MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2015 S P O R T S Serie A stalemates put Inter in sight of top spot MILAN: Inter Milan will go top of Serie A with victory to Daniele Baselli and Afriyie Acquah levelled in the in late yesterday’s derby against AC Milan after all 73rd minute to claim a share of the spoils to leave four afternoon fixtures in Italy’s top flight finished in Torino in provisional second place. stalemate. Minnows Chievo remain top of the pile, six At the Mapei Stadium, Sassuolo defender Sime points ahead of stuttering champions Juventus, after Vrsaljko saw red and Atalanta counterpart Gianpaolo all four fixtures finished 2-2. Inter, in sixth place and Bellini was also sent off late in the second half. one point off the pace, will pull clear of the pack if Atalanta striker Mauricio Pinilla opened his they dominate the ‘Derby della Madonnina’ at the account for the season in spectacular style with a fine San Siro, where the attendance is expected to reach overhead kick that left Andrea Consigli rooted to the 77,000. After missing out on Europe this season, Inter spot. coach Roberto Mancini has underlined his side’s aim Antonio Floro Flores headed a bouncing cross to challenge four-time consecutive champions into the net minutes later only to be ruled offside, Juventus for the scudetto. but Sassuolo did level, in style, when Francesco Juventus sit in 16th place on just one point from Magnanelli unleashed a bullet from outside the area three games thanks to a 1-1 draw with Chievo on into the top right-hand corner. Saturday, the champions’ worst start to the season Pinilla doubled his tally in the 33rd minute but since the 1962-1963 campaign. Sassuolo levelled through Floro Flores just before the Verona looked to be heading for their first win of break. Atalanta should have claimed all three points the season after second-half goals from Luca Toni, at the death after Vrsaljko saw red for a foul on Maxi from the spot, and Juanito Gomez put the hosts in Moralez, but Consigli easily saved the striker’s terrible control against Torino. effort from the penalty spot. But Torino reduced arrears on 66 minutes thanks Napoli’s start to the season under new coach Italian League results/standings Results from Italy’s Serie A yesterday: Verona 2 (Toni 49-pen, Gomez 72) Torino 2 (Baselli 66, Acquah 73); Sassuolo 2 (Magnanelli 22, Floro Flores 41) Atalanta 2 (Pinilla 13, 33) ; Empoli 2 (Saponara 3, Pucciarelli 18) Napoli 2 (Insigne 7, Allan 50); Palermo 2 (Hiljemark 6, Djurdjevic 87) Carpi 2 (Vitiello 24, Borriello 64); Sampdoria v Bologna - post- poned until Sept 14. Playing later Lazio v Udinese, Inter Milan v AC Milan Played Saturday Frosinone 0 Roma 2 (Falque 44, Iturbe 90+3); Fiorentina 1 (Babacar 60) Genoa 0; Juventus 1 (Dybala 83- pen) Chievo 1 (Hetemaj 5). Italian Serie A table before yesterday’s late games (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, ITALY: Juventus’ Alex Sandro (right) and Chievo Verona’s Lucas Castro fight for the ball during a Serie A soccer match points): between Juventus and Chievo Verona at the Juventus Stadium. —AP Chievo 3 2 1 0 8 27 Lazio 2 1 012 53 Torino 3 2 1 0 7 47 Napoli 3 0 2 1 5 62 Maurizio Sarri has been underwhelming, and their notoriously difficult Carlo Castellani ground. Oscar goal since scoring Roma’s winner against Chievo in Roma 3 2 1 0 5 27 Verona 3 0 2 1 3 52 hopes of a first win of the campaign were kept in Hiljemark opened Palermo’s account on six minutes October 2013 but the Italian twice went on to spurn Sassuolo 3 2 1 0 5 37 Juventus 3 0 1 2 2 41 check at Empoli. Italy forward Lorenzo Insigne when he bundled home from close range, only for a chances to add to his tally. Those misses proved Palermo 3 2 1 0 4 27 Empoli 3 0 1 2 4 71 responded to Riccardo Saponara’s third-minute Roberto Vitiello own goal to pull Carpi level before costly as Uros Djurdjevic came off the bench to Inter Milan 2 2 0 0 3 16 Carpi 3 0 1 2 5 91 opener for the hosts four minutes later with a the half-hour. power a header home for the hosts two minutes Fiorentina 3 2 0 1 4 36 Bologna 2 0 0 2 1 30 superb first-timer that curled past Lukasz Skorupski Carpi were beginning to find space amid the from the final whistle. Sampdoria 2 1 1 0 7 44 Frosinone 3 0 0 3 1 60 Atalanta 3 1 1 1 4 34 Top two qualify automatically for the Champions and into the net. Palermo defence and in the second half Roma Before the first Milan derby of the season, Lazio Genoa 3 1 0 2 2 23 League, third goes into the play-offs. Fourth and Barely 10 minutes later, Manuel Pucciarelli reject Marco Borriello