ilicic, Borja Valero and Joan Verdu secured a 3-0 win over Atalanta on Sunday night as Fiorentina maintained their purple patch to go two points clear of Inter at the top of Serie A.

    On the day, stuttering champions Juventus finally ended their quest for a first home win at the fourth attempt, Fiorentina showed their 4-1 humiliation of early season pacesetters Inter last week was no flash in the pan.

    Eyebrows were raised among Fiorentina’s fans when former FC Basel coach Paulo Sousa was brought in to replace Vincenzo Montella. But the Portuguese coach has won fans over quickly. Ilicic was on target from the spot after just six minutes against Atalanta after Gabriel Paletta saw red for a foul on Jakub Blaszczykowski.

    Spanish midfielder Valero doubled Fiorentina’s lead by the 34th minute and Verdu came off the bench to convert Nikola Kalinic’s assist at the death as Fiorentina claimed their sixth win in seven.

    La Viola now sit two points ahead of Inter with Lazio, who saw Keita Balde and Filip Djordjevic strike late to secure a precious 2-0 win at home to Frosinone, moving up to third.

    Napoli moved up to sixth place after a crushing 4-0 win over AC Milan at the San Siro.

    Allan opened the scoring after just 13 minutes and Lorenzo Insigne hit a second half brace before Rodrigo Ely’s own goal in the 77th minute prompted AC Milan fans to leave the San Siro in droves as they suffered their worst defeat of the campaign so far.

    Champions Juventus remain well off the pace at 10 points behind, but a convincing 3-1 win over newly-promoted Bologna helped the stuttering Bianconeri turn the corner amid what has been a woeful start to the campaign.

    Alvaro Morata scored his first Serie A goal of the season in the 33rd minute to cancel out Anthony Mounier’s fifth-minute opener.

    Morata also earned a penalty seven minutes after the restart when he was brought down by Bologna’s Alex Ferrari in the area and Juve team-mate Paulo Dybala converted the spot-kick. Morata then set up fellow former Real Madrid star Sami Khedira, who wrapped the victory in the 63rd minute.

    Earlier in the day, Inter claimed an undeserved share of the points in a 1-1 draw away to Sampdoria, who spurned several great chances in the opening half before and after Luis Muriel’s 51st minute opener.

    Croatian midfielder Ivan Perisic came to Inter’s rescue in the 75th minute when he stuck his foot out to guide the ball past Emiliano Viviano in the Sampdoria goal.

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