Everton’s Ashley Young celebrates scoring their side’s first goal of the game.
| Photo Credit: AP

Napoli were held to a 2-2 draw at Lazio on Saturday after Boulaye Dia scored late on as the Italian Serie A leaders thought they were set to move four points clear of Inter Milan. Senegal attacker Dia rolled home a smart low finish in the 87th minute in Rome to deny Napoli victory and give Inter a chance to move top of the pile with a win at Juventus on Sunday. Champions Inter are two points behind Napoli, who have drawn three matches in a row and have failed to beat Lazio in three matches this season, ahead of that clash between fierce rivals in Turin.

“Lazio are our bogey team… we should be proud of what we’re doing and make sure that we always come off the field with our jerseys soaked in sweat,” said Napoli coach Antonio Conte.

Conte had to deal with the absence of three left-sided players with David Neres, Leonardo Spinazzola and Mathias Olivera all injured, and switched Napoli to a three-man defence with Pasquale Mazzocchi coming in as a makeshift wing-back.

And his injury problems got worse when Alessandro Buongiorno, who played for the first time in 2025 after recovering from a back injury, had to be replaced by Matteo Politano near the hour mark and Mazzocchi asked to substituted with five minutes remaining.

“When Mazzocchi asked to be taken off it caused us a big problem because I had to put (central defender) Rafa Marin at full-back,” added Conte.

“But I can’t ask any more from these boys because what they are doing is extraordinary.”

Lazio battle

Napoli looked to be collecting a big three points when Adam Marusic scored a bizarre own goal in the 64th minute, the defender sticking out his left foot to block Giacomo Raspadori’s deflected drive only to somehow chip it past goalkeeper Ivan Provedel and into his own net.

It was Raspadori who drilled Napoli level in the 13th minute following a neat exchange of passes with Romelu Lukaku, cancelling out Gustav Isaksen’s thumping early opener for Lazio.

Hosts Lazio briefly thought they had levelled the scores moments later through a sensational Mattia Zaccani bicycle kick before the Italy international was ruled offside as he flashed in his exceptional finish.

But Dia made sure Lazio got something from a keenly-contested match at the Stadio Olimpico and moved three points ahead of Juve in fourth place.

Marco Baroni’s team are on 46 points but will be knocked out of Italy’s Champions League positions on goal difference if Juve beat Inter.

“It was a great match and we played really well… Honestly I think we were a bit unlucky and probably should have won today,” said Isaksen.

Atalanta slip

Atalanta stay five points behind Napoli after their bid for a first league title was dented by a goalless draw with Cagliari.

Already hit with injuries including that of key attacker Ademola Lookman, Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini dropped first teamers like Marten de Roon, Ederson and Charles De Ketelaere ahead of his team’s return leg of a Champions League play-off with Club Brugge.

Atalanta trail that tie 2-1 after a hugely controversial penalty given against them in stoppage of the first leg in Belgium on Wednesday.

“We’re up for that match, especially after how the first leg ended… We have to try and do everything to get through,” said Gasperini.

Santiago Gimenez marked his full Serie A debut with the decisive goal in AC Milan’s 1-0 win over struggling Verona, his second goal in as many league appearances since signing from Feyenoord earlier this month.

Mexico striker Gimenez was on hand to nod in for seventh-placed Milan 74 minutes into his first San Siro start, after Rafael Leao deftly volleyed a delicate cross into his path.

The 23-year-old will face his former Feyenoord teammates in Milan on Tuesday hoping to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg of their Champions League play-off.

Inter Milan have top spot in Serie A in their sights as the Italian champions head to Turin on Sunday to take on fierce rivals Juventus just one point behind league leaders Napoli. Monday night’s win over Fiorentina put Inter right on Napoli’s heels as an intriguing Scudetto battle hots up with the pair facing off in Naples in two weeks’ time. But this weekend’s fixtures could also have a big say in the destination of the Scudetto as Napoli have a tough trip to fourth-placed Lazio to deal with on Saturday.

Napoli have let Inter creep up on them with consecutives draws with Roma and Udinese, both of which came after going ahead, and Antonio Conte’s team will be without Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s replacement David Neres who has picked up a thigh injury and will likely be out until early March.

But no team would more like to derail Inter’s title defence than Juve, bigger rivals than even AC Milan and in something of a mini-revival after three wins in three in all competitions.

For once Inter benefit from a near-full week’s rest between matches thanks to their direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League, while Juve battled to a 2-1 first-leg win over PSV Eindhoven in the play-offs on Tuesday.

That rest should help Inter as Marcus Thuram looks to be fit enough to start at the Allianz Stadium after being substituted early on against Fiorentina with an unspecified muscular issue.

Should Thuram be absent it would create problems in attack for coach Simone Inzaghi as Monday’s match-winner Marko Arnautovic is also struggling with a thigh knock and Medhi Taremi has failed to make an impact since arriving from Porto.

Juve have been relying on Thuram’s France teammate Randal Kolo Muani who has scored five times in his first three Serie A matches after arriving on loan from Paris Saint-Germain and was unlucky not to net against PSV.

Inter and Napoli having such tough away fixtures offers up an opportunity for Atalanta to force their away back into the title conversation when they host strugglers Cagliari on Saturday.

Atalanta are five points behