Team Napoli in action© AFP

Juventus and Fiorentina drew 2-2 on Sunday as the Serie A match was interrupted after seven minutes following racist insults from the stands aimed at home striker Dusan Vlahovic. Earlier, Napoli edged past struggling Venezia 1-0 to move level on points with leaders Atalanta. In Turin, a Khephren Thuram double was cancelled out first by Fiorentina’s Moise Kean and then late on by Riccardo Sottil. “I don’t believe in bad luck,” Juventus coach Thiago Motta told Sky Sport Italia after his side’s 11th draw in 18 league outings this term.

“We should have killed off the game and don’t leave a chance to the opponent. I don’t believe in bad luck. I believe in merit.”

But the match was overshadowed inside the first 10 minutes when referee Maurizio Mariani called over the two captains to tell them he was stopping play while an appeal over the tannoy at the Allianz Stadium called on fans to cut out racist chants.

The two teams then gathered in the centre circle, before the match resumed.

Broadcaster DAZN reported that Fiorentina fans hurled insults in the direction of their former player Vlahovic, who is Serbian.

Since leaving Fiorentina, his club from 2018 to 2022, Vlahovic, 24, has been targeted by fans of the Viola.

In November 2023, Fiorentina were given a suspended one-match ban for chants directed at three Juventus players, including Vlahovic.

Juventus midfielder Thuram opened the scoring after play restarted with a 20th-minute strike. It was the first goal scored by the son of former Juventus and France international Lilian Thuram since he joined the Old Lady in the close-season.

Former Juventus forward Kean levelled on 38 minutes before Thuram doubled up three minutes after half-time.

The hosts looked set to leapfrog their fifth-placed opponents but Sottil struck in the 87th minute to ensure both sides remain level on 32 points.

– ‘Definitely happy’ –

Earlier, Romelu Lukaku wasted a chance to put Napoli ahead in the 37th minute from the penalty spot. His effort was saved by visiting goalkeeper Filip Stankovic.

Giacomo Raspadori decided the match with his first goal of the season after 79 minutes, slotting home a loose ball after Venezia failed to clear.

Napoli’s third-straight victory brought them level with Atalanta, who drew with Lazio on Saturday, and have a superior goal difference.

“Totalling 41 points after 18 matches, nobody, even the most optimistic, thought we could do it at the start of the season, but we still have to improve, we’re a developing team,” said Napoli coach Antonio Conte.

“I am definitely happy, because this is a team that is growing,” Conte said. “If we could score a few more goals, we would all be calmer, more peaceful and less likely to have heart attacks.”

Inter Milan, 3-0 winners at Cagliari on Saturday, are third, one point behind the leading duo but with a game in hand.

Napoli can move into sole possession of the lead next weekend when they face Fiorentina, while Atalanta and Inter face each other in the Italian Supercup in Saudi Arabia.

Paulo Dybala‘s crisp right-footed volley earned Roma a 1-1 draw at AC Milan in Sunday’s final match.

The Argentinian’s 23rd-minute strike came seven minutes after Tijjani Reijnders had opened the scoring for Milan following a flowing counter-attack.

Claudio Ranieri’s Roma are 10th on 20 points, seven behind eighth-placed Milan.

AC Milan failed to honour the 125th anniversary of the club’s foundation with Sunday’s drab goalless draw with Genoa which left the seven-time European champions way behind Serie A’s top teams. Fiorentina also lost ground in the title race by falling to a 1-0 defeat at Bologna and missing the chance to claim a club-record ninth straight league win. In front of over 70,000 fans and a host of icons who had come to the San Siro to watch their former team and celebrate Milan’s birthday, Paulo Fonseca’s side did nothing to live up to a glorious footballing history.

Alvaro Morata came closest to scoring for Milan when he smashed a close-range finish off the crossbar with 11 minutes remaining of another uninspiring display which was met with derision from supporters and left Milan eighth on just 23 points — eight from the Champions League positions and 14 behind league leaders Atalanta.

“The players played with desire, they played like a team, the only thing that was missing was the goal,” insisted Fonseca.

“We were aggressive, won the ball back high up the pitch, we had a lot of shots but just couldn’t score.”

But fans chanted “we’re not Americans” at US owners Redbird and unfurled a banner which read “we honour our heroes, symbols of a Milan which no longer exists”, hardly what the club would have been hoping for when planning the pre-match ceremony for the anniversary.

Milan wore a vintage kit for the occasion and before kick-off a host of icons paraded on the pitch carrying some of the vast number of trophies won since the club’s foundation on December 16, 1899 as Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club.

