Kolo Muani brace helps Juve to Empoli win

TURIN/ROME:

Randal Kolo Muani continued his fine start at Juventus with both goals in Sunday's 4-1 win in Turin, as champions Inter Milan gear up for a crunch derby with AC Milan.

France striker Kolo Muani struck twice in three minutes in the second half, with Dusan Vlahovic and Francisco Conceicao netting late on with Empoli down to 10 men, as Juve bounced back from going behind early and moved into Italy's Champions League positions.

Lazio are a point behind Juve and will reclaim fourth place if they win at struggling Cagliari on Monday night.

"The players deserved to win, they played with courage and as a team. They took on responsibility on the pitch," said Motta to DAZN.

"It's a strong, united group of players that's moving forward. Let's look ahead to the next match."

Thiago Motta's inconsistent side had been showered with boos and whistles after going in at half-time trailing to a fourth-minute header from old boy Mattia De Sciglio.

But Kolo Muani, who opened his Juve account on his debut in last weekend's defeat at league leaders Napoli, levelled the scores in the 61st minute when he brushed past Saba Goglichidze and confidently finished from close range.

The 26-year-old then put the hosts in front in fortuitous fashion three minutes later when he diverted Timothy Weah's wayward distance effort past the despairing grasp of Devis Vasquez.

Empoli went down to 10 when Youssef Maleh was sent off with six minutes remaining after picking up two bookings, the second for a wild challenge on Nicolas Gonzalez.

And Vlahovic, who was dropped for Kolo Muani and is tipped to leave Juve in the summer, lashed in his first goal since mid-December in the 90th minute before Conceicao rounded off the scoring in stoppage time.

Sunday's display was far from convincing however and met with muted celebrations at the final whistle as Empoli are a point and place above the relegation zone and have now collected two points from their last eight matches.

Later Inter can pile pressure on Napoli when they take on a Milan team in disarray, with Simone Inzaghi's in-form side looking for a first derby win of the season at the third attempt.

A win at a packed San Siro, which will be missing some of its colour due to a police ban on pre-match fan displays, would move Inter level on 53 points with Napoli who are at fierce rivals Roma in the day's late fixture.

The stand-covering displays have been banned by the Italian police's serious crime unit DIGOS as part of a crackdown on the hardcore ultra supporters of the two clubs.

In September, 19 leading ultras from Milan and Inter were arrested as part of a probe into illegal profits made around matches and the infiltration of mafia gangs into supporters groups.

On Thursday Inter will also complete their away fixture at Fiorentina which was stopped in December following Viola midfielder Edoardo Bove's on-pitch collapse.

Udinese fans ambush rivals' train

Udinese fans ambushed a train carrying rivals from Venezia after their Serie A match Saturday, triggering a massive brawl that left several injured and caused eight arrests, Italian police said Sunday.

Around 50 Italian and Austrian supporters of Udinese, many covering their faces and some wielding flares and smoke bombs, occupied the tracks at Basiliano, not far from the northeastern city of Udine where the home side had won 3-2.

They forced a train carrying Venezia supporters home from the match to stop, at which point several dozen fans on board descended onto the platform, sparking what police described as a "massive brawl".

The early evening clashes only lasted minutes as officers quickly intervened, backed by a police helicopter.

Most of the Udinese supporters fled and the Venezia fans got back on the train, police said in a statement.

But eight people were arrested, including five Austrians, one Bosnian and one Albanian.

Several of the fans were injured, two of whom were transported to Udine hospital by ambulance, while three police officers were also hurt.

The train was also damaged due to objects thrown at the carriages, police said.

Passengers who did not attend the match were transferred to another train and the Venezia fans were moved to undamaged carriages.