Marchisio pulls Juventus level with Inter
Barnaby Chesterman
Juventus went level on points with Inter Milan at the top of Serie A
for the first time this season as a Claudio Marchisio goal gave them a
hard-fought 1-0 win over Fiorentina at Turin's Olympic Stadium on
Saturday.
Both Juventus and Inter Milan have 43 points, but Jose Mourinho's
defending champions can reclaim top spot outright if they avoid defeat
at home to Sampdoria on Sunday.
For Fiorentina it was a third straight Serie A defeat which leaves
them in danger of losing touch in the race for a top four finish and
Champions League football next season.
Juventus cach Claudio Ranieri said Fiorentina's recent troubles had
fired them up.
"We knew Fiorentina were going through a tough time and had already
won here last season, so they were fired up and we knew they would give
us real problems," he said. "We struggled right to the end and
Fiorentina play very good football. It's fair to say the only thing they
were missing was a goal."
Fiorentina had an early penalty appeal on 10 minutes as Stevan
Jovetic weaved his way into the box but he went down far too easily
under contact from Olof Mellberg when he seemed to have created a
shooting opportunity.
Juventus then went ahead on 21 minutes after a delightful pass from
Alessandro Del Piero found Marchisio's clever angled run and the
midfielder dinked the ball over the onrushing Sebastien Frey.
Fiorentina were unlucky not to find themselves level.
Manuel Pasquale sent an inviting cross in from the left and the
diminutive Mario Santana beat centre-back Nicola Legrottaglie in the air
only to see his header crash back off the bar. Juve failed to clear
their lines and Riccardo Montolivo shot from distance, an effort that
Gianluigi Buffon failed to hold, allowing Alberto Gilardino to slot home
the rebound.
But the linesman wrongly flagged for offside as TV replays showed
Marco Marchionni was playing Gilardino onside at the time of Montolivo's
shot. That decision left Fiorentina president Andrea Delle Valle fuming.
"I'm offended by what I saw," he moaned. "There's a certain behaviour
that is apparent during our matches. I'm disgusted by what I saw. These
things need explaining."
ROME, Sunday, AFP
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