Round 19 of the Campionato Primavera 1 saw Sampdoria and Roma held to draws in their respective league fixtures while there were some high-scoring fixtures as well.
Two of Italian football’s best youth academies came face-to-face on Saturday afternoon when Atalanta hosted Roma and things were going in the favour of the Giallorossi when Felix Afena-Gyan opened the scoring after 11 minutes.
The Ghanaian starlet had worked his way up from the Under-18s and scored his first Primavera goal in his first start for Roma. Unfortunately, he injured his right knee in the second half and was taken off for Lamine Tall in the 64th minute.
It got worse for I Lupi after 73 minutes when Atalanta defender Matteo Ruggeri took a free-kick that hit the crossbar, then Giorgio Scalvini tried to get to the rebound, and Roma defender Amir Feratovic put the ball into his own net.
The draw leaves Roma in second place with 34 points while the gap between them and first place Sampdoria remains at two points after the Blucerchiati drew 2-2 with Empoli.
Leonardo Pezzola opened the scoring for the Tuscan side after 25 minutes while Michael Brentan equalised for Il Doria with a free-kick six minutes later. Sampdoria thought they had taken the lead through wing-back Emanuel Ercolano but it was disallowed for handball.
Mirco Lipari regained Empoli’s lead 18 minutes into the second half but the visitors secured a point six minutes from time after Simone Trimboli took a penalty.
In the other matches, Juventus and Cagliari put five past Ascoli and Fiorentina respectively, and Lazio were 3-1 down against Sassuolo after 78 minutes yet they managed to salvage a 3-3 draw.
Round 19 results:
Juventus 5-0 Ascoli
AC Milan 3-1 Torino
Atalanta 1-1 Roma
SPAL 2-2 Bologna
Genoa 1-1 Inter
Empoli 2-2 Sampdoria
Cagliari 5-1 Fiorentina
Lazio 3-3 Sassuolo
Campionato Primavera 1 standings:
