Napoli eye second spot after Inter victory

milan — A first-half winner from Jose Callejon handed Napoli the points from a 1-0 win at Inter Milan on Sunday that closed the gap on Roma in second to a point.

Maurizio Sarri’s men travelled to the San Siro buoyed by Roma’s earlier 3-1 derby defeat to Lazio that left the capital contenders nine points adrift of leaders Juventus. By the end of a San Siro sizzler that saw Stefano Pioli’s outplayed hosts stage a brief, second-half comeback, Callejon’s 43rd minute opener proved the difference to a win that put Napoli in firm contention for the second automatic Champions League qualifying place.

Roma remain second at nine points behind Juventus with four games to play but Luciano Spalletti’s men are now just one point ahead of Napoli, who remain seven points ahead of Lazio, in fourth. Yet coach Maurizio Sarri said his side’s fate lies with their opponents, telling Premium Sport: “I’ve never made predictions and I’m not about to start now. The situation is determined by our rivals, who, if they all win, will give us no chance of fighting our way back.”

Inter’s fourth defeat in a sixmatch winless run, meanwhile, left the Nerazzurri in seventh, but now three points behind city rivals AC Milan and eight behind fifth-placed Atalanta.

But Pioli hasn’t given up hope of a Europa League place, hoping they can finish sixth to claim the Italian Cup winner’s allocation that, in all likelihood, will be vacated by finalists Juventus and Lazio. “At the moment, the results are negative but we can still finish sixth in the table. That’s our objective,” said Pioli.

“It wasn’t all negative tonight. I think we played well given the calibre of the side we played.” Earlier, Milan spurned the chance to steal a march, suffering a second league setback since their takeover by a Chinese consortium.

Milan travelled to relegationhaunted Crotone looking to make up for a shock 2-1 San Siro defeat to struggling Empoli last week. But for the second game in succession since the Rossoneri Sport Investment Lux bought the seven-time European champions from long-time owner Silvio Berlusconi, Vincenzo Montella’s side disappointed in a 1-1 draw.