Napoli gear up for Anfield in style amid flurry of Serie A late shows | Paolo Bandini

Truth be told, this was a weekend of high drama but only modest consequence for most of Serie A

This was not a good weekend for those Serie A fans who prefer to leave a game early and beat the traffic. Cagliari salvaged a point at home to Roma with a goal in the 95th minute. Fiorentina left it even later away to Sassuolo, Kevin Mirallas dragging them level in the 96th. That was the same minute in which Lazio took a 2-1 lead at home to Sampdoria. Somehow, they finished all square as well.

The timing of those goals offers only a glimpse of the drama. Cagliari had trailed 2-0 to Roma as late as the 84th minute. Even after Artur Ionita halved the deficit, the Sardinians quickly found themselves reduced to nine men – Luca Ceppitelli and Darijo Srna sent off for protesting a free-kick decision too vehemently. Still, Marco Sau was able to punish a moment of inattentiveness from Roma’s defence at the end.

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