Bonucci boots Juventus a little closer to glory

MILAN - Leonardo Bonucci's second-half equalizer saved Juventus' blushes a day after Roma virtually conceded the title as the champion was held to its first Serie A draw in over a year at Udinese.

Juventus, aiming for a record sixth straight scudetto, was boosted on Saturday when Roma's 2-1 loss to Napoli gave the Turin giant the chance to go 10 points clear.

But in a cagey performance at Dacia Stadium, filled to the brim for the visit of the 32-time Italian champion, a stuttering Juve failed to capitalize, settling for its first draw of the campaign and its first in the league since drawing with Bologna in February 2016.

Massimiliano Allegri's men remain top of the pile but are now eight points ahead of Roma, with Napoli third, 10 points off the pace.

"Before I say anything I have to compliment Udinese, who played a very solid game. At times they had two, three and even four players coming at our ball carriers," said Allegri.

"We knew how difficult a game this would be after so many victories. It's been over a year since we've drawn.

"We made a lot of mistakes, especially in the first 20 minutes. On the plus side we gained a point on Roma but the championship is not over. Roma can still collect a lot of points."

Juventus was denied early penalty claims after a Dani Alves cross appeared to come off the arm of Samir Santos.

Referee Antonio Damato was unimpressed, and Juve suffered another blow minutes later when Duvan Zapata powered down the left, held off Bonucci and fired under the body of Gianluigi Buffon.

But the home fans' hopes of Udinese holding on were dashed in the 60th minute.

A freekick by Paulo Dybala resulted in an inviting back-post delivery and Bonucci got between Silvan Widmar and Stipe Perica to head past Orestis Karnezis.

Atalanta is fifth after seeing goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu perform heroics in a scoreless draw with Fiorentina in Bergamo.

That result was welcomed by rivals who are also hunting a place in Europe next season, notably Lazio and Inter Milan.

A classy 5-1 win at Cagliari inspired by two-goal Ivan Perisic saw Inter initially move up to fifth.

But the Nerazzurri were back down to sixth after Ciro Immobile's brace earned Lazio a 2-0 win at Bologna, which was booed off the pitch in Sunday's late game.

A week after being stunned 3-1 by Roma at San Siro, Inter coach Stefano Pioli said he was buoyed by his side's performance as it chases a top-three finish and a return to the Champions League for the first time since 2012.

"I've been really pleased with how the lads have reacted after the defeat to Roma," said Pioli.

"We looked at the footage to learn from those mistakes. Today we controlled the game, although we have to know when to speed things up and when to slow them down."

Elsewhere, Italy striker Andrea Belotti blasted a hat-trick to take his season tally to a league-leading 22 in Torino's 3-1 home win over Palermo.

Relegation candidates Palermo saw Andrea Rispoli beat England's Joe Hart from distance in the 30th minute.

But Belotti struck three times in eight second-half minutes to hand Torino a 10th win of the campaign.

The 23-year-old has a three-goal lead on Roma's Edin Dzeko and Juve's Gonzalo Higuain in the scoring race, both with 19, while Napoli's Dries Mertens has 18 and Mauro Icardi 17.

"It would be amazing to win the top scorer's award," said Belotti.

Agence France-Presse