Napoli crush Lazio to stay ahead of Juve
NAPOLI stamped their authority on the Serie A title race with a come-from-behind 4-1 thumping of Lazio yesterday to reclaim top spot from champions Juventus.
Juventus’ 2-0 win in Fiorentina had put them top on Friday, but Maurizio Sarri’s side responded in style to maintain their onepoint advantage over the six-time defending champions.
It was a third straight defeat for Lazio who are in third place – 17 points behind Napoli.
“It was a win earned with heart and soul,” said Napoli goalscorer Jose Callejon of his side who are targeting a third Serie A title and first since 1990.
“We are working together to achieve the dream. We’ll give our all to the end. We’ve had this dream in our minds since the first day of pre-season training and must continue like this.”
Lazio had taken the lead in Naples when Dutch defender Stefan de Vrij scored in the third minute at the San Paolo Stadium from a Ciro Immobile cross, before Spaniard Callejon pulled the hosts level just before the break.
Napoli’s second came from an unfortunate Lazio own goal as Brazilian defender Wallace tried to intercept a Callejon centre on 53 minutes only to send the ball past his own goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha.
Lazio were reeling two minutes later when left-back Mario Rui scored with a longrange effort which took a lucky deflection off Piotr Zielinski, with the Polish midfielder setting up Dries Mertens, back after an ankle injury, for the fourth and his 15th goal in Serie A this season after 72 minutes.
“I saw an unacceptable Lazio,” said coach Simone Inzaghi. “We deserved to lose. We weren’t in the game in the second half and against Napoli you pay.”
Earlier, Patrick Cutrone hit a double with Lucas Biglia and Fabio Borini also scoring as AC Milan crushed SPAL 4-0 to boost their European ambitions.
“We mustn’t think that this result will solve our problems,” insisted Milan coach Gattuso.
“We have to keep working to improve. The only thing I ask the lads is not to stop believing in our possibilities.
“The 4-0 result didn’t reflect how much we suffered when only 1-0 up.” – AFP