Serie A

Paulo Dybala fires Juventus past Roma in 11th successive victory

• Juventus are two points behind leaders Napoli after 1-0 win in Turin
• Gonzalo Higuaín scores 21st goal in Napoli’s defeat of Sampdoria

Paulo Dybala celebrates
Paulo Dybala celebrates after scoring against Roma to extend Juventus’ winning run to 11 games. Photograph: Matteo Bottanelli/NurPhoto/Corbis
This article is 1 year old

Press Association

Paulo Dybala unlocked a tense match with Roma in Turin to keep Juventus in close pursuit of the Serie A leaders, Napoli.

Massimiliano Allegri’s champions strengthened their title aspirations after registering a 10th straight victory last time out but they found win No11, a 1-0 triumph, harder to achieve.

Roma, who are harder to beat under their returning coach Luciano Spalletti, let their guard down only once when Dybala scored past Wojciech Szczesny in the 77th minute.

Juventus have free-scoring Napoli, who were 4-2 winners at Sampdoria earlier on Sunday, in their sights with a showdown between the title rivals scheduled for 13 February. Napoli have 47 points, Juventus 45 and Fiorentina and Internazionale are on 41. There is then a six-point gap to Roma in fifth.

Gonzalo Higuaín scored his 21st goal of the season with Lorenzo Insigne, Marek Hamsik and the substitute Dries Mertens also notching for Napoli. Sampdoria, who lost Mattia Cassani to a red card after the break, provided solace for the home fans with goals from Joaquín Correa and Eder.

The substitute Kevin Lasagna grabbed a late equaliser as 10-man Carpi held Internazionale to a 1-1 draw. The striker, who was playing amateur football for Este less than two years ago, came off the bench to cover the sending-off of Lorenzo Pasciuti and scored in stoppage time.

Rodrigo Palacio had earlier scored his first league goal of the season but it was not enough for Inter who were leapfrogged by Fiorentina in the early game. The Tuscans returned to third by responding to back-to-back defeats with a 2-0 win over Torino.

Lazio recovered from an early setback to beat Chievo 4-1 in the capital. Bostjan Cesar, who was later sent off, whipped home an early free-kick and Lazio took over an hour to respond, when Antonio Candreva converted a penalty, the first of his two goals.

Guillermo Barros Schelotto registered his first win as manager of Palermo with a 4-1 thrashing of Udinese at the Stadio Renzo Barbera.

Bologna condemned their local rivals Sassuolo to a first home defeat of the season, 2-0, while Hellas Verona are still looking for a first win after being held to a 1-1 draw by Genoa.