TURIN: (L to R) Juventus’ Carlos Tevez, Fernando Lloriente and Simone Padoin celebrate their Serie A win over Fiorentina.—AP |
MILAN: Carlos Tevez scored twice to give Serie A leaders Juventus a 3-2 win over Fiorentina on Wednesday but Lazio prevented them from celebrating the title by thumping bottom club Parma 4-0, which condemned their opponents to Serie B.
Juventus stayed 14 points clear of Lazio with five games to play and, with the better head-to-head record, need a draw at Sampdoria on Saturday to clinch a fourth successive Serie A title.
Fiorentina took the lead through a Gonzalo Rodriguez penalty but goals from Fernando Llorente and Tevez turned the match around before Rodriguez missed a second penalty.
Tevez, the league’s leading scorer, sealed the result with his 20th Serie A goal of the season before Josip Ilicic netted a late consolation goal.
Allegri’s men could have sealed the title had second-placed Lazio failed to beat Parma, but Stefano Pioli’s side struck three times through Marco Parolo, Miroslav Klose and Antonio Candreva in six blistering first half minutes and added a fourth through Balde Keita with nine minutes to relegate bankrupt Parma.
Lazio’s win saw them keep their one-point lead on local rivals AS Roma, who walloped Sassuolo 3-0.
Juventus have 76 points from 33 games, followed by Lazio (62), Roma (61) and Napoli (56), who have a game in hand.
Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2015
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