Rome, Dec 5 (IANS) Juventus returned to the top of Italian Serie A football after they beat Cesena 2-0 at home.
Known affectionately as the Old Lady (la Vecchia Signora), Juventus had to wait for 74 minutes before midfielder Claudio Marchisio scored to break the deadlock and Arturo Vidal netted the second from the penalty spot in the 83rd minute after Francesco Antonioli was controversially sent off, Xinhua reported Sunday.
Juventus head coach Antonio Conte said his players’ patience paid off with a win.
‘At the end of the first half I told the players to stay calm, because sooner or later we woud have broken the deadlock with the way we were playing. We did well to keep them pegged back,’ he said.
Cesena head coach Daniele Arrigoni admitted that Juventus deserved the victory over his side despite the controversial penalty and red card.
‘Unfortunately, Marchisio was very smart and took his chance, so Juventus deserved the victory,’ he said.
‘We were organised and that was about it. The Bianconeri are in great shape and you can see why they are top of the table. It is true we didn’t run many risks, but we didn’t threaten their goal either.’
Fiorentina cruised to a 3-0 win at home over eight-man Roma.
Under-fire Roma head coach Luis Enrique said he would resign if he loses the players’ support.
‘If I feel that the players aren’t following me anymore, then I will leave, but that is not what I see right now,’ he said.
Bologna returned to winning ways as they saw off Siena 1-0. Marco Di Vaio’s goal in the 28th minute was the difference between the two sides at the Renato Dall’ Ara stadium.
Roma defender Juan was sent off for a professional foul on Stevan Jovetic in the 15th minute, with the Fiorentina striker scoring from the resulting penalty to give the home side an early lead.
Alessandro Gamberini put the Viola 2-0 up on the stroke of half-time before Fernando Gago picked up his second yellow card in the 76th minute to leave Roma with only nine men for the last 15 minutes.
Roma’s woes were compounded less than ten minutes later when Bojan Krkic was shown a straight red for handball in the area, with Santiago Silva converting Fiorentina’s second penalty of the match to seal their fourth win of the season.
Bologna returned to winning ways as they saw off Siena 1-0. Marco Di Vaio’s goal in the 28th minute was the difference between the two sides at the Renato Dall’s Ara stadium.
Cagliari secured their first win in eight games as a spectacular individual goal from Victor Ibarbo gave them a 1-0 win over Catania at the Stadio Massimino, Chievo and Atalanta cancelled each other out in a goalless draw.
Parma failed to turn possession into goals after drawing 0-0 with Palermo in thick fog.
The hosts dominated for long spells but could not find a breakthrough with Sebastian Giovinco coming closest with a long-range drive in the 26th minute which smacked against the post.
