SSC Napoli kept their hopes of earning their first Serie A title since 1990 alive with an epic 4-2 win over 10-man Inter, after a Carlos Tevez hat-trick put leaders Juventus six points clear with a 4-0 rout of US Sassuolo on Sunday.
Goals from Gonzalo Higuain, Dries Mertens, Blerim Dzemaili and Jose Callejon saw Rafael Benitez beat his old club in a hugely entertaining contest and go eight points behind Juventus in third place after falling 11 behind earlier in the day.
Goran Pandev missed an added-time penalty after winning the spot-kick just after coming on as a substitute, but it made no difference to the result and Inter stay fifth on 28 points, seven away from Champions League qualification.
Photo: AFP
Tevez struck for Juve in the 15th, 45th and 68th minutes to move Antonio Conte’s side up to 43 points, six ahead of AS Roma.
The 29-year-old also set up Federico Peluso’s first Juventus goal in the 28th minute, sending in a beautiful free-kick that the midfielder headed home with the help of Sassuolo defender Luca Antei and was given a standard ovation when substituted after netting his third.
Inter’s task was made harder in the 71st minute when Ricky Alvarez was sent off after a second booking for handball, enraging Mazzari and allowing Napoli respite from the visitors’ enterprising attacking play.
Napoli’s win put them two points behind unbeaten Roma, who were to travel to struggling AC Milan yesterday looking to close the gap between themselves and Juve back to three points.
Esteban Cambiasso and Yuto Nagatomo struck for an Inter side that, despite losing, will be happy with the grit and class shown in such a hostile environment.
Higuain gave Napoli the lead in the ninth with a brilliant volleyed finish when Nagatomo headed Gokhan Inler’s pass straight into the Argentine’s path, only for Cambiasso to level in the 35th.
It only took three minutes for the hosts to retake the lead with a stunning long-range strike from Mertens after Dzemaili held the ball up well.
They doubled their lead three minutes before the break through Dzemaili, who tapped in after reacting first when Mertens’ shot was pushed away by Samir Handanovic.
Nagatomo gave Inter hope when Napoli goalkeeper Rafael pushed Fredy Guarin’s scuffed shot into his path, but despite a spirited display, Callejon removed any doubt when he tapped in Lorenzo Insigne’s cross with nine minutes left.
Two goals from Miroslav Klose, on his return after more than a month out injured, boosted SS Lazio to eighth place on 20 points after a 2-0 win over AS Livorno.
ACF Fiorentina took fourth spot with a comfortable 3-0 defeat of Bologna in which Giuseppe Rossi scored his 13th goal of the season.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Torino moved to within six points of European soccer after a 2-0 win at Udinese, Genoa drew Atalanta BC 1-1, UC Sampdoria defeated relegation rivals AC Chievo Verona a 1-0 and Parma drew Cagliari 0-0.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier