First Half Report: AS Roma 0-2 Juventus… Cristiano Ronaldo, Demiral hand Juve first-half lead

Goals by Ronaldo and Meril Demiral separate Juventus from AS Roma at the break at the Olimpico, with Demiral and Nicolò Zaniolo were stretchered off.

It took under three minutes to break the deadlock, as Paulo Dybala floated a free kick to the back post, where Demiral got away from Aleksandar Kolarov to volley in almost with his shin.

Roma were caught napping again, this time with Jordan Veretout on a back-pass, as Dybala snuck up behind him to steal the ball and was hauled down. Cristiano Ronaldo sent Pau Lopez the wrong way to convert the penalty and double Juve’s lead.

The Giallorossi nearly got back into it, as Wojciech Szczesny flapped at an Alessandro Florenzi cross and Lorenzo Pellegrini’s rebound was cleared practically off the line by Adrien Rabiot’s torso.

Goal-scorer Demiral landed heavily on his knee after a huge leap on a free kick and had to limp off, replaced by Matthijs de Ligt.

Nicolò Zaniolo’s shot was charged down after a ruleta, then he was brought down by De Ligt on the edge of the box following a marvellous slalom through defenders. He must’ve fallen awkwardly, as Zaniolo was in tears and had to be stretchered off, making way for Cengiz Under.

Diego Perotti pounced on a poor Miralem Pjanic pass and was brought down by Juan Cuadrado right on the edge of the box, but Kolarov’s free kick was deflected over. Instead, Ronaldo threatened to make it 3-0 on a Rabiot through ball, his angled drive well parried by Pau Lopez.

Photo Credit: Twitter @ASRomaEN

Manchester United set to hijack Chelsea move for prime target as Solskjaer steps up chase

There are reports that Manchester United are set to beat Chelsea to Moussa Dembele after the Red Devils sent scouts to watch the Lyon striker in action against Bordeaux.

Both the Red Devils and Chelsea are understood to be keen on the 23-year-old, with the two clubs sending scouts to watch him against Brest on Wednesday night.

The ex-Celtic star managed to net in that match, and in front of the United staff yesterday he was once again on target.

According to journalist Ignazio Genuardi via Get French Football News, a representative of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side was in attendance at the Matmut Atlantique.

And they would have been impressed after Dembele netted a superb winner in the second half to lift Lyon up to sixth spot in Ligue 1.

GFFN also state that United are in regular contact with the £40million-rated player as they look to bring him to Old Trafford this month

Former Chelsea star undergoes AC Milan medical

Former Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic is having his Milan medical this morning, arriving on loan from Bournemouth.

With this move, the Bosnia and Herzegovina international is taking Pepe Reina’s place in the Serie A club.

Begovic had just completed his loan spell at Qarabag and is now joining the Rossoneri on a six-month loan from Bournemouth.

The 32-year-old is under contract with the Cherries until June 2021 and spent practically his entire career in England.

Reina is now free to join Aston Villa on a six-month loan, where he fills in for injured Tom Heaton.

Spain international Reina confirmed the news on his Instagram Stories last night, with the message: ‘See you in six months.’

Begovic will be the understudy to Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Frank Lampard reveals why he dropped N’Golo Kante from Chelsea win over Burnley

Chelsea boss has revealed the reason N’Golo Kante missed the Blues’ win over Burnley at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Ross Barkley stepped in for the World Cup winner in a three-man midfield in the match.

Jorginho shot Chelsea to the lead 27 minutes, converting a penalty after Matthew Lowton had fouled Willian.

Frank Lampard’s side doubled their lead on 38 minutes, as Tammy Abraham headed in a cross from Reece James for his 13th Premier League goal of the season.

Hudson-Odoi added his name to the scoresheet four minutes after the restart, converting Cesar Azpilicueta’s cross.

But Kante was visibly missing in the game, with Lampard saying he did not want to risk the 28-year-old.

The France international failed to make the bench after alerting Lampard to a hamstring problem after training on Friday.

“He’s reported some feeling in his hamstring yesterday after training,’ Lampard told Sky Sports.

“We have him overnight to see how it was, it wasn’t good enough this morning so not good enough to play.

“Though these things always give an opportunity you don’t want them because we’re missing good players.

“N’Golo… everyone knows how important he is for us.

“But not worth the risk in any way but opens the door for Ross Barkley at this point to come in and play.”

Paris Saint-Germain, Nice close in on Chelsea starlet Tariq Lamptey, set to sign him for free

There are reports Tariq Lamptey could be on his way out of Stamford Bridge with Paris Saint-Germain and Nice eyeing up the impressive academy graduate.

The Sun report that the 19-year-old is only under contract with the Blues until the summer, meaning that he is free to talk to clubs from mainland Europe.

And should he decide to leave at the end of the current campaign, Chelsea will only be due a small development fee.

According to RMC Sport, talks are well underway between the two French clubs and Lamptey, despite the full-back being given a chance in Chelsea’s first team of late.

Manager Frank Lampard handed the England youth international a senior professional debut from the bench at the Emirates in December.

And Lamptey impressed that day in the final half hour, as the Blues turned the match around to win 2-1 after having been trailing when the youngster was introduced for fellow academy star Fikayo Tomori.

Despite having predominantly played for Chelsea’s Under-23 side in the PL2 this season, Lamptey has remained around the first team squad since making his senior debut at Arsenal.

After being an unused substitute for the 1-1 draw at Brighton, he was brought on for the final 14 minutes of Chelsea’s 2-0 FA Cup victory over Nottingham Forest last weekend.

Lamptey has also been a regular in the Blues’ Uefa Youth League side this season, particularly impressing on matchday one with two assists against Valencia.

Currently in the right-back’s way are club captain Cesar Azpilicueta and fellow academy graduate Reece James.

Photo Credit: Twitter @chelseafc.com

Atalanta ruin Antonio Conte’s march to victory (Match Report)

Inter opened the scoring early with Lautaro Martinez, but Atalanta dominated possession in a 1-1 draw and saw Samir Handanovic save a late Luis Muriel penalty.

After just 20 seconds, Romelu Lukaku twisted and turned in a crowd of players, his shot thumping the base of the upright.

That was only a warning, because on three-and-a-half minutes, Lautaro Martinez completed a quick give and go with Romelu Lukaku, taking it down to drill past Pierluigi Gollini from 10 yards.

Atalanta fought back, Mario Pasalic firing over after a diving Josip Ilicic back-heel flick, then Lautaro back defending to stop Duvan Zapata from getting his shot away.

The visitors started to dominate possession, but Inter remained dangerous and Lautaro Martinez almost made it 2-0 on 22 minutes. His lob over the goalkeeper from the tightest of angles was cleared off the line by Jose Luis Palomino.

Gomez’s angled drive flashed wide, then Samir Handanovic needed a double save on Rafael Toloi’s header from a free kick and the chaotic rebound bobbled wide from a yard out. Toloi insisted he’d been fouled by Lautaro Martinez, but the VAR booth waved play on, suggesting it was an accidental collision. Replays leave more than a few question marks, because Lautaro seemed to loop his arm forward to catch Toloi’s ankle and trip him up. If it had been spotted, that would’ve been not just a penalty, but potentially also a red card.

Duvan Zapata was rusty after such a long time out, so he was replaced by Ruslan Malinovskyi, who within two minutes hit a rocket that bounced off the upright.

Atalanta continued to dominate possession and were pinning Inter further back, Robin Gosens volleying over and Malinovskyi again off target from distance.

The equaliser had absolutely been coming and Inter’s siege mentality eventually crumbled on 76 minutes. Ilicic’s cross was deflected, Malinovskyi knocked it on with his head and Robin Gosens acrobatically managed to stretch around Candreva to volley in from a tricky angle.

The momentum remained with the visitors, as Luis Muriel’s weak header didn’t make the most of a Hans Hateboer cross, then Godin was booked for bringing down Gomez just outside the box. Papu’s fantastic volley smacked the crossbar, although the offside flag was already up on the cross.

Marcelo Brozovic juggled the ball over a defender and hit the half-volley to sting Gollini’s gloves.

The pressure finally paid off for Atalanta when Alessandro Bastoni bumped into the back of Malinovskyi and the referee gave a rather soft penalty. Muriel stepped up, but captain Handanovic confirmed his excellent spot-kick record with a save at the near post.

Both teams wanted to win in stoppages, Borja Valero firing wide and Atalanta again swarming around the box with a series of passes.

Ibrahimovic makes difference for AC Milan (Match Report)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic made the difference for Milan, as he scored along with Rafael Leao and had another disallowed, inflicting a fourth consecutive defeat on Cagliari.

Cagliari debuted their new Centenary jersey, as the club will mark the 100th anniversary of its foundation in May 2020.

It was a very aggressive start from the hosts, but Milan forced the first save on 17 minutes when Theo Hernandez’s angled drive was beaten away by Robin Olsen’s legs.

Alessio Romagnoli and Gianluigi Donnarumma were fortunate that no Cagliari players were ready to take advantage when they collided to reach a Luca Pellegrini cross.

Ibrahimovic almost scored with a floated header from the tightest of angles at the back post, somehow denied by Olsen’s reaction fingertip save. On the resulting corner, Rafael Leao just failed to turn in at the far stick.

There was a big scare for Donnarumma on 37 minutes when he had to back-track rapidly to claw a Nahitan Nandez lob off the line.

Milan had been without a goal for 360 minutes of football, but broke through within seconds of the restart. Samu Castillejo took a free kick quickly, Rafael Leao took one touch to control, then his shot had a massive deflection off Fabio Pisacane to loop over helpless Olsen.

The hosts tried to fight back, Giovanni Simeone’s overhead kick and a Paolo Faragò chest and volley off target, but Milan doubled their lead with Ibrahimovic.

Theo Hernandez pulled back from the left, where Zlatan hit it first time around the back of a defender’s ankle to send a bobbling angled drive into the far bottom corner. This was his 57th goal in 87 appearances for Milan, his first since a brace against Inter on May 6, 2012.

Ibra had the ball in the net again on 82 minutes with a stooping header into the far bottom corner, but he had wandered marginally offside.

Photo Credit: Twitter