If they have no chance of joining Napoli, leaders with 16 points margin, the Biancocelesti confirm their claims to one of the four qualifying tickets for the Champions League, with five points ahead of Roma (3rd), six over Milan (4th) and seven over Inter (5th).

Despite a reaction of pride from Juventus to equalize by Adrien Rabiot (42nd), Lazio dominated the proceedings at the Stadio Olimpico. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic opened the scoring after eliminating Alex Sandro, who protested by feeling he had been pushed in the back (38th).

Furious, the Bianconeri rushed to attack the Roman cage and equalized on a corner concluded in two periods by Rabiot, author of his tenth goal of the season in all competitions (42nd).

But a gesture of pure genius by Luis Alberto, a deflection in heel that put the Turin defense in the wind to offer the second goal to Mattia Zaccagni (53rd), tipped the match.

"Yesterday in training, we did almost the same action, but the defender had intercepted it... Today it worked perfectly!" smiled Zaccagni on DAZN.

"It was a very important win for the standings," he added.

The Samp is scuttled

Juve remain seventh, 14 points behind Lazio, one point the equivalent of their 15-point penalty for accounting fraud.

Adrien Rabiot (2nd from left) just equalised for Juve against Lazio at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, on April 8, 2023 © Tiziana FABI / AFP

Roma did not miss the opportunity to invite themselves on the podium after the missteps Friday of AC Milan (0-0 against Empoli) and Inter Milan (1-1 at Salernitana), by winning at Torino (1-0).

Paulo Dybala's 11th goal, on penalty kick (8th), was enough for the happiness of a Jose Mourinho more pragmatic than ever to try to bring the Wolf back to C1.

"Matches are won by scoring one more goal than the opponent. 1-0, 5-4, the goal is the same: to win as much as possible," said the Portuguese coach.

Roma took the opportunity to put five points against Atalanta Bergamo (6th), beaten at home by the attractive Bologna of Thiago Motta, who himself returns to five points (8th) of the "Dea", maintaining his European hopes.

At the bottom of the table, Sampdoria Genoa scuttled by conceding two goals in the last ten minutes against Cremonese, synonymous with a defeat (3-2) that seriously compromises its hopes of maintaining.

Cremonese leaves the last place to Samp, but both teams seem promised to Serie B.

The third relegation, Hellas Verona (18th), can still hope to save themselves after having snatched at the very end of the match a precious victory against Sassuolo (2-1). It returns to four points of the first non-relegable, La Spezia (17th), author of a good draw at Fiorentina (1-1).

© 2023 AFP