It was a weekend which saw AC Milan keep up the pressure on Juventus before the two sides meet next weekend. Florentia San Gimignano came out on top in the Tuscan derby and Roma move into fourth place in Serie A.
Napoli 0-1 Sassuolo
It took the visitors almost an hour to break down the Napoli defense. In the end Erika Santoro’s goal was enough to solidify their hold on third place in the table.
Lineups
Napoli: Tasselli; Oliviero, Huynh, Arnadottir, Fusini (62′ Cafferata); Errico, Huchet, Pedersen (62′ Jansen); Kubassova, Rjisdjik, Hjohlman.
Sassuolo: Lemey; Santoro, Orsi, Filangieri, Lenzini; Mihasihi, Tomaselli (85′ Cambiaghi), Brignoli; Battelani (71′ Pellinghelli); Monterubbiano, Pirone.
Embed from Getty ImagesInjury Problems
Sabrina Tasselli made her first appearance between the posts for Napoli. The home side, with goalkeeper Catalina Pérez out injured, also had to plan without Eva Popadinova and Eleonora Goldoni.
Recent signing Lara Pedersen, also made her Napoli debut. Sassuolo meanwhile, were missing Haley Bugeja and Kamila Dubcová.
First Half
It was Napoli with the first attack thanks to Pia Rijsdijk. After ten minutes, Mana Mihashi had the first chance for the away side and her shot rattled the crossbar.
Veronica Battelani tried a shot from distance which Tasselli did well to tip away for a corner. The debutante keeper made another good save from a Valeria Pirone header.
Second Half
After the break, Rijsdijk had another chance for Napoli but her shot didn’t have the power to beat Diede Lemey. It was Sassuolo who finally broke the deadlock 13 minutes into the second-half.
From a corner kick, Tasselli made another great save from a Pirone header, but Erika Santoro was there to tap in the rebound. This was her first Serie A goal of the season.
Vlada Kubbasova had Napoli’s best chance to equalise, but her long-range effort came off the post.
Napoli fail to gain any valuable points in their fight against relegation, while Sassuolo look to have almost secured a third place finish.
Pink Bari 1-6 AC Milan
As predicted, this game saw plenty of early goals from the visitors. Milan were 4-0 up after just 30 minutes into the action.
Lineups
Pink Bari: Mylloyoya; Marrone, Lea, Soro (69′ Quazzico); Marthe, Strisciuglio (69′ Ketis), Cramer (90′ Matouškova), Silvioni, Ceci (46′ Capitanelli); Helmvall, Sule (29′ Novellino)
AC Milan: Korenčiova (46′ Piazza); Fusetti, Agard, Spinelli (69′ Vitale); Bergamaschi (59′ Kuliš), Grimshaw (59′ Čonč), Rask, Hasegawa (66′ Tamborini), Rizza; Giacinti, Dowie.
Grimshaw Provider
It took just six minutes for Milan to open the scoring. Natasha Dowie played a perfect ball into Valentina Bergamaschi who kept her composure and shot home her first goal of the season.
Ten minutes later and Yui Hasegawa, making her Serie A debut, had her first chance but her shot was just too high. Valentina Giacinti had gone off injured towards the end of Italy’s win over Israel midweek but she certainly looked to have made a full recovery.
After 21 minutes, Christy Grimshaw’s first touch was perfect as she played the ball into the danger area. Giacinti with her back to goal controlled it on her chest before a beautful turn and finish. This was the striker’s 11th league goal so far this season.
Embed from Getty ImagesTwo minutes later and Grimshaw was again the provider. First she played a lovely one-two with Giacinti before her pinpoint pass into the area was struck home by Dowie.
Just after the half hour mark, Hasegawa marked her debut with a goal. Her free-kick just outside the box was struck with venom. It went through the wall and snuck in at the near post.
Hasegawa Again
At half-time, Milan decided to give goalkeeper Alessia Piazza her first Serie A appearance of the season.
Just before the hour mark Milan also replaced Grimshaw and Bergamaschi. One minute later and one of those replacements – Lidija Kuliš – played the ball across the Bari area which Hasegawa stroked home for her second of the game.
Bari did manage to get a consolation goal with 15 minutes remaining. From a corner, Emelie Helmvall was quickest to react and the scoreline was 5-1.
