Zaza Stunner Sends Juventus Top

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Simone Zaza scored two minutes from time to give Juventus a 1-0 win over Napoli on Saturday as they snatched the Serie A lead from their opponents with a 15th league win in a row.

The game, which began with Napoli two points ahead of Juve, appeared to be petering out into a goalless draw when Zaza collected the ball with his back to goal, turned and fired an unstoppable left-foot shot past Pepe Reina.

Zaza has struggled for a place in the team this season and was the subject of media speculation over a move in the transfer window. He appeared to have blown his chance altogether when he was sent off against Genoa in his last appearance.

“It was a very tactical match and this was an important moment in the championship on a psychological level,” said the Juve coach, Massimiliano Allegri, whose team were 11 points off the lead after the first 10 games of the season.

The Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci was at the centre of the action after he collided with his team-mate Sami Khedira early on, made a crucial interception to prevent an almost certain Napoli goal and went off injured after half-time.

Napoli, aiming to win the title for the first time since 1990, had won their previous eight games and boasted the league’s most prolific attack with 53 goals. But the veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon barely had a save to make as Juve’s defence, the stingiest in the country, prevailed.

“It was a tight game with few chances. We gave almost nothing away and only lost because of one unfortunate episode,” said the Napoli coach, Maurizio Sarri.

Juan Cuadrado tested Reina for the first time after 13 minutes with a long-range shot and Paul Pogba curled a free kick narrowly wide from nearly 30m.

A Napoli goal looked on the cards when Elseid Hysaj’s cross appeared to be heading straight for Gonzalo Higuaín, unmarked in front of goal, but Bonucci came from nowhere to stick out his leg and deflect the ball out for a corner.

A moment of brilliance from Pogba nearly unlocked the Napoli defence on the hour as he controlled the ball on his chest and slipped the ball inside to Dybala, whose shot flashed over the crossbar. A stalemate appeared likely until Zaza, heavily criticised for recent performances, produced his moment on inspiration.

“I stopped him from leaving in January as I did with other players,” said Allegri. “Between now and the end of the season the difference will be made by the players who have played less and are freshest in the mind.”

Juventus are now two wins away from the Serie A record for consecutive victories established by Internazionale in 2006-07 – if Juve win their next league game, in Bologna next weekend, it would be down to Inter themselves to stop that happening, when they visit Juventus Stadium on 28 February.

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Juventus Revive Serie A Battle

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Juventus burst back into the Serie A title race with a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over their fierce rivals Fiorentina.

Juve, who started the season poorly, are six points behind the leaders, Internazionale, after winning six games in a row. Inter won 4-0 at Udinese on Saturday.

Josip Ilicic’s penalty was cancelled out by the former Fiorentina winger Juan Cuadrado, on loan at the Juventus Stadium, with Mario Mandzukic and Paulo Dybala completing the turnround in the second half.

Massimiliano Allegri’s Juve are now fourth before next Sunday’s trip to face lowly Carpi while second-placed Fiorentina, who next entertain Chievo, remain four points shy of Inter.

Wojciech Szczesny excelled in the Roma goal as Napoli were held to a goalless draw at the Stadio San Paolo.

Roma looked like scoring in the first half but Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli turned the screw after the break, with the on-loan Arsenal goalkeeper Szczesny standing between them and a seventh straight home win.

Misfiring Milan were held to a 1-1 draw by the basement team, Hellas Verona, at San Siro.

Sinisa Mihajlovic has watched his Rossoneri drop points to such clubs as Carpi in recent weeks and the club’s mission to return to the Champions League places is looking increasingly fragile.

Milan took the lead through Carlos Bacca shortly after half-time but paid a heavy price for Nigel de Jong’s decision to commit a professional foul. He was sent off and Luca Toni levelled from the spot.

Valter Birsa’s second-half goal led to Chievo beating nine-man Atalanta 1-0 in Verona.

Nicolo Cherubin’s 66th-minute dismissal offered Alberto Paloschi the chance to score a penalty but Marco Sportiello denied him before Birsa produced the winner 10 minutes later.

To compound Atalanta’s disappointment Jasmin Kurtic was sent off for dissent in stoppage time.

Massimo Maccarone scored twice and set up a third goal for Riccardo Saponara as the upwardly mobile Empoli brushed Carpi aside 3-0 at the Stadio Carlo Castellani.

