Juventus, Napoli pull clear

ROME: Champions Juventus and Napoli pulled clear at the summit of Serie A as they continued their faultless campaigns on Wednesday as Inter Milan fell behind.

Croatia forward Mario Mandzukic scored for Juventus in a 1-0 win over old foes Fiorentina in Turin as Napoli rallied from a goal down to beat Lazio 4-1 in Rome.

Juventus and Napoli have a maximum 15 points after five games, two ahead of Inter Milan who were held 1-1 at Bologna on Tuesday.

Stefan de Vrij had given Lazio a half-time lead over Napoli, but the hosts hit back in the second half with three goals in a fourminute spree including a stunning Dries Mertens strike.

After a tense first half Mandzukic found the opening for Juventus with a diving header after 53 minutes off a Juan Cuadrado cross.

Fiorentina were reduced to 10 men for the final half an hour after midfielder Milan Badelj saw red.

“These games teach that to win you have to suffer, 1-0 is a good result,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri ahead of this weekend’s Turin derby.

“Napoli, like Inter, Milan and Rome are our rivals. We have to advance calmly, step by step. The derby will be a nice match, we will have a few days to recover.”

Napoli routed Lazio in the second half despite Simone Inzaghi’s side having gotten off to a flying start with defender De Vrij opening the scoring after 29 minutes.

But injuries to defenders Bastos and then De Vrij turned the tide in favour of Napoli with three goals in the space of a frenetic four minutes.

Senegal’s Kalidou Koulibaly got the equaliser after 54 minutes and then Jose Callejon added another two minutes later followed by a superb Mertens effort, before Jorginho added a fourth from the spot as the clock ticked.

AC Milan are fourth after beating promoted SPAL 2-0 thanks to two penalties as Torino struggled to a 3-2 win over Udinese and are fifth.

AS Roma outclassed promoted Benevento 4-0 as Eusebio Di Francesco’s side followed on from last weekend’s 3-0 win over Verona to move seventh.

RESULTS Benevento 0 AS Roma 4 (Dzeko 22, 52, Lucioni 35-og, Venuti 74-og); Genoa 1 (Laxalt 62) Chievo 1 (Hetemaj 73); Udinese 2 (De Paul 48-pen, Lasagna 75) Torino 3 (Belotti 9, Hallfredsson 30-og, Ljajic 67); Hellas 0 Sampdoria 0; AC Milan 2 (Rodriguez 26-pen, Kessie 61-pen) SPAL 0; Juventus 1 (Mandzukic 52) Fiorentina 0; Lazio 1 (de Vrij 29) Napoli 4 (Koulibaly 54, Callejón 56, Mertens 59, Jorginho 90+2-pen); Atalanta 5 (Petagna 5, Caldara 25, Ilicic 38, Gómez 63, 74-pen) Crotone 1 (Tumminello 70); Cagliari 0 Sassuolo 1 (Matri 60-pen)