MILAN (AP) — Juventus ended a troubled year on a positive note after beating Roma 1-0 to close in on Serie A leader Inter Milan on Saturday.
Adrien Rabiot scored and Juventus pulled within two goals of Inter, who drew on Friday.
Juventus, a year of scandal following the resignation of former president Andrea Agnelli and the entire board in November 2022 following an investigation by the Turin prosecutor’s office for false accounting, which led to a 10-point deduction from the team.
This false accounting affair led to Juventus being excluded through UEFA from the third tier of the Europa Conference League for this season.
Without the distraction of Europe, Juventus fought hard at the top of the Serie A table and knew they had a chance to close the gap on Saturday.
Former Juventus striker Paulo Dybala recovered from injury to get off to an unexpected start and his side came close to taking an early lead, but Bryan Cristante’s shot went wide of the right post.
Dybala went close to scoring against his former team but instead it was Juventus which broke the deadlock right at the start of the second half. Rabiot beat the offside trap to latch onto a cheeky Dušan Vlahović backheeled flick and slot into the bottom near corner.
PULISIC POWER
AC Milan also ended the year with a victory — after a difficult month — in edging Sassuolo 1-0.
Pulisic scored in the 59th minute after Ismael Bennacer’s ball deflected toward the U. S. international.
It is Pulisic’s sixth league goal of the season.
Milan, which won just one of its last three Serie A games and was knocked out of the Champions League, was against Inter nine times.
SURPRISE LOSS
Bologna suffered a wonderful 3-0 defeat at the hands of relegation-threatened Udinese and missed out on a chance to return to the Champions League places.
Bologna’s third defeat left them two problems behind fourth-placed Fiorentina after the Tuscan side’s 1-0 win over Turin on Friday.
Udinese are 3 points above the relegation zone and Claudio Ranieri’s Cagliari, who drew 0-0 with Empoli.
Empoli goalkeeper Elia Caprile saved a late penalty to keep his side within a point of defending and 17th-placed Hellas Verona, who lost 1-0 at home to last-place club Salernitana.
Salernitana picked up their second win of the season. It was two points against Verona.
Ademola Lookman brought Atalanta back to a 1-0 win over Lecce in their final match before heading to the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria.
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