Juventus overcome Pisa to claim Serie A second place

With their third consecutive win, Luciano Spalletti’s side raised their tally to 32 points, sitting behind second-placed Milan on goal difference and ahead of defending champions Napoli and Roma. Thiscomes as Milan, Napoli and Roma are all set to face Verona and Cremonese on Sunday, and Genoa on Monday respectively.

Juventus struggle before securing victory

Against a side that had never beaten the Turin giants in any of their previous 15 Serie A encounters, Juventus struggled to emerge victorious in their first top-flight meeting since Juve’s sixth successive win over Pisa on 19 May 1991 (4–2). Pisa came close to taking the lead before half-time, but Juventus were saved by the crossbar in the 44th minute following an effort from Stefano Morio.

The same scenario was repeated in the second half when Matteo Tramoni’s header struck the post in the 60th minute. Danger then shifted to the other end, where Juventus suffered similar misfortune as an attempt by Englishman Lloyd Kelly rebounded off the post in the 65th minute.

Luck finally favoured Juventus when American Weston McKennie delivered a cross that Arturo Calabresi tried to intercept before it reached Frenchman Pierre Kalulu. The ball deflected off Kalulu and into the net of Croatian goalkeeper Adrian Šemper in the 73rd minute.

The scoreline remained unchanged until the second minute of stoppage time, when Turkish forward Kenan Yıldız sealed the three points with a second goal following a counter-attack.

Fiorentina stumble again

After finishing sixth last season ahead of sides such as Lazio, Milan and Coppa Italia winners Bologna, Fiorentina now appear at risk of slipping out of the spotlight after suffering another setback with a 1–0 home defeat to Parma.

La Viola entered Saturday’s match hoping to build on their first win of the season, a 5–1 victory over Udinese in the previous round, aided by the latter being reduced to ten men in the eighth minute. However, Fiorentina faltered again as Parma claimed their fourth win of the campaign thanks to a headed goal by Danish forward Oliver Sørensen early in the second half (48).

Fiorentina sit bottom of the table in 20th place with just one win, six draws and ten defeats, leaving them threatened with relegation from Serie A for the first time since 2002.

The appointment of Paolo Vanoli to replace Stefano Pioli does not appear to have paid off, raising the likelihood that he may suffer the same fate as his predecessor and be dismissed less than two months into the role—shorter than the four-month spell served by Pioli.