Italy roundup: Sassuolo’s stunning escape complete, Juve tips Roma

The relegation picture is crystal clear in Serie A after some season-long strugglers pulled off major Sunday wins to clinch safety in Italy’s top flight.

Catania couldn’t celebrate its 2-1 road win in a relegation six-pointer against Bologna, as the three points they gained kept them in the final relegation slot. Wins in successive weeks could not save the Sicilian club, who is now four points back of No. 17 Chievo.

That’s because Chievo Verona and Sassuolo saved their seasons with big wins. In the case of the latter club, it punctuated a stunning turnaround that will see them in 16th after being mired in the drop zone for most of the season.

Dario Dainelli headed a corner kick home in the 72nd minute, and his goal stood as Chievo Verona secured safety with a 1-0 win at Cagliari.

Sealing the bottom three’s fates was Antonio Floro Flores. The 30-year-old’s brace -- on 8 shots -- started and finished Sassuolo‘s scoring a 4-2 win over visiting Genoa.

This sends Bologna and Catania down, with Livorno also headed to Serie B after a 1-0 loss to visiting Fiorentina.
Elsewhere

• Inter Milan 4-1 Lazio – Rodrigo Palacio scores twice as Inter overcome conceding in second minute to crush visitors.
• Verona 2-2 Udinese — Legends Luca Toni and Antonio Di Natale part of the points share with goals.
• Atalanta 2-1 AC Milan — Europe seems a distant hope for AC Milan after a Franco Brienza marker in the sixth minute of stoppage time gives the home team all three points.
• Sampdoria 2-5 Napoli -- Four different players score for Napoli, which also gets a Sampdoria own goal to pile on the hosts.
• Torino 1-1 Parma – Ciro Immobile scored again for Torino, ensuring the final Europa League spot won’t be settled until the last day of the season.
• Roma 0-1 Juventus — Southampton outcast Dani Osvaldo’s first Juve goal holds up as winner.

STANDINGS

Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Home	Away	PTS
Juventus	37	32	3	2	77	23	54	18-0-0	14-3-2	99
Roma	37	26	7	4	72	24	48	15-3-1	11-4-3	85
Napoli	37	22	9	6	72	38	34	12-4-2	10-5-4	75
Fiorentina	37	19	7	11	63	42	21	9-3-6	10-4-5	64
Inter Milan	37	15	15	7	61	37	24	8-9-2	7-6-5	60
Torino	37	15	11	11	56	46	10	9-6-4	6-5-7	56
Parma	37	14	13	10	56	46	10	8-7-3	6-6-7	55
AC Milan	37	15	9	13	55	48	7	10-4-4	5-5-9	54
Verona	37	16	6	15	61	63	-2	10-3-6	6-3-9	54
Lazio	37	14	11	12	53	54	-1	9-6-3	5-5-9	53
Atalanta	37	15	5	17	42	49	-7	11-3-5	4-2-12	50
Sampdoria	37	12	8	17	45	59	-14	7-5-7	5-3-10	44
Udinese	37	12	7	18	43	54	-11	9-3-6	3-4-12	43
Genoa	37	10	11	16	40	50	-10	7-5-6	3-6-10	41
Cagliari	37	9	12	16	34	50	-16	8-4-7	1-8-9	39
Sassuolo	37	9	7	21	42	70	-28	5-2-12	4-5-9	34
Chievo	37	9	6	22	32	53	-21	5-2-11	4-4-11	33
Catania	37	7	8	22	32	65	-33	6-6-6	1-2-16	29
Bologna	37	5	14	18	28	57	-29	3-8-8	2-6-10	29
Livorno	37	6	7	24	39	75	-36	4-5-10	2-2-14	25

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