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Belgium v Italy - Heysel Remembered

Friday's friendly between Belgium and Italy will be used to commemorate the victims of the Heysel Stadium tragedy, shortly after the 30th anniversary.

The match is being played at the King Baudouin Stadium, which is the rebuilt Heysel Stadium, where 39 people - mostly Italians - died during fan violence at the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus on May 29, 1985.

A shirt was laid along with flowers to honour the 39 who died

There was a ceremony before Thursday's training session to retire Italy's No. 39 shirt in memory of the victims, and during the match itself play will be stopped after 39 minutes for a period of reflection.

Prior to to kick-off, both teams will hold up a commemorative banner.

Yesterday's ceremony drew an emotional response from the Italy players, with Gianluigi Buffon in particular overwhelmed by the occasion.

Both Buffon and Giorgio Chiellini laid flowers at the memorial to the victims of the disaster, which saw a stadium wall collapse after crowd trouble between the two sets of supporters.

In total, the tragic incident claimed the lives of 39 fans and left another 600 injured.

Giorgio Chiellini presented a bouquet of flowers

At the memorial service, members of the Azzurri's Juventus contingent Andrea Barzagli Giorgio Chiellini and Claudio Marchisio looked solemn as they remembered those supporters who lost their lives.

The friendly itself kicks off at 7.45pm this evening, and Belgium coach Marc Wilmots has admitted he wants to experiment with some players, including rightback Luis Pedro Cavanda of Trabzonspor.

Juventus players Andrea Barzagli Giorgio Chiellini and Claudio Marchisio remember those who lost their lives

"Players will have a chance to show themselves," Wilmots said. "We will be rotating."

Friday's game would have been a highlight for Napoli's Dries Mertens but he was out after tearing a right thigh muscle this week.

Captain Vincent Kompany is also out of both games as he is troubled by a calf injury and, after already angering Manchester City by fielding him last month at the end of an injury spell, Wilmots is looking to keep risks to a minimum.

"I don't want to overexert him, also out of respect for Manchester City," Wilmots said. "We have enough other options."

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Inter Missed Top Chance

Internazionale missed the chance to go top of Serie A by drawing 1-1 at Palermo on Saturday while Bologna came from behind to defeat 10-man Carpi 2-1 and Empoli sank Genoa 2-0.

Roberto Mancini’s Inter extended their streak without a victory to four matches and spurned the opportunity to usurp Fiorentina as leaders after Alberto Gilardino cancelled out Ivan Perisic’s opener.

The draw left Inter second on 18 points, the same as Fiorentina who have a game in hand. Palermo are 11th on 11 points.

The visitors struck after 60 minutes when a magnificent chip from Stevan Jovetic found Jonathan Biabiany advancing into the box. The substitute brought the ball down before crossing to Perisic who finished calmly at the far post.

Gilardino equalised six minutes later after reacting quickest in a goalmouth melee to tap the ball past Samir Handanovic from close range.

Mancini made four changes following the 0-0 draw with Juventus last weekend and his side lacked cohesion early on.

Handanovic made two saves from Franco Vázquez while the Palermo forward also sent a header just over the bar after outmuscling Joao Miranda.

Inter’s Jeison Murillo was shown a second yellow card in the 79th minute for bringing down Vázquez with a poorly-timed challenge.

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Barcelona v Juventus - Preview

Juventus and FC Barcelona are in their eighth European Cup final; Massimiliano Allegri says "we have to be winners", Luis Enrique wants another prize for "a unique generation".

Juventus and Barcelona meet in Berlin, both teams' eighth European Cup final.

Massimiliano Allegri, Juventus coach

We started the season with an important objective – to get to the quarter-finals. Now we've got to the final and we have to be winners. We need to take the last step; that's always hard, especially in a Champions League final.

Messi, Neymar, Suárez, it's the usual question since the semi-final – how do you stop them, how do you stop them? We need to be very skilled but we need to recognise we're not going to draw; we need to score. How do you stop Barcelona? We need to think how to score. We need to be strong technically because they're a technical team and attack is their best weapon so we need to be very, very aware of that.

We need to stay focused for 90 minutes, right until the end. We need to be mentally strong and turn things around because we're second favourites to Barcelona. It's a one-off match, no chance to play again, so we need to be fit. We are physically fine and the same goes for our mental strength. We need to be good against a great team but, like all teams, they do have faults and weaknesses.