Those included Dutch trio Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard, who under Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello played in one of the game’s greatest ever teams, and Andrea Pirlo who won Milan’s last Champions League in 2007.

The contrast between some of the names who came out before the match and those who actually played was stark, partly due to an injury crisis and also Fonseca’s dissatisfaction with his team.

Fonseca blasted his players after a lacklustre win over Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League and said he would select academy players if he couldn’t get the right attitude from his bigger names.

The Portuguese did just that by dropping France international Theo Hernandez for Spain under-19 international Alex Jimenez and giving 17-year-old Mattia Liberali his Serie A debut in place of injured Yunus Musah.

But the performance was not encouraging and unlikely to improve the already irritated Fonseca’s mood, nor that of the fans.

Fiorentina slip

Fiorentina are fourth, six points behind Atalanta with a game in hand following a first league defeat in three months, 1-0 at Bologna.

Sunday’s result moved Bologna up to seventh and three points behind Juventus, who sit in the Conference League spot, with a game in hand and gave coach Vincenzo Italiano a big win against his former club.

Italiano managed Fiorentina for three seasons, taking the Viola to two Europa Conference League finals and an Italian Cup final before joining Bologna in the summer.

“We’re growing as a team and our identity is starting to come through, especially defensively,” said Italiano. 

“To have conceded so little to this Fiorentina team is brilliant.”

Como are level on 15 points with Verona and Parma after two stoppage-time goals gave Cesc Fabregas’ side a surprise, but deserved 2-0 win over Roma.

Roma have improved since Claudio Ranieri returned for his third spell as coach last month but Sunday’s performance was a step backwards and left the capital club just two points above the bottom three.

“They did everything they could to win the match and we didn’t do enough to create opportunities… we could be tired for the number of matches we’ve played but I don’t like relying on excuses,” said Ranieri.

On Monday, Roma’s local rivals Lazio host champions Inter Milan with both teams level on 31 points with Fiorentina and hoping to stay in sight of Atalanta.

File image of Edoardo Bove.© X (Twitter)

Napoli conceded top spot in Serie A to red-hot Atalanta on Sunday after falling to a 1-0 home defeat to Lazio and dropping to two points from the summit. Fiorentina earlier remained on Napoli’s heels after their 1-0 home win over Cagliari in their first league match since midfielder Edoardo Bove’s sudden collapse last weekend. In soaking wet Naples, Gustav Isaksen stunned the home fans with a brilliant strike, which rifled past Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret and kept Lazio right in a crowded league title race.

Marco Baroni’s Lazio are fifth but only three points behind new leaders Atalanta, who sit top of the pile thanks to a club record-equalling ninth straight league win over AC Milan on Friday.

“The boys showed how fired up they were and their work ethic,” Baroni told DAZN. 

“We’re facing teams built to win, and the only way we can get there (to their level) is with good football. That’s the only way we can play.”

Napoli now have three teams just a point behind them, including Inter Milan and Lazio who also dumped Antonio Conte’s team out of the Italian Cup on Thursday.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa both struck the woodwork for Napoli, who are hunting a fourth league title after being crowned champions in 2023.

But the hosts were frustrated by dogged Lazio, who were largely on the back foot but came close on a couple of occasions before Isaksen smashed in his second Serie A goal of the season. 

Isaksen had stung Meret’s fingers with a similar effort midway through the first half, while Fisayo Dele-Bashiru crashed a rocket of a shot onto the bar six minutes after the break.

Kvaratskhelia skimmed the crossbar with a free-kick in first-half stoppage time, while Anguissa glanced a header onto the post moments before Isaksen struck his winner.

“I think tonight showed that the direction we’re heading in is the right one,” insisted Conte to DAZN.

“We need to improve, especially when it comes to creating chances because too often the final pass is missing and tonight was not the first time.”

Fiorentina in the hunt

Fiorentina are, alongside third-placed Inter, level on 31 points with Lazio after they edged past Cagliari earlier on Sunday.

Danilo Cataldi fired in the only goal of the game in the 24th minute to give Fiorentina an eighth straight win in Italy’s top flight, not counting their interrupted match with Inter Milan which was goalless when Bove collapsed.

Promising midfielder Bove, 22, has been in Florence’s Careggi hospital for a week as he undergoes tests, with reports in Italian media saying that his career in Italy is effectively over.

Before kick-off, Fiorentina captain Luca Ranieri expressed anger at reports that Bove was set to have a defibrillator fitted, which would force him to look for a club abroad due to stringent health regulations in Italian sport.

