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Napoli regain lead as Genoa hold AS Roma to a draw
MILAN: Napoli moved back to the top of Serie A with a 1-0 win at Udinese but it was tougher than the title hopefuls would have expected.
Jorginho scored the only goal of the match yesterday after his penalty had been saved to send Napoli two points above Inter Milan, who won 3-1 at Cagliari on Saturday.
Title rivals AS Roma were surprisingly held 1- 1 at relegation-threatened Genoa in a match that saw Daniele De Rossi sent off.
Napoli had scored 34 goals in their previous 13 matches but struggled to create goalscoring opportunities.
However, their pressure paid off shortly after the half-hour mark when Christian Maggio was brought down by Gabriele Angella in the area.
Jorginho’s weak penalty was easily saved by Simone Scuffet but the Udinese goalkeeper couldn’t hold onto the ball and the Italy midfielder tucked away the rebound.
Udinese tested Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina on a couple of occasions but Massimo Oddo’s debut ended in defeat. The 41-year-old coach had replaced the fired Luigi Delneri on Tuesday.
Roma had won their last six meetings with Genoa, home and away, but was frustrated at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Stephan El Shaarawy broke the deadlock just before the hour, firing Alessandro Florenzi’s delightful cross into the bottom left corner.
However the match changed eight minutes later when, with Roma seemingly in control, De
Rossi was sent off for slapping Gianluca Lapadula in the face.
Lapadula converted the resulting penalty.
Roma could have won the match late on but Kevin Strootman hit the crossbar.
The capital side slipped seven points behind Napoli, although they have a game in hand.
AC Milan faltered again as they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Torino, piling more pressure on coach Vincenzo Montella.
Milan, who spent more than €
200mil (RM981mil) on new players in the off-season, have won just two of their past nine matches.
Nikola Kalinic hit the post early on while both Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and his Torino counterpart Salvatore Sirigu pulled off stunning saves.
Kalinic had a couple of efforts saved and wasted other opportunities. He was jeered by the fans when he was substituted and reacted by sarcastically applauding.
Patrick Cutrone had the ball in the back of the net in stoppage time but he was offside.
Argentina striker Mauro Icardi bagged another brace to give Inter a 3-1 win at Cagliari.
In-form skipper Icardi opened Inter’s account after 29 minutes in Sardinia, before adding a second late on to bring his tally to 15 goals this season.
Inter’s Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozovic came off the bench and immediately found the net in the 55th minute, with Leonardo Pavoletti reducing the deficit for Cagliari 19 minutes from time.
“We didn’t play great, but we brought the result home,” said Icardi.
“The important thing is that the team win with my goals.”
Luciano Spalletti’s side remain unbeaten 14 games into the season with 36 points.
“At first we suffered but this was the performance of a strong side,” Spalletti told Mediaset Premium.
“Icardi took a knock after thirty seconds, he was pained for a few minutes, we missed his contribution at that time, we lost a bit of distance.
“Cagliari were pressing us so hard it was violent. They were rushing at us at full force the second we got the ball.
“We had to modify a few things. In the second half, we went back to a four-man defence and played more of our football.”
Icardi’s second put him joint top of the Serie A scorers chart alongside Lazio’s Ciro Immobile.
Earlier on Saturday, Sampdoria came crashing back to earth after their shock win over champions Juventus last weekend with a 3-0 defeat at 10-man Bologna.
Simone Verdi scored the opener after three minutes for Bologna at their Stadio Dall’Ara, with Ibrahima Mbaye nodding in Verdi’s corner for the second after 23 minutes.
Defender Vasilis Torosidis was sent off for a second yellow card in half- time stoppage time but Bologna held on, with Orji Okwonkwo getting a third in the 73rd minute.
Sampdoria are sixth just ahead of Bologna.
A Roberto Inglese second-half brace gave Chievo a 2-1 win at home against Spal, with goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino pulling off some key saves. Spal scored thanks to a Bostjan Cesar own goal on 17 minutes.
Ten-man Verona ended their run of five consecutive defeats with a 2-0 win against relegation rivals Sassuolo. — Agencies