Rossoneri slip further into crisis as ultras protest.
With Roma not in action until Monday night, the opportunity presented itself for the chasing pack in Serie A to reduce the gap at the top of the table and even leapfrog the Giallorossi ahead of their encounter with Cagliari.
However, defending champions Juventus were the only side to take advantage as their 2-0 win over Livorno on Sunday ensured they temporarily move back into their usual spot of first place.
While Gianluigi Buffon insisted that the Bianconeri are getting back to their ruthless nature of winning games, coach Antonio Conte will be delighted with how his front pairing of Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tevez continue to be decisive.
It had been well documented on how the Spaniard had struggled to initially settle in Turin, but he is beginning to find consistency and become an integral part of the squad.
Nevertheless, the Turin giants will now hope to remain at the summit of the table with a potential Roma slip-up, but it is clear that they are beginning to find their stride domestically.
The same can’t be said of Napoli, Inter Milan and Fiorentina who all dropped points this weekend, with a number of surprises across the fixture list.
An Antonio Cassano inspired Parma side travelled home from the San Paolo with all three points, with the former Milan and Inter star continuing to make his case to be included in the World Cup squad for Brazil next summer.
Largely ignored by Cesare Prandelli since Euro 2012 as the Italian tactician looked at other options which will provide guarantees in the long term, Cassano has been at his influential best since his summer switch and has yet to give up hope on earning a recall.
Meanwhile, Fiorentina were defeated away at Udinese while Inter were held by Bologna in the Sunday night kick-off and were left frustrated at their inability to clinch victory.
However, the discontent within their supporters would have hardly matched that of their city rivals Milan this weekend, who were held to a draw at San Siro by Genoa, who were reduced to 10-men for the last hour.
The Rossoneri were truly wasteful in front of goal following on from Kaka’s magical opener, but were guilty of missing golden opportunities thereafter.
While the Curva Sud made their feelings clear with banners during the game, one of which read; “From the great Milan of the golden years to the years of Zapata and Constant”, their frustration risked spilling over as they prevented the players from leaving the stadium after the game.
Christian Abbiati and Kaka were able to diffuse the situation, but it is clear that things are at risk of boiling over with the Serie A giants, with Mario Balotelli causing controversy with a tweet on Saturday night stating: “This is the end :-)”
However, he later communicated that he was with Milan always but was then reportedly late for training as the pressure is set to build on both Massimiliano Allegri and Adriano Galliani this week, with their decisive clash away at Celtic in the Champions League likely to have repercussions unless there is a positive result.
Serie A Results:
Hellas Verona 0-1 Chievo Verona
AC Milan 1-1 Genoa
Napoli 0-1 Parma
Livorno 0-2 Juventus
Sampdoria 1-1 Lazio
Sassuolo 2-0 Atalanta
Torino 4-1 Catania
Udinese 1-0 Fiorentina
Bologna 1-1 Inter
Roma – Cagliari (Monday)
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