Milan weren’t quite finished, and Giacinti, after her brace in midweek for the national side, grabbed her second goal of this game. With two minutes left to play, Caroline Rask played a long ball into the box. Giacinti timed her run and first time shot to perfection, finishing off an emphatic win for the away side.
As Bari stay rooted to the bottom of the table, Milan on the other hand will go into next weekend’s big game full of confidence.
Florentia San Gimignano 2-0 Fiorentina
A famous victory for the home side, as they claimed their first win over their neighbours in Saturday’s Tuscan derby.
Lineups
Florentia San Gimignano: Friedli; Ceci, Nilsson, Dongus, Rodella, Bolgioni (Bursi 75′); Cantore, Wagner (Dahlberg 75′), Re, Lotti (46′ Bardin) (Imprezzabile 86′); Martinovic.
Fiorentina: Schroffenegger; Thøgersen ( 82′ Cordia), Quinn, Tortelli (65′ Neto), Zanoli; Vigilucci, Adami , Middag( 81′ Mani); Clelland (56′ Monnecchi), Sabatino, Baldi.
First Half
Lana Clelland got a rare start this season and had one of the few real chances of the first half. Her shot was caught by the safe hands of Seraina Friedli, who also held onto an edge of the area strike from Tessel Middag.
It was the away side who did most of the attacking in the opening half, but the Viola never really looked like breaking the deadlock. A couple of long range efforts from Valery Vigilucci and Greta Adami and a Louise Quinn header from a corner didn’t trouble the home side too much.
Second Half
Eight minutes after the break, Florentia took the lead. Sofia Cantore had already put the ball in the net, but from an offside position. When Sara Nilsson’s long ball found her all alone just outside the Fiorentina box, the Viola defense were calling for another offside, but Cantore controlled the ball well with her first touch before shooting past Schroffenegger.
Fiorentina then lost Lana Clelland shortly after. The Scottish striker had fallen awkwardly in a challenge and hurt her shoulder. After trying to play on she eventually needed to be replaced by Margherita Monnecchi.
Antonio Cincotta then sent on Cláudia Neto to try and get Fiorentina back into this game. It was to be the home side however who would double their lead with sixteen minutes left on the clock.
Bianca Bardin had entered the fray for the second-half and it was her cross which Cantore let go for Cecilia Re to strike home for her first league goal of the season.
Looking Ahead
Fiorentina never really looked like getting back into this one. Maybe their minds were on the upcoming Champions League trip. They will definitely need to do a lot better than this performance if they are to cause Manchester City any problems.
This win takes Florentia to within just a point of Fiorentina and also saw them go ahead of another Tuscan team, Empoli, in the table.
Inter Milan 1-0 Hellas Verona
After four consecutive league defeats, Inter get back to winning ways.
Lineups
Inter: Marchitelli; Brustia, Debever, Alborghetti, Merlo; Pandini, Catelli, Rincón; Marinelli, Tarenzi (65′ Møller 27), Mauro.
Hellas: Durante, Ledri (88′ Oliva), Solow, Meneghini (89′ Motta), Sardu, Colombo (75′ Susanna), Mella, Jelencic, Marchiori (59′ Bragonzi), Santi (88′ Zoppi), Ambrosi.
First Half
It was Inter who almost scored with less than two minutes gone. A free-kick floated into the box by Yoreli Rincón was met by the head of Julie Debever but Francesca Durante just about managed to keep it out.
Beatrice Merlo’s long range effort five minutes later was just wide, the home side on the attack again. Just before the break and it was Hellas who almost took the lead. Irene Santi’s shot from outside the box was well saved by Chiara Marchitelli.
Second Half
In the second half, Durante did well to save a header from Ilaria Mauro. With 15 minutes left to play, it was Mauro who eventually gave Inter the opening goal.
Gloria Marchitelli’s cross made it all the way to the back post and Mauro managed to get enough of a touch on the ball to force it over the line.
Verona pushed for an equaliser and Marchitelli did well under pressure to punch away a free-kick into the area. The referee did blow the whistle for a foul on the keeper anyway.
Both sides had a couple of chances before the end, but Inter hung on to claim all three points.
Roma 2-0 Empoli
With a goal in each half, Roma move up to fourth place in the Serie A league table.
Lineups
Roma: Ceasar; Bartoli, Linari, Swaby, Soffia, Bernauer, Giugliano, Serturini (88′ Banušić), Alves (77′ Ciccotti), Thomas, Lázaro (64′ Bonfantini)
Empoli: Capelletti; De Rita (82′ Acuti), Giatras, Brscic, Di Guglielmo; Prugna ( 83′ Caloia), Bellucci (82′ Morreale), Cinotti; Dompig (90′ Miotta), Polli, Glionna.
First Half
Roma were first on the attack here. After six minutes Manuela Giugliano tried a long range shot that wasn’t too far wide of the post. Mid-way through the opening half and a Lindsey Thomas ball across the area was met by Annamaria Serturini, but Alessia Capelletti in the Empoli goal was down quick to save.
With just over three minutes to the break, the home side finally found the net. Again it was Thomas with the cross from the right and Paloma Lázaro was there to head it home.
Second Half
Ten minutes after the break and Empoli went close. Benedetta Glionna shot from well outisde the area and Ceasar managed to save it at the second attempt.
Serturini almost doubled Roma’s lead, when what looked like a cross from the left hit the far post but ended up in the keeper’s arms. Empoli had a great chance to equalise with 17 minutes left, Norma Cinotti’s shot from close range was well saved by Ceasar.
Embed from Getty ImagesSix minutes later and a Roma counter-attack killed off Empoli’s hopes. Manuela Giugliano found herself all alone and was able to take the ball into the area before shooting past Capelletti.
Roma’s excellent recent form continues then, and they now go ahead of Fiorentina into fourth place.
San Marino 1-3 Juventus
The league leaders do enough to keep their three point lead at the top.
Lineups
San Marino: Ciccioli; De Sanctis, Kunisawa, Montalti, Micciarelli, Rigaglia, Chandarana (71′ Corazzi), Muya, Menin, Vecchione (60′ Landa), Barbieri (92′ Rossi)
Juventus: Bačić; Boattin, Sembrant, Salvai, Lundorf, Rosucci, Pedersen (57′ Cernoia), Caruso, Hurtig (71′ Alves), Girelli (92′ Berti), Bonansea (71′ Stašková)
First Half
It took the away side less than fifteen minutes to open the scoring here, but it did take an own goal to do so. A Matilde Lundorf cross was knocked into her own net by the unfortunate Giulia Montalti.
San Marino created a chance to equalize after half an hour. Yessica Menin found herself one on one with the keeper but put her shot just wide. This allowed Juventus to go in at the break still with that slender lead. Although Cecilia Salvia did have a header just over shortly before the end of the first-half.
Second Half
Two minutes after the break and Barbara Bonansea had an attempt just turned around the post. Gloria Ciccioli in the San Marino goal had to make another couple of saves, from both Lina Hurtig and Bonansea again.
In the 66th minute, the league leaders did manage to double their lead. A corner-kick from Valentina Cernoia and Hurtig rose highest to head home her fifth league goal of the season.
With 12 minutes still to play, San Marino re-opened the game. Serena Landa’s left-foot strike from outside the area was enough to beat Doris Bačić.
It wasn’t until the 89th minute that Juventus secured the win. From a Maria Alves cross it was the Serie A top scorer, Cristiana Girelli, who headed past Ciccioli.
Serie A League Table
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Points | |
| Juventus | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 7 | 36 | 42 |
| AC Milan | 14 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 7 | 28 | 39 |
| Sassuolo | 14 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 28 | 15 | 13 | 31 |
| Roma | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 24 | 16 | 8 | 25 |
| Fiorentina | 14 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 26 | 21 | 5 | 23 |
| Florentia San Gimignano | 14 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 22 |
| Empoli | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 28 | 21 | 7 | 20 |
| Inter Milan | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 17 | 23 | -6 | 17 |
| Hellas Verona | 14 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 23 | -15 | 10 |
| San Marino | 14 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 11 | 39 | -28 | 8 |
| Napoli | 14 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 9 | 26 | -17 | 4 |
| Pink Bari | 14 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 7 | 38 | -31 | 3 |
Top Scorers
- Cristiana Girelli (Juventus) – 16
- Valentina Giacinti (Milan) – 12
- Daniela Sabatino (Fiorentina) – 11
- Natasha Dowie (Milan) – 9
- Paloma Lázaro (Roma) – 8
- Valeria Pirone (Sassuolo) – 8
- Kamila Dubcová (Sassuolo) – 8
