Top-eight Torino too good for Verona as Serie A relegation fears remain

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Top-eight Torino too good for Verona as Serie A relegation fears remain
Nikola Vlasic scored the only goal of the game for Torino
Nikola Vlasic scored the only goal of the game for Torino
AFP
Nikola Vlasic’s (25) stunning first-half strike was enough to seal all three points for Torino against Hellas Verona, leaving them on course for their best Serie A finish since the 2018/19 season.

Only outside of the relegation zone on goal difference, Verona started like a side desperately hoping for all three points against an in-form Torino, as chances fell the way of Cyril Ngonge and Antonio Sanabria at both ends early on.

It was Ngonge’s effort that tested Vanja Milinkovic-Savic for the first time in the visiting goal, with the goalkeeper forced to parry away the midfielder’s threatening effort from the edge of the area.

Entering the game on the back of just one loss in their last five games, however, it always seemed likely that Torino would step onto the front foot. And, once they did, Il Toro took a deserved lead, courtesy of Vlasic’s first goal since November.

The West Ham United loanee took the ball on from distance, before unleashing an unstoppable effort into the top right-hand corner of Lorenzo Montipo’s goal in the 29th minute.

The visitors should have then doubled their lead through Sanabria before the break to take full control of proceedings, only for the forward to somehow blaze over from close-range, keeping Verona in the game.

In an attempt to rescue a result, Verona manager Marco Zaffaroni introduced both Ondrej Duda and Juan David Cabal at the break. But with only bottom side Sampdoria scoring fewer goals in the league this season, a turnaround looked less and less likely as the second period progressed, with Milinkovic-Savic remaining relatively untroubled.

The Gialloblu’s goal-scoring troubles were perfectly summed up when Darko Lazovic somehow failed to find the target after picking up a loose ball inside the area just before the hour mark.

A late flurry of efforts from Samuele Ricci and Wilfried Singo, the latter of which forced Montipo into action, should have handed Torino a comfortable end to the game.

Serie A standings after the match
Flashscore

Ultimately, however, Il Toro held on to move into the SA’s top-eight, whilst leaving Verona precariously outside of the relegation zone on goal difference alone.

Flashscore Man of the Match: Nikola Vlasic (Torino)

See all the match stats here.

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