Round 15 of the 2014-15 Serie A campaign is officially in the books as the middle of the table pulled out some wins over top-tier teams to bring the title race a little bit closer. Also, a high-profile match up between two giants this season ended in a very close result. There was plenty of poor behavior, however, as six red cards were handed out and two of them to a single team.
Without further ado, here we go.
Lazio continued their resurgence after a slow start with their home win against Atalanta on Saturday. Stefano Mauri supplied two of the three goals as Lazio now stands in a three-way tie for third place at 26 points. Over the last ten matches, Lazio has put in a tie for the third best performance in the league. Atalanta, on the other hand, is only two points out of a relegation spot and have only five points in their last five matches.
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Over in Palermo, the home side won a wild 2-1 game against Sassuolo. The visiting side recorded two red cards in the losing effort. Palermo opened the scoring in the opening minutes and seemed to gain an advantage as Sassuolo went down a man in the 66th minute. Leonardo Pavoletti remarkably tied up the game in the 85th minute but Andrea Belotti saved the three points in the 90+3′ to give Palermo the lead. To add insult to injury, Sassuolo’s Paolo Cannavaro received a red card to bring the game to 11 vs. 9 in the waning minutes of the game.
The matinée match on Sunday afternoon (Italian time) looked to be the main event of Round 15. Italian giants Juventus took on surprise standouts Sampdoria in a match between top clubs this season. Ultimately, nothing would be gained or lost between the two as Patrice Evra and Manolo Gabiaddini scored the lone goal for Juventus and Sampdoria, respectively. Juventus will retain first place going into Round 16, but are only in first by a point. Sampdoria is involved in the three-way tie for third place, but are officially in fourth.
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AS Roma have officially become Serie A’s hottest team as their win over a surging Genoa gives them their fourth win out of five. After a couple of crucial losses put them in a bit of a hole behind Juventus, their recent stretch has now closed the gap to one point. Roma will have a home game against a bipolar AC Milan on December 20.
Milan picked up a big win against Napoli to pull even with Napoli at 24 points. The two are alone in a tie for sixth place, just outside a European competition. Jeremy Menez and Giacomo Bonaventura supplied the goals in the 2-0 victory at the San Siro. Napoli has now registered only one win in their last five after becoming relevant in Serie A again. Milan has now won two of the last three.