pulled the visitors ahead with host Udinese. Sampdoria were due to host Bologna, Udinese 2 1 0 1 1 13 fifth carry Europa League places. The bottom restored Empoli’s lead when he bundled home a well-struck second after holding off his marker to however their fixture has been re-scheduled for AC Milan 2 1 0 1 2 33 three sides are relegated. from close range but Allan’s 50th minute leveller for sweep Ryder Matos’s perfectly-weighted ball past Monday evening at 1945 GMT due to heavy rain in Napoli secured a point for the visitors at Empoli’s Stefano Sorrentino. It was Borriello’s first Serie A Liguria. —AFP Ronaldo back in form for Benitez’s European debut Werder down Hoffenheim BERLIN: Werder Bremen scored two MADRID: Rafa Benitez will make his Champions League and fingers crossed we’ll be able to hang goals in injury time to earn a 3-1 win League debut as Real Madrid coach at home to onto this level of confidence to win,” added the at Hoffenheim while Schalke 04 Group A rivals Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday safe Costa Rica international, who has not conceded a shook off an early missed penalty to in the knowledge that record marksman Cristiano goal in Real’s three La Liga outings this term. down Mainz 05 2-1 in Bundesliga Ronaldo is not past it after all. Against Espanyol, Real made light of the action yesterday. After Ronaldo failed to score in Real’s opening absence of Colombia playmaker James Austria international Zlatko two La Liga games of the campaign, there were Rodriguez, who is sidelined with a thigh muscle Junuzovic had given Werder the lead suggestions the 30-year-old, the all-time top scor- injury, while Benitez was able to rest influential in the last minute of the first half er in Europe’s elite club competition, might be Germany midfielder Toni Kroos. Shakhtar coach before scoring the clinching third starting to feel his age. Mircea Lucescu will need to engineer a smooth three minutes into injury time at the The Portugal captain answered the doubters transition from the offensive style the team is end of the game. in emphatic style when he rattled five goals past used to playing in the Ukrainian league to defen- Second-half substitute Eduardo Espanyol in a 6-0 La Liga romp on Saturday to sive mode after his side won 5-0 at Metalist Vargas had equalised for Hoffenheim overtake former striker Raul as the 10-times Kharkiv on Friday. on 49 minutes but Nigerian forward European champions’ record scorer in Spain’s top While the focus will be on repelling the Anthony Ujah put the visitors back in flight. inevitable waves of Real attacks, the club have front two minutes into time added Shakhtar could be in for a rough ride at the their own prolific scorer in Brazilian midfielder on, converting a pass from 37-year- Bernabeu, where Real have only failed to win Alex Teixeira, who has netted nine goals in seven old Claudio Pizzaro. their opening home match twice in 45 European appearances this season. “The problem is At the Veltins Arena in Cup campaigns and not since 1962 when they Shakhtar attacks almost all the time in Ukrainian Gelsenkirchen, Dutch international drew 3-3 against Anderlecht. championship games while in the Champions Klaas Jan Huntelaar missed his “When the goals come quickly it fills you with league we will have to defend a lot too,” Lucescu fourth straight penalty for Schalke confidence and that helps the team control said. “I am reflecting upon what we can do about after just four minutes against Mainz games better,” Real goalkeeper Keylor Navas told it,” added the Romanian. Group A also includes before the home side took control reporters. Paris St Germain and Malmo, who meet in the with a 37th minute opener from “Now we need to focus on the Champions French capital on Tuesday. —Reuters German-born Cameroonian Joel Matip. Midfieler Yunus Malli levelled the match just before half-time for the visitors before Huntelaar made up for his earlier miscue with a 61st minute winner. GERMANY: Hoffenheim’s Eugen Polanski ( left) and Mark Uth (right) challenge for the ball with The win for Schalke lifts them up Werder Bremen’s Ulisses Garcia during the German First Division Bundesliga soccer match. —AP to fifth place in the table on seven points and just ahead of Bremen on goal difference, five points off the German Bundesliga results/standings lead, while Mainz are tenth, while Hoffenheim are fourth from bottom Hoffenheim 1 (Vargas 49) Werder Bremen 3 (Junuzovic 45, 90+3, Ujah 90+2); Schalke 04 2 (Matip 37, Huntelaar 61) Mainz with just one point from four out- 05 1 (Malli 42).