Serie A wrap: Juve return to summit, Inter revival continues

Juventus returned to the top of the Serie A with a comfortable 2-0 win over strugglers Novara at Juventus Stadium on Sunday.

Simone Pepe gave the Turin club breathing space four minutes in before Fabio Quagliarella wrapped up the scoring in the second half with a fine header from Andrea Pirlo’s corner.

Juventus can now look forward to a mouth-watering clash with Udinese on Wednesday, with both sides locked on 33 points if the latter can win away at Lazio.

Meanwhile, Andrea Ranoccia’s 63rd-minute header secured Inter Milan their third straight win in Serie A, this time a 1-0 result against a miserly Cesena at Stadio Dino Manuzzi.

Ranoccia converted Maicon’s cross after the home side had gone close firstly through Eder and later Luca Ceccarelli.

Inter striker Giampaolo Pazzini spurned three efforts wide before Ranoccia spared manager Claudio Ranieri’s blushes with the winner.

Lucas Pratto made up for Genoa’s frustrating loss to Inter in midweek with the winner in a 2-1 victory against Bologna.

Pratto scored his first goal in Serie A five minutes from time, latching on to Andrea Caracciolo’s pass to fire low into the bottom corner.

Marco Rossi had put the home side in front moments before the break, but saw his goal cancelled out by Gaston Ramirez’s leveller 10 minutes after the interval.

Parma clawed their way back for a thrilling 3-3 draw with two late goals against Lecce.

Daniele Gallopa’s goal four minutes into extra time broke Lecce hearts after Graziano Pelle had pulled it back to 3-2 for the home side in the 86th minute.

Earlier, Sergio Floccari gave Parma a first-half lead with a penalty only to see Lecce go 3-1 up through a David di Michele double and a Juan Cuadrado strike.

Catania eased past Palermo 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Francesco Lodi and Maxi Lopez to end a four-game winless drought.

More to follow