Juventus moved three points clear at the top of Italy’s Serie A with a 2-0 victory at Lazio on Saturday, while AC Milan’s poor start to the season continued with a 0-0 draw at Livorno.
Turin giants Juve registered a third successive victory to be on a perfect nine points, while Lazio dropped their first points to be fourth on goal difference behind Sampdoria and Genoa, who play on Sunday. Ciro Ferrara’s Juve warmed up for Tuesday’s Champions League Group A opener at home to French club Bordeaux with a routine win thanks to second-half goals from Martin Caceres and David Trezeguet. However, star summer signing Diego suffered an injury just before the break and had to be replaced by Sebastian Giovinco. Lazio had a goal disallowed soon after when Sebastiano Siviglia’s effort was ruled out due to a foul by teammate Julio Cruz. The visitors finally made the breakthrough with 18 minutes left when Caceres latched onto a loose ball inside the Lazio area and fired a right-foot shot past goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. French striker Trezeguet sealed it deep into time added on, pouncing after Muslera failed to hold onto Amauri’s close-range effort from Sebastian Giovinco’s cross.
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It was the Bianconeri’s second successive victory in the Eternal City’s Stadio Olimpico, having defeated Roma 3-1 two weeks ago. Milan failed to bounce back from the 4-0 trouncing by city rivals Inter two weeks ago as Livorno earned their second point on return to the top flight. The home side dominated until Milan coach Leonardo finally reacted and sent Andrea Pirlo and Filippo Inzaghi on for the ineffective Ronaldinho and new signing Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Midfielder Pirlo, who started on the bench playing twice in a week for Italy, curled a 25-yard effort onto the crossbar with his first touch of the game. Inzaghi also had a chance to score, but goalkeeper Alfonso De Lucia diverted his shot over the crossbar. Livorno claimed in vain for a penalty with eight minutes to play when Francesco Tavano tussled with Milan’s Thiago Silva. Leonardo now has to lift his troops for Tuesday’s Champions League Group C opener away to French club Marseille.
