MILAN: Napoli’s slim hopes of defending its Serie A league title all but ended with a 0-2 home defeat to Lazio on Saturday that left it 12 points adrift of leader Inter Milan with five games left.
Inter, which beat Cagliari 3-0 on Friday, is on 78 points, with Napoli on 66. AC Milan is three points behind ahead of its game at Hellas Verona on Sunday and Lazio is ninth in the standings on 47 points.
The visiting side took a sixth-minute lead through Matteo Cancellieri, and Lazio could afford to spurn a penalty chance, with Vanja Milinkovic-Savic saving Mattia Zaccagni’s spot-kick, before Toma Basic doubled their advantage 12 minutes after the break.
Lazio, managed by former Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri, never looked like allowing a sluggish home side back into the game and came away victorious from the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona for the fourth successive season.
Napoli was up against it early on when Cancellieri steered home a shot from the edge of the six-yard area after Kenneth Taylor’s cutback from the byline.
The home side piled forward but without creating any clear-cut chances, and Stanislav Lobotka’s foul on Tijjani Noslin gave Lazio a chance to double their lead from the penalty spot. After his spot kick was saved, an off-balance Zaccagni blasted the rebound over with Cancellieri better placed to strike. After a scrappy opening to the second half, Lazio grabbed a second goal. Tavares stormed down the left wing and after Cancellieri missed a simple tap-in at the back post, the ball fell to the unmarked Basic who made no mistake. Agencies
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