Roma and Lazio catch up with Juventus in fight for 4th place in Serie A

MILAN (AP) — With three rounds remaining, the race for the fourth Champions League qualifying spot from Serie A became even tighter on Sunday.

Juventus, Roma and Lazio all have 63 points, while Bologna is only a point behind them and Fiorentina three points further back.

Napoli leads Serie A with 77 points, three ahead of second-placed Inter Milan. Atalanta is third with 68 points.

Juventus currently occupies fourth spot but only because of a slightly better goal difference than Roma. Head-to-head is the first tiebreaker when teams are level in Serie A but Juventus and Roma played out two draws, while the Bianconeri visit Lazio next Saturday.

Roma has the better head-to-head record with Lazio.

Roma and Lazio caught up with Juventus on Sunday after Igor Tudor’s side was held 1-1 at Bologna.

The hosts got off to a miserable start when a series of mistakes allowed Juventus to take the lead in the ninth minute.

Andrea Cambiaso was given too much space to cut inside from the right and he spread the ball to Khéphren Thuram for a shot that squirmed under the body of Bologna goalkeeper Łukasz Skorupski, who should have done better.

Juventus had two goals disallowed for offside before Bologna leveled nine minutes into the second half when Remo Freuler’s effort from close range was accidentally deflected in by Renato Veiga.

Claudio Ranieri’s Roma beat Fiorentina 1-0.

Just one point separated the two sides heading into the match but Artem Dovbyk’s diving header deep in first-half stoppage time was enough to keep Roma level with its capital rival Lazio, which won by the same scoreline at relegation-threatened Empoli.

Lazio's Boulaye Dia scored the only goal after just 54 seconds and both teams ended the match with 10 men.

Empoli forward Lorenzo Colombo was sent off shortly before halftime after two bookings in the space of four minutes and Lazio defender Elseid Hysaj was dismissed in the 76th minute following a second yellow card.

Empoli remained two points from safety.

Charles De Ketelaere found the back of the net in the league for the first time in 2025 with a first-half double to help set Atalanta on its way to a 4-0 win at Monza.

Third-placed Atalanta moved five points clear of the glut of teams chasing fourth spot.

Monza, which had looked doomed for months, was mathematically relegated as the result left it 12 points from safety.

De Ketelaere hadn’t scored in Serie A since December — a run of 16 matches — but ended his drought in fine fashion in the 12th minute, controlling a ball from Mateo Retegui before beating two men and drilling into the near bottom corner.

Monza showed why it is getting relegated 11 minutes later. Gaetano Castrovilli managed to intercept Retegui’s return pass towards Ademola Lookman but the Monza midfielder and teammate Pedro Pereira both just looked at the ball, allowing De Ketelaere to pounce and prod it into the bottom left corner.

Atalanta extended its lead immediately after the break when Retegui headed on a long ball over the top and Lookman beat Stefan Lekovic, who had only just come on, and raced into the area to fire past Semuel Pizzignacco.

Substitute Marco Brescianini capped a dominant Atalanta performance with a fourth, two minutes from time.

Pisa was promoted to Serie A for the first time in 34 years despite losing 1-0 at Bari.

Third-placed Spezia also lost, guaranteeing Pisa second spot in Serie B and automatic promotion to the top flight alongside second division champion Sassuolo.

Pisa is coached by World Cup-winning forward Filippo Inzaghi, the older brother of Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi.

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AC Monza's Tomás Palacios, right, and Atalanta's Charles De Ketelaere in action during the Serie A soccer match between Monza and Atalanta at the U-Power Stadium in Monza, Italy, Sunday May 4, 2025. (Studio Buzzi/LaPresse via AP)

Empoli's Jacopo Fazzini, right, competes for the ball with Lazio's Boulaye Dia during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Empoli and Lazio at the "Carlo Castellani - Computer Gross Arena" Stadium in Empoli, Italy, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (LaPresse via AP)

Lazio's Boulaye Dia celebrates his goal during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Empoli and Lazio at the "Carlo Castellani - Computer Gross Arena" Stadium in Empoli, Italy, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (LaPresse via AP)

Roma's Bryan Cristante, left, vies for the ball with Fiorentina's Marin Pongracic, during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Roma and Fiorentina at Rome's Olympic stadium, Italy, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

Roma's Zeki Celik, right and Fiorentina's Nicolo Zaniolo collide, during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Roma and Fiorentina at Rome's Olympic stadium, Italy, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

Roma's head coach Claudio Ranieri looks on during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Roma and Fiorentina at Rome's Olympic stadium, Italy, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

Juventus's Khephren Thuram celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during a Serie A Enilive 2024/2025 soccer match against Bologna at Renato Dall'Ara Stadium in Bologna, Italy, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (Michele Nucci/LaPresse via AP)

Juventus' Khephren Thuram scores during a Serie A Enilive 2024/2025 soccer match against Bologna at Renato Dall'Ara Stadium in Bologna, Italy, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

Juventus's Khephren Thuram celebrates after scoring during a Serie A Enilive 2024/2025 soccer match against Bologna at Renato Dall'Ara Stadium in Bologna, Italy, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (Michele Nucci/LaPresse via AP)

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — In the crucial, chaotic minutes after a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, began firing inside an elementary school, a police officer now accused of failing to protect the children stood by without making a move to stop the carnage, a prosecutor told a jury Tuesday.

School officer Adrian Gonzales arrived at the scene of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history while the teenage assailant was still outside the building. But he did not try to distract or engage him, even when a teacher pointed out the direction of the shooter, special prosecutor Bill Turner said during opening statements of a criminal trial.

The officer only went inside Robb Elementary “after the damage had been done,” Turner said.

Defense attorneys disputed the accusations that Gonzales — one of two officers charged in the aftermath of the 2022 attack — did nothing, saying he radioed for more help and evacuated children as other police arrived.

“The government makes it want to seem like he just sat there,” said defense attorney Nico LaHood. “He did what he could, with what he knew at the time.”

Prosecutors focused sharply on Gonzales’ steps in the minutes after the shooting began and as the first officers arrived. They did not address the hundreds of other local, state and federal officers who arrived and waited more than an hour to confront the gunman, who was eventually killed by a tactical team of officers.

Gonzales, who is no longer a Uvalde schools officer, has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment and could be sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison if convicted.

It’s rare for an officer to be criminally charged with not doing more to save lives.

“He could have stopped him, but he didn’t want to be the target,” said Velma Lisa Duran, sister of teacher Irma Garcia, who was among the 19 students and two teachers who were killed.

Duran, who showed up early at the courthouse to watch the beginning of the trial, said authorities stood by while her sister “died protecting children.”

Defense attorneys described an officer who tried to assess where the gunman was while thinking he was being fired on without protection against a high-powered rifle.

Gonzales was among the first group to go into the building before they took fire from Salvador Ramos, the officer’s attorneys said.

“This isn’t a man waiting around. This isn’t a man failing to act,” defense attorney Jason Goss said.

Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo are the only two officers to face criminal charges over the response. Arredondo’s trial has not been scheduled.

Gonzales, a 10-year veteran of the police force, had extensive active shooter training, the special prosecutor said.

“When a child calls 911, we have a right to expect a response,” Turner said, his voice trembling with emotion.

As Gonzales waited outside, children and teachers hid inside darkened classrooms and grabbed scissors “to confront a gunman,” Turner said. “They did as they had been trained.”

The trial, which is expected to last about two weeks, is sure to be traumatic for the victims’ families. Some are expected to testify, along with law enforcement agents, emergency dispatchers and school employees.

As testimony began, tissue boxes were brought to the families. Some shook their heads as they listened to audio from the first 911 calls, but as they heard the voices become more frantic, the cries in the courtroom were inescapable.

The trial was moved to Corpus Christi after Gonzales’ attorneys argued he could not receive a fair trial in Uvalde.

Some families of the victims have voiced anger that more officers were not charged given that nearly 400 federal, state and local officers converged on the school soon after the attack.

Terrified students inside the classrooms called 911 and parents outside begged for intervention by officers, some of whom could hear shots being fired while they stood in a hallway.

An investigation found 77 minutes passed from the time authorities arrived until they breached the classroom and killed Ramos, who was obsessed with violence and notoriety in the months leading up to the shooting.

State and federal reviews of the shooting cited cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned why officers waited so long.

The officer’s attorneys told jurors that there was plenty of blame to go around — from the lack of security at the school to police policy — and that prosecutors will try to play on their emotions by showing photos from the scene.

“What the prosecution wants you to do is get mad at Adrian. They are going to try to play on your emotions,” Goss said.

“The monster who hurt these children is dead,” he said. “He did not get this justice.”

Prosecutors likely will face a high bar to win a conviction. Juries are often reluctant to convict law enforcement officers for inaction, as seen after the Parkland, Florida, school massacre in 2018. A sheriff’s deputy was acquitted by a jury after being charged with failing to confront the shooter in that attack — the first such prosecution in the U.S. for an on-campus shooting.

Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press journalists Nicholas Ingram in Corpus Christi, Texas; Juan A. Lozano in Houston; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales looks back while seated in the courtroom at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, Pool)

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, right, talks with an officer as he arrives in the courtroom at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, Pool)

Family member Jesse Rizo, center, talks to the media before the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales arrives in the courtroom at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, Pool)

A man enters the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, as jury selection continues in the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

FILE - Crosses with the names of shooting victims are placed outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

People enter the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, as jury selection continues in the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A line forms at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, as jury selection continues in the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

FILE - This booking image provided by the Uvalde County, Texas, Sheriff's Office shows Adrian Gonzales, a former police officer for schools in Uvalde, Texas. (Uvalde County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

FILE - Flowers are placed around a welcome sign outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 25, 2022, to honor the victims killed in a shooting at the school. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)