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Juve win, dethrone AC Milan atop Serie A
Apr 7, 2012, 19:22 GMT
Rome - Juventus moved to the top of the Serie A Saturday with a 2-0 win at Palermo after AC Milan crashed 2-1 at home to strugglers Fiorentina.
A second-half header by defender Leonardo Bonucci and a drive from Fabio Quagliarella helped the unbeaten Bianconeri take a one-point lead over Milan with seven games left.
In Milan, striker Amauri, who left Juve on bad terms in January, came on to score a late winner for Fiorentina, after Zlatan Ibrahimovic converted a penalty for the Devils' lead and Stevan Jovetic levelled with a great drive.
'After Milan's defeat we knew we had to win to keep chasing them,' Bonucci said. 'Luckily, Amauri managed to score his first (goal this season), and now we are here in first place.
'It was important to win, and now everything is up to us. I did not expect this at start of the season, but now we must make the dream come true and do it with all our strength.'
In Palermo, a recurrent sterility upfront plagued Juve in a first half that saw glaring botches from strikers Quagliarella and Mirko Vucinic.
Martin Caceres flicked wide as he confronted custodian Emiliano Viviano, while Andrea Pirlo had two drives saved and fired high before similar mistakes by Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio.
Pirlo centred a taut corner kick on 56 minutes to see the tall Bonucci jump by the first post to nod the ball by the far one.
Captain Fabrizio Miccoli produced a dangerous break for the Sicily team before Quagliarella on 69 minutes drilled a low shot to Viviano's right.
Lazio stayed third by beating Napoli 3-1 in a late game to occupy the last available Champions League berth.
In earlier action, Kwadwo Asamoah scored a brace as Udinese beat Parma 3-1.
Lecce beat Roma 4-2 with braces from David Di Natale and Luis Muriel, Inter Milan drew 2-2 at 10-man Cagliari, Chievo won 3-2 against 10-man Catania, Siena won 2-1 at Atalanta, Cesena and Bologna drew 0-0, and Novara drew 1-1 with Genoa.
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