MILAN: Juventus’ nine-year stranglehold on the Serie A title was at risk of unravelling after a 2-0 loss at Inter Milan on Sunday.

Nicola Barella scored one goal and set up another for former Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal as Inter provisionally moved level on points with city rivals AC Milan atop the table.

Juve, who have won the title every season since 2011-12, were left in fifth place and seven points behind the leaders.

In the first matchup between Inter coach Antonio Conte and Juventus counterpart Andrea Pirlo, who played for Conte at Juve and is coaching for the first time this season at any level, it was the veteran Conte who took home the bragging rights.

Juve created few chances and never really threatened to get back into the match.

“Our ambitions are unchanged,” Pirlo said. “It’s a misstep against a strong opponent. These things happen. But what I’m disappointed by is the attitude. A side like Juve must come here with a certain confidence and ambition, the desire to take the initiative and steer the game in a certain direction. But we were too timid.”

Inter took control early on when Vidal leapt over Danilo to head in a cross from Barella.

Inter’s second exposed problems in Juventus defense, as Barella ran onto a long through ball from Alessandro Bastoni and sprinted past Gianluca Frabotta and Giorgio Chiellini to finish off a counterattack.

The last time Inter beat Juve without conceding was in April, 2010 shortly before the Nerazzurri secured their last Serie A title.

“We’ve shown that we’re up to fighting for the Scudetto,” warned Vidal, who won four league titles in as many years with Juve.

Lorenzo Insigne scored twice and set up another as Napoli thumped Fiorentina 6-0 to move third, six points behind the leaders.

Insigne got the first goal in the fifth minute at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium as Gennaro Gattuso’s side went four goals up in the first half.

Fiorentina missed chances to equalize before Diego Demme, Hirving Lozano and Piotr Zielinski notched three goals for the hosts in the last nine minutes before the break.

Insigne doubled his tally with a second-half penalty after Tiemoue Bakayoko was tripped by Fiorentina midfielder Gaetano Castrovilli.

Substitute Matteo Politano completed the rout with a minute to go.

Atalanta missed the chance to move third with a goalless draw against lowly Genoa. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side are sixth, eight points behind Milan while Genoa are 16th, two points above the relegation zone.

Simy scored twice as bottom-of-the-table Crotone surprisingly beat Benevento 4-1 for only their third win of the season. Crotone remained bottom, however, two points from safety.

Filip Duricic converted a stoppage-time penalty for Sassuolo to rescue a 1-1 draw at home to Parma, who would have moved out of the drop zone with a win.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2021