“I ask for a bit of respect for both him and for his privacy because a series of untrue things have been written and said about him,” said Ranieri.

Raffaele Palladino also insisted that he and his players were “waiting to welcome him back on the pitch soon”.

Cataldi dedicated his superb opener to his good friend and fellow Roman Bove, with the pair on loan at Fiorentina from capital city clubs Lazio and Roma.

The 30-year-old ran to a pitchside camera to make the number four — Bove’s shirt number — and a heart with his fingers after rifling Lucas Beltran’s lay-off into the top corner.

Cataldi’s goal left spirited Cagliari 15th, two points above Verona who dropped into the relegation zone on goal difference after being flattened 4-1 by Empoli. 

Verona dropped behind Como following a heavy home defeat — their seventh loss in eight league matches — and an entertaining 2-2 draw for Cesc Fabregas’ side at bottom club Venezia.

Edoardo Bove is stable in hospital after his harrowing and sudden collapse which caused Fiorentina’s Serie A clash with champions Inter Milan to be suspended on Sunday, as Scott McTominay kept Napoli top in a 1-0 win at Torino. Fiorentina said that midfielder Bove, who suddenly fell to the turf with 16 minutes on the clock and the game still goalless, was under sedation in the intensive care unit at Florence’s Careggi hospital. “Initial cardiological and neurological tests have ruled out severe damage to his central nervous and the cardio-respiratory systems,” said Fiorentina in a joint statement with the hospital.

Fiorentina added that the 22-year-old’s condition will be re-assessed “in the next 24 hours” while family and teammates, who had rushed to his aid and then sobbed as he was stretchered from the Stadio Artemio Franchi field, went to be by his side.

The match will be rescheduled for “an as-yet undetermined date”, as happened when Evan Ndicka fell in a similar manner during Roma’s match at Udinese in April.

Bove’s fall reminded fans of tragic former captain Davide Astori, who in March 2018 died suddenly in his sleep aged 31 in a hotel before a league match at Udinese.

Goalkeeper David de Gea said “God please” on social media where a number of clubs, including Roma from where he was loaned to Fiorentina in August, showed support.

“One of us, we’re all with you. Forza Edo!” Roma said.

Napoli stay top

Napoli are four points ahead of the chasing pack thanks to McTominay’s neat finish in the 31st minute, following a trademark dribble into the area from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

McTominay’s winner was his third Serie A goal since signing for Napoli in the summer and the Scotland midfielder is playing a key role in his new team’s bid for a fourth Italian league title.

Napoli would have left Turin with a heftier goal haul had Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic not pulled off a series of top class saves.

The Serbia ‘keeper kept out a Romelu Lukaku backheel and Kvaratskhelia’s looping header before McTominay broke the deadlock, and he got down brilliantly to stop both Mathias Olivera’s close-range header in the 65th minute and Giovanni Simeone in stoppage time.

“We attacked them with aggression, much more than usual and it was only Milinkovic-Savic’s performance that stopped us from scoring more,” Napoli coach Antonio Conte told DAZN.

Atalanta can move back to within a point of Napoli with a win at Roma on Monday night.

Lazio lost ground after a frustrating 3-1 defeat at Parma which was inflicted by an early Dennis Man finish, Anas Haj Mohamed’s first Serie A goal and a stoppage-time strike from Enrico Del Prato after Valentin Castellanos had halved the deficit for the away side.

Juve pegged back

Defeat at the Stadio Ennio Tardini snapped a five-match league winning streak and left Marco Baroni’s Lazio fifth, level on 28 points with Inter, Fiorentina and Atalanta, two points ahead of Juventus who were stunned late to draw 1-1 at lowly Lecce.

Ante Rebic poked home Lecce’s leveller in the third minute of stoppage time to snatch a deserved draw from a frantic, largely low-quality clash in southern Italy and move his team two points above the relegation zone in 16th.

Andrea Cambiaso looked to have won the points for unbeaten Juve with his speculative shot in the 68th minute, which was wildly deflected off Kialonda Gaspar and past Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone.

Missing nine players through injury, Juve again failed to impress after recent goalless draws at AC Milan and Aston Villa, although Khephren Thuram and Francisco Conceicao both hit the post early on, with Thuram somehow striking the woodwork from the middle of an open goal in the fifth minute.

“You could see in the second half that we were running out of steam… we just need to keep going and learn from our mistakes,” said Juve coach Thiago Motta. 

Patrick Vieira won his first match as Genoa coach with a 2-0 success at 10-man Udinese, which moved his new team three points away from the bottom three.

Edoardo Bove collapsed to the ground during a Serie A match© AFP