Juventus fall to third straight defeat
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Juventus suffered a serious Serie A title setback yesterday when rock-bottom visitors Catania clinched a 2-1 win, handing the Turin giants a third straight defeat.
Substitute Mariano Izco escaped three minutes from time to hammer the final nail in Juve’s coffin on a dreadful day for Ciro Ferrara’s team in which their fans once again chanted racist slogans.
If champions and league leaders Inter Milan beat Lazio at home in Sunday’s late match, they will open up a nine-point lead over Juve heading into the winter break.
Ferrara’s side came into this match with four defeats from their last five games in all competitions and with goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and defensive rock Giorgio Chiellini both out injured they looked short of confidence.
They survived an early penalty scare as Japanese forward Takayuki Morimoto went down in the box under a challenge from Nicola Legrottaglie.
However, Tiago then gave away a penalty as he tugged Nicolas Spolli’s shirt in the box — almost pulling it clean off — right under the referee’s nose.
Jorge Martinez made the hosts pay as he stroked home the penalty despite having to retake it.
Even that failed to spark much life into Juve, although David Trezeguet did poke Fabio Cannavaro’s bicycle kick just wide on 29 minutes, albeit from an offside position.
Ferrara had seen enough and hauled off 20-million-euro Brazilian flop Felipe Melo on 32 minutes, throwing on Bosnian veteran Hasan Salihamidzic in his place, with Melo roundly jeered as he trooped off.
Another expensive new signing who has failed to live up to his billing, Diego wasted a glorious opportunity to level on 52 minutes as he skied his shot from Martin Caceres’s pull-back.
In other games, Napoli beat Chievo 2-0 at home to extend their unbeaten run to 11 games since coach Walter Mazzarri replaced former Italy boss Roberto Donadoni in early October.
Roma leapfrogged Parma to go fourth after beating the promoted side 2-0 in the capital.
There were protests at lowly Livorno against the club’s owners and the game was held up for two minutes due to smoke bombs before the hosts beat free-falling Sampdoria 3-1.
