Napoli missed the chance to temporarily go top of the table ahead of Juventus’ game as they were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by Sassoulo.
The home side went ahead midway through the first half when Matteo Politano volleyed in the rebound after Federico Peluso had struck the post.
And Napoli did not level until 10 minutes from time when Mario Rui’s cross came to the back post and was turned home by Sassuolo’s Rogerio, who was under pressure from Jose Callejon.
Juventus warmed up for their Champions League clash with Real Madrid with a 3-1 victory over AC Milan.
Paulo Dybala, Juan Cuadrado and Sami Khedira all scored for Juve in a win which extended their lead over Napoli at the top of the Serie A standings to four points and was the perfect preparation for their quarterfinal first leg match against Los Blancos on Tuesday.
Leonardo Bonucci scored Milan’s only goal of the night in the 28th minute to draw the visitors back on level terms with the Bianconeri following Dybala’s eighth-minute opener.
However, Cuadrado edged Juve back in front in the 79th minute when he fired the ball into the net from Khedira’s pinpoint cross, before the midfielder drove home from Dybala’s assist.
Roma warmed up for the trip to the Camp Nou next week with a 1-1 draw at Bologna.
The Giallorossi meet Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal tie on Wednesday and were unable to maintain their four-game winning streak heading into that clash.
Bologna led through Erick Pulgar’s first-half strike before substitute Edin Dzeko levelled with a near-post header 14 minutes from time.
Roma’s draw allowed fourth-placed Inter Milan to close the gap to them to just two points as they beat Verona 3-0, with Mauro Icardi scoring twice and Croatia international Ivan Perisic netting the other.
Icardi scored his first after just 35 seconds before he netted again early in the second period to take his tally to 24 Serie A goals for the second straight season.
Ciro Immobile started the day as the only player in Serie A to have netted more times than Icardi and he too grabbed a brace in Lazio‘s 6-2 win over bottom side Benevento.
Benevento played the final 83 minutes with 10 men following goalkeeper Christian Puggioni’s dismissal, and they briefly led in the second half before Lazio made their numerical advantage count.
SPAL, who played over an hour with one man less themselves thanks to Francesco Vicari’s red card, picked up a point in their fight against the drop after drawing 1-1 draw at Genoa.
Fiorentina recorded a 2-0 home victory over Crotone thanks to goals from Giovanni Simeone and Federico Chiesa, while Atalanta won by the same scoreline in their game against Udinese.
Torino thumped Cagliari 4-0, with all of the visitors’ goals coming in the second half.
Chievo came from behind to beat Sampdoria 2-1 to move four points clear of the relegation zone.
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