A defensive blunder by SSC Napoli allowed a stoppage-time equalizer in a 1-1 draw with Torino on Sunday, hurting the southern club’s title chances.
SS Lazio also dropped back after being beaten 4-0 by Catania, while ACF Fiorentina were the day’s big winners after beating Cagliari 4-1 to jump ahead of Lazio into fourth place.
After sitting out Napoli’s previous two matches with a minor injury, Edinson Cavani celebrated his return by scoring after six minutes at the Stadio San Paolo from the edge of the box — his seventh goal in nine appearances this season — but shortly after Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri was sent off for protesting, Torino’s Gianluca Sansone equalized with his first Serie A goal after intercepting defender Salvatore Aronica’s unwise back-pass to his goalkeeper.
Photo: AFP
In Sicily, Alejandro Gomez scored twice for Catania and Francesco Lodi added a penalty — all in the opening half hour — then Pablo Barrientos sealed the rout with another goal in the 69th minute.
In Tuscany, Gonzalo Rodriguez gave Fiorentina the lead in the 14th minute and Federico Casarini equalized in the 42nd after the goal-line referee intervened to overturn an offside decision.
Stevan Jovetic restored Fiorentina’s lead in the 50th minute, a rejuvenated Luca Toni found the target in the 54th and Juan Cuadrado added another in the 85th.
Photo: AFP
In Sunday night’s match, sixth-placed AS Roma ended a two-match losing streak with a convincing 4-1 win over US Citta di Palermo.
Captain Francesco Totti put Roma ahead in the 11th minute and Pablo Osvaldo doubled their lead in the 31st. Erik Lamela added another for the hosts in the 69th and recent Italy call-up Mattia Destro scored his first goal for Roma in the 79th, then received his second yellow card for pulling off his shirt and will miss the weekend’s derby with Lazio.
Josip Ilicic pulled one back for Palermo in the 84th minute.
Earlier in the lunchtime fixture, struggling Delfino Pescara 1936 beat in-form Parma 2-0 to save the job of their manager Giovanni Stroppa.
Elvis Abbruscato scored in the 49th minute with an angled shot from inside the area, then Slovakia international midfielder Vladimir Weiss sealed the win with a shot that bounced in off the post in stoppage-time.
Pescara had made clear before the match that Stroppa needed to win to remain in his post. Former Catania coach Pasquale Marino had already been lined up as a replacement.
The victory moved promoted Pescara out of the relegation zone, three points clear of Palermo.
“It wasn’t an easy buildup to the match,” Stroppa said. “I read in some places that it would mark my funeral.”
Also on Sunday, Atalanta BC won 2-1 at UC Sampdoria with goals from Giacomo Bonaventura and Giuseppe de Luca. It was Samp’s sixth consecutive loss, raising calls for the ouster of coach Ciro Ferrara.
Elsewhere, Antonio di Natale scored a 73rd-minute equalizer as Udinese drew 1-1 at Bologna, who had gone ahead with a goal from Alessandro Diamanti in the 46th minute.
Last-placed AC Siena — who started the season with a six-point penalty for match-fixing — beat Genoa 1-0 with a 55th-minute goal from Massimo Paci.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
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