Updated at 22.43
DUSAN VLAHOVIC was key for Juventus with his first Serie A goal in nearly three months earning his team a 2-1 win over struggling Lecce and leaving them a point behind second-place Lazio.
Serbia striker Vlahovic, who signed for the club last year for a reported fee of €70 million plus a potential €10 million in add-ons, lashed in what turned out to be the winning goal five minutes before half-time at a sparsely-populated Allianz Stadium in Turin.
The ex-Fiorentina attacker’s ninth league goal of the season, and his first since early February, came after Assan Ceesay’s 37th-minute penalty for the away side had levelled Leandro Paredes’s early free-kick.
“He scored a great goal and he improved as the game went on,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri.
“He had never experienced this sort of thing before, as at Fiorentina everything always went well, but every player has a period like this in their careers.
“He just needed to get through it.”
Allegri’s side broke a four-match winless run but their chances of making the Champions League hinge on a new ruling over their 15-point deduction for illicit transfer activity which was revoked on appeal last month.
And they lost defender Mattia De Sciglio to a torn cruciate ligament in his right knee, the Italy defender now set for a long spell on the sidelines after being stretchered off in the first half.
Defeat leaves Lecce four points above the relegation zone, although their fight for survival was helped by 18th-paced Spezia falling 3-2 at Atalanta, who move into the Champions League spots.
Meanwhile, Napoli will have to wait at least one more day to be crowned Italian champions after Lazio beat Sassuolo 2-0 on Wednesday to reclaim second place in Serie A.
Lazio needed to win at the Stadio Olimpico to remain in mathematical contention with five matches to go in their season but more importantly for their own fight to qualify for the Champions League.
Runaway league leaders Napoli are 15 points in front of Lazio ahead of their match at Udinese on Thursday night, when a draw will be enough for Luciano Spalletti’s side to seal the Scudetto with a month of the season remaining.
As such Wednesday’s clash at the Stadio Olimpico was never about the league title but rather gaining an advantage in the crowded scrum for the three places left for a spot in Europe’s top club competition.
And Lazio are six points ahead of fifth-placed Atalanta thanks to Felipe Anderson’s ninth goal of the season, which came in the 14th minute of a tight game after a beautiful chipped pass from Marco Antonio, and a late strike from Toma Basic.
Anderson’s opening strike came five minutes after a bizarre incident in which Ciro Immobile had a goal disallowed for offside, then given following a long VAR check, and then disallowed again seconds later after Immobile was found to be offside earlier in the move.
Lazio’s bid for the top four was helped by AC Milan only drawing 1-1 with Cremonese thanks to Junior’s Messias’ fortunate stoppage-time goal.
Sixth-placed Milan host Lazio on Saturday before then taking on local rivals Inter Milan in the first leg of a blockbuster Champions League semi-final, and Stefano Pioli’s second-string again failed to deliver when called upon.
Cremonese meanwhile are six points behind Spezia and Verona, who sit either side of the relegation zone and suffered respective defeats to Atalanta and Inter.
Simone Inzaghi’s Inter are fourth following their thumping 6-0 win at Verona, which moved them up to fourth ahead of their trip to Roma, who dropped down to seventh following a 1-1 draw at Monza.
Boulaye Dia’s hat-trick was not enough for Salernitana as Fiorentina levelled each one of the Senegal forward’s strikes to claim an exciting 3-3 draw.
Dia, who delayed Napoli’s title party on Sunday, took his league tally for the season to 16 with his treble at the Stadio Arechi.
That’s three more than any Salernitana player has ever scored in Italy’s top-flight, with Marco Di Vaio netting 13 in 1998-99, and it helped Paulo Sousa’s side to both extend their unbeaten run to 10 matches and move eight clear of the drop zone.
Meanwhile Sampdoria slipped closer to Serie B after a 2-0 home defeat to Torino which ended with on-pitch chaos after former Genoa player Pietro Pellegri netted the away side’s second in stoppage time and then goaded the livid home supporters.
Rock-bottom Samp are 11 points from safety with five games to play and have serious financial problems which leave the 1991 Italian champions at risk of bankruptcy.
