Juve beats Inter to keep alive CL bid, Atalanta qualifies
Rome, May 16 (AP); Juventus kept alive its Champions League qualification hopes by winning at Serie A champion Inter Milan 3-2, when Atalanta clinched a place in Europe’s premier competition.
Atalanta consolidated second place in the Italian league beating Genoa 4-3 and can no longer finish outside the top four.
Juan Cuadrado scored twice for Juventus, converting a clinching penalty kick in the 88th minute. Juventus rose to fourth ahead of its final game at Bologna next weekend.
Napoli, two points behind, still has two games to play. Juventus will be hoping for a favor from Fiorentina against Napoli on Sunday. Roma defeated city rival Lazio 2-0 in their derby with goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pedro. Lazio defender Francesco Acerbi was sent off late. Also, Spezia Calcio enjoyed a 4-1 win over visiting Torino. Atalanta qualified for the Champions League for the third consecutive year despite a much smaller budget than its illustrious rivals. Duvan Zapata got the visitors off to a fine start in the ninth minute and kept the ball in play to set up Ruslan Malinovskyi in the 26th. Robin Gosens made it 3-0 before the break.
Eldor Shomurodov pulled one back for Genoa, followed three minutes later by Mario Pasalic restoring Atalanta’s three-goal lead.
Gosens conceded a penalty for handball converted by Goran Pandev in the 67th and Shomurodov’s second goal in the 84th ensured a nervy finale, but Atalanta held on.
============