One of the two teams will win a treble, either Juventus or Barcelona – hopefully us. We need to recognise this isn't easy. It's not easy to manage great teams, despite how it seems from the outside. Luis Enrique was a great manager at Roma; this is a new league and a new situation but even back then it was clear he was right in his ideas. My role as manager is trying to add value to a team who were already capable, improving them even more.

It should be a great game. As with all Champions League finals, we'll need some luck and we'll need to work for that.

We're very sorry for what happened to Chiellini but I guess it was meant to be. We lost a player who had been great for us from the start of the season. Barzagli and Ogbonna are both fit; if Barzagli feels OK he's going to play, otherwise it's Ogbonna.

Luis Enrique, Barcelona coach

[Getting better] is a normal process throughout a season, especially bearing in mind this is my first season in charge. The team is now where it wants to be – with two trophies and the possibility of a third. We're entering this game with great excitement and hopes of playing a great match so we can be better than our opponents.

Midfield is where the game takes shape, whether that's attack or defence. We have to dominate both the offensive and the defensive side of things. We want to play our game – have the ball, create danger and minimise any opportunities for our opponents.

There is some euphoria among the fans and we're delighted to see that – that feeling has been there for several months. As players and coaches, we're focusing on this match with a great sense of seriousness and responsibility. We have to handle the occasion properly and make sure we have a good day so we can deal with such powerful opponents.

I imagine we'll have more possession, we hope to spend more time in their half. We'll have to play at a high level, it's going to be a difficult match. Juve have a very similar style to ours, they also need the ball. They're very good in defence, they're very resourceful and that's why they're in the same position as us – they can win the treble too. We know Juve will want and they're going to pressure us. Who will win depends on who adapts better to those situations.

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Juventus V Monaco AS

Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri could risk midfield maestro Andrea Pirlo in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Monaco on Tuesday.

Pirlo has not played since he suffered a calf strain against Borussia Dortmund seven weeks ago and, at 35, it could be a risky move to throw him straight into the side for the clash in Turin.

Italy's most decorated club are attempting to reach the Champions League semi-finals for the first time since 2003 and face a Monaco that are still in the running for the French title.

It is likely to be a cagey affair with Monaco having scored only seven goals in eight games in reaching the quarter-finals, three of them in a single match away to Arsenal in the previous round, and have conceded a mere four. 

Juventus are equally miserly at the back, having conceded only five goals in the Champions League and 15 goals in 30 Serie A outings.

The Bianconeri head into the clash having suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Parma at the Ennio Tardini stadium on Saturday.

Although Juve's title hopes have not been affected - they now lead Lazio by 12 points with eight games remaining - Allegri is confident a different Juventus will thrive under pressure and seal a first leg victory.

"I hope this setback serves us well, although I'm sure that we will see an altogether different Juventus on Tuesday," Allegri said after Saturday's defeat.

"We're not used to losing. We were a little listless, we lacked bite and aggression. But now we have to put this display behind us. It would be stupid to let a defeat like this get in the way of our Champions League dream."

Experienced goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who had an infection, and Carlos Tevez, who spent his rare day off at Lake Maggiore, will return to Allegri's starting line-up as Juve look to take a first step towards securing their first semi-final appearance since 2003 when they beat Barcelona over two legs in the quarters.

Juventus are missing their other key midfielder Paul Pogba, leaving Claudio Marchisio with the job of orchestrating play towards lively Uruguayan front man Roberto Pereyra, likely to play in the 'hole' behind Alvaro Morata and Tevez.

Doubts remain over Andrea Barzagli, who is nursing a sore calf. His availability could determine whether Allegri deploys the 3-5-2 formation he has used sparingly this season or the 4-3-1-2 that saw Juve swipe Borussia Dortmund aside 5-1 on aggregate in their last-16 tie.

Monaco will be without captain Jeremy Toulalan after the midfielder limped off injured in a 3-0 win over Caen on Friday, a result which nonetheless was crucial to Monaco's confidence before they make the short trip across the Franco-Italian border.

Monaco are targeting their first semi-final appearance since 2004 when they went all the way to the final before being humbled by FC Porto.

Coach Leonardo Jardim said: "I think the team played very well and now looking ahead to Tuesday the best thing was for the team was to win, which gives us confidence and the desire in regards to our away performances."

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