Napoli close gap as Juve slip up
– Second-placed Napoli cut Juventus’ lead at the top of Serie A to two points when Raul Albiol’s header gave them a 1-0 win over a defiant Genoa on Sunday, while Inter Milan captain Mauro Icardi scored four times in a 5-0 rout of Sampdoria.
AC Milan came from behind to beat Chievo 3-2 in the San Siro and the video assistant referee (VAR) system was involved in three penalty decisions as Fiorentina won 2-1 at Torino with a last-minute spot-kick.
Juventus, chasing a seventh successive title, slipped up on Saturday when they drew 0-0 at lowly SPAL, ending a run of 12 successive wins. Juve have 75 points from 29 games while Napoli are on 73 with the two sides still to meet at Juventus on April 22.
AS Roma, who won 2-0 at Crotone with goals in each half from Stephan El Shaarawy and Radja Nainggolan, are a further 14 points back in third.
Napoli struggled to break down Genoa’s defence before central defender Albiol finally broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute.
Ivan Perisic opened the scoring in the 26th minute before Icardi grabbed a 14-minute hat-trick and added a fourth early in the second half.
The win took Inter fourth with 55 points, one ahead of Lazio who drew 1-1 at home to Bologna.
Milan, sixth with 50 points, took an early lead through Hakan Calhanoglu but Mariusz Stepinski and Roberto Inglese scored twice in two minutes to make it 2-1 up at half-time.
Patrick Cutrone levelled before Andre Silva snatched the winner with eight minutes left. –