MILAN: Juventus needed a second-half goal by striker Moise Kean to seal a 1-0 home win over Hellas Verona on Saturday and stay in the hunt for a top-six finish and a place in Europe while Inter Milan slumped to a 1-0 home defeat by Fiorentina as Giacomo Bonaventura’s second-half goal dealt a blow to their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League from Serie A.

Juventus notched a seventh win in eight league matches by beating Verona to keep their Champions League bid alive despite a 15-point deduction.Victory left Massimiliano Allegri’s side in seventh place with 44 points, three behind sixth-placed AS Roma while Verona are in 18th place and five points adrift of the safety zone.

Verona went agonisingly close to a goal after 15 minutes when Kevin Lasagna ran to the byline and floated in a cross for Fabio Depaoli, whose volley went narrowly wide.

Kean put Juve ahead 10 minutes into the second half, controlling a through ball from Manuel Locatelli inside the box and slamming it into the bottom corner.

The visitors tried to create pressure but struggled to break through Juve’s tight defence and eventually ran out of steam.

Meanwhile, Inter should have forged ahe­ad five minutes after the restart, but Lukaku somehow failed to get proper contact on Alessandro Bastoni’s low cross while standing three yards out from an open net.

He was made to pay less than three minutes later, as Bonaventura nodded in from close range after Inter goalkeeper Andre Onana had saved Arthur Cabral’s initial header.

Inter never seriously threatened an equaliser as Fiorentina extended their winning streak in the top flight to five games, moving within seven points of the European places. Simone Inzaghi’s Inter remain in third place.

Elsewhere, Atalanta moved level on points with fourth-placed AC Milan thanks to a comfortable 3-1 win at bottom club Cremonese.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s team made it back-to-back victories either side of the international break to leapfrog Roma into fifth, behind Milan on head-to-head record.

Dutch midfielder Marten de Roon gave Atalanta the lead just before half-time, although they were pegged back by Daniel Ciofani’s penalty.

But Jeremie Boga put the visitors back in front with 17 minutes remaining before Ademola Lookman wrapped up the three points in injury time.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2023