Juve victory shrouded in more controversy

MILAN, Italy (AFP) –

Juventus’s midfielder Arturo Vidal of Chile celebrates after scoring during the Italian Serie A football match at Massimino Stadium in Catania. Champions Juventus reinforced their lead at the top of Serie A with a controversial 1-0 win away to struggling Catania, who had a legitimate goal disallowed and finished the match with ten men.

Controversy with more betting implications returned to Italy’s top flight Sunday as Juventus extended their lead and nine-man Lazio dropped to fourth after a bad-tempered away defeat to Fiorentina.

Arturo Vidal’s 57th-minute winner against Catania helped Juve extend their lead at the top of Serie A and took their unbeaten streak to 48 matches.

Juventus now have a three-point lead on second-placed Napoli who came through a tough encounter at home to Chievo before prevailing thanks to Marek Hamsik’s 59th-minute winner.

However, the Turin giants’ eighth win in nine games came amid huge controversy.

Argentine striker Ruben Bergessio had tapped a rebound from Nicolas Spolli’s glancing header past Gianluigi Buffon in the Juve goal to give Catania a 27th minute lead and send the Sicilian fans wild.

Buffon, celebrating his 500th Serie A appearance, looked to have been fairly beaten but Catania’s celebrations were cut short when the referee disallowed the opener after consulting with his assistant who said Bergessio was offside.

Club president Antonino Pulvirenti was sent from a furious Catania bench and later complained: “For me, that’s the end of football. Bergessio’s goal was cancelled by the Juve bench.

“The referee and the linesman gave the goal, but after protests from the Juve bench they went back on their decision.”

As well as Catania, the victory — by a side which has twice been stripped of league titles (2005, 2006) for their role in a match-fixing scandal — did not go down well elsewhere.

Despite the Sicilians’ defeat, Irish bookmaker Paddy Power announced it had paid out to punters who backed them to win.

It activated the “Justice Payout” system in Italy for the first time, and explained in a statement: “Sometimes the result is so unfair that it’s simply a fair reimbursement.”

Inter Milan‘s Argentine forward Diego Milito (C) celebrates scoring during the Italian Serie A football match Bologna vs Inter at Bologna’s Dall’Ara stadium. Inter won 3-1.

Juventus president Beppe Moratta brushed off claims suggesting foul play.

“These accusations don’t even deserve a response,” he said. “The referee was wrong but we would have won on points.”

As Inter Milan maintained their recent resurgence with a 3-1 win away to Bologna which moved them up to third, a fiery, 2-0 defeat to Fiorentina dropped Lazio to fourth.

Serbian striker Adem Ljajic gave La Viola the lead in spectacular fashion when he dribbled past Lazio’s Alvaro Gonzalez to rocket the ball into the top corner in first half injury time.

Lazio levelled thanks to Stefano Mauri’s diving header in the 59th minute but he was flagged offside despite Juan Cuadrado appearing to play him onside.

The visitors began to dominate but ultimately failed to level and when Luca Toni came on for the hosts the tide turned.

Toni spurned two quick chances and then Lazio’s composure evaporated when Cristian Ledesma gave away a pointless foul which earned him a second yellow card and a sending off.

Lazio were then reduced to nine men when Brazilian midfielder Hernanes was shown a straight red for a nasty foul on Cuadrado.

Napoli’s midfielder Marek Hamsik controls the ball during the Italian Serie A football match SSC Napoli vs Chievo at San Paolo Stadium in Naples. Napoli won 1-0.

Toni’s persistence finally paid off in the dying seconds when he used his physique to hold off the defence, turn and smash the ball into the net to seal Fiorentina’s win.

Lazio coach Vladmir Petkovic praised Fiorentina but felt aggrieved by the referee’s decision not to award Mauri’s goal.

“The goal was clearly not offside,” he told Sky Italia.

“I also failed to understand some of the cautions we had, but overall we should have done better.”

Napoli briefly lost touch with the top after a 2-0 defeat at Juventus last week but Hamsik’s strike was enough to secure the points.

In Sunday’s other late match Roma were stunned 3-2 by Udinese. The Giallorossi had built a 2-0 lead thanks to a brace from Erik Lamela in the space of two first-half minutes.

However Zdenek Zeman’s side were pegged back by Maurizio Domizzi’s 32nd minute goal and then stunned by a double, including an 88th minute penalty, from Antonio Di Natale.