Higuain hat trick lifts Napoli
milan — Fiorentina dominated 10-man Verona in an eight-goal thriller while Inter Milan stunned 10-man Sampdoria 4-0 in Genoa as both sides tightened their grip on Serie A’s two Europa League places on Sunday.
Elsewhere Napoli resisted a fightback from Lazio, who also had a player sent off, to prevail 4-2 thanks to an injury-time goal from Gonzalo Higuain which gave the Argentine striker a hat trick. In Sunday’s late match captain Riccardo Montolivo struck a first-half missile to earn AC Milan a 1-0 win over basement side Catania.
Frustrated throughout by Maurizio Pellegrino’s ill-disciplined side, Milan missed a series of half-chances before Andres Rinaudo saw red in the 78th minute for a rash challenge on Philippe Mexes, his second bookable offence coming after several previous warnings.
But Clarence Seedorf’s men held on to their slim lead to claim a fourth consecutive win for the first time this season to move up to eighth, only five points off Inter and firmly in the Europa League zone.
“They were determined and played aggressively, but we tried to stick to our team strategy,” Seedorf told Sky Sport Italia. “We’re still making errors and have things to improve on. But I’m not looking at the standings. We’ve got five games to play and we’ll evaluate things at the end.”
Leaders Juventus are not in action until Monday when they travel to Udinese looking to restore their eight-point lead on second-placed Roma, whose 3-1 win at home to Atalanta on Saturday reduced their arrears to five points.
Napoli, in third, are 12 points adrift of Roma and still nine ahead of fourth-placed Fiorentina. Higuain, who had not scored since March 17 and had recently been substituted several times by coach Rafael Benitez, told Mediaset: “I’m happy for me and for Napoli, especially after our defeat to Parma.”