Sports

Roma denied by VARs; Benevento wins at last

AS Roma's goalkeeper from Brazil Allison (R) controls the ball over Sassuolo's defender from Italy Francesco Acerbi during their Italian Serie A football match at the Olympic Stadium in Rome Saturday. — AFP

MILAN — AS Roma was twice denied a goal by video replays (VAR) in a 1-1 draw at home to Sassuolo in Serie A Saturday, while Benevento finally won its first top-flight match, beating Chievo 1-0. Gennaro Gattuso's AC Milan avoided a third successive league defeat as it battled to a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina. Fourth-placed Roma went ahead after 31 minutes when Lorenzo Pellegrini turned in Edin Dzeko's pass from 12 meters to score against his former club. Dzeko thought he had added Roma's second goal when he rifled a shot past Andrea Consigli only to see the goal chalked off for a marginal offside decision after the referee consulted the VAR. Simone Missiroli headed Sassuolo level in the 78th minute before Alessandro Florenzi, making his 200th appearance for Roma, had a goal disallowed for offside against Cengiz Under, a decision also made with the use of VAR. Benevento, who had taken one point from their first 18 games in its debut Serie A season, broke its duck when Massimo Coda scored with an improvised flick from a corner in the 64th minute. Giovanni Simeone headed Fiorentina in front against AC Milan after 71 minutes but Hakan Calhanolgu levelled three minutes later to earn the visitors a point — the first time this season Milan has avoided defeat in a league game after falling behind. Udinese overcame an own goal against Bologna to clock up their fifth successive win since Massimo Oddo took over as coach. Danilo contrived to flick a harmless-looking cross into his own net but Silvan Widmer headed Udinese level before halftime and Kevin Lasagna scored for the fifth game in a row early in the second half Fabio Quagliarella scored two late goals to give Sampdoria a 2-0 win over SPAL and Cagliari pulled off a shock 2-1 win at Atalanta. Napoli leads the table with 48 points after its 1-0 win at Crotone Friday, while second-placed Juventus, four points behind, visits Verona in the late Saturday game. — Reuters