Miserable runs continue for Juventus, injury-hit Milan in draw in Serie A

MILAN (AP) — AC Milan and Juventus prolonged mediocre runs as they played out a 0-0 draw in Serie A on Saturday.

The result in Turin could leave the Bianconeri nervously looking over their shoulders at the end of the weekend. Juventus remained third but 11 points above seventh-placed Atalanta, which has two games in hand.

Injury-hit Milan was five points above Juventus.

The top five in Serie A qualify for next season’s Champions League. Lazio moved into sixth and within three points of fifth-placed Roma — which plays Napoli on Sunday — with a 1-0 win over relegation-threatened Hellas Verona.

Juventus, coming off draws against Torino and Cagliari, has won just two of its past 13 Serie A matches.

Milan has lost three of its past five in all competitions and endured the humiliation of losing to Inter Milan on Monday and confirming the Nerazzurri as Serie A champions.

Théo Hernandez and Davide Calabria were both sent off in that match so they were suspended along with fellow Milan defender Fikayo Tomori. Goalkeeper Mike Maignan pulled out in the warmup, adding to the Rossoneri’s injury problems.

Behind the decimated defense, stand-in Marco Sportiello was definitely the busier of the goalkeepers and did well to fingertip Dušan Vlahović’s free kick round his left post on the stroke of halftime.

Sportiello did even better after the restart with a fantastic double save to parry, first, a Filip Kostić attempt and prevent Danilo from tapping in the rebound.

Sportiello also kept out Weston McKennie’s header minutes from the end and Milan defender Malick Thiaw cleared Adrien Rabiot’s follow-up off the line.

EX'S GOAL

Lazio and former Verona midfielder Mattia Zaccagni again scored against his old club, just as he did in their first matchup this season.

Zaccagni started and finished the move in the 72nd minute. He won the ball on the halfway line and raced forward and rolled across to Luis Alberto, who threaded the ball back for him to fire in at the near post.

Lazio winger Pedro, who was guilty earlier of a glaring miss, hit the post with a late free kick.

Verona remained three points above the drop zone.

STOPPAGE-TIME DRAMA

Lecce took another small step towards safety after drawing at home to Monza 1-1 with both goals in stoppage time.

Nikola Krstović thought he secured for Lecce a third straight win when he scored in the second minute of stoppage time. But Matteo Pessina levelled from the spot after Lecce defender Lorenzo Venuti handled the ball.

Lecce moved eight points above the drop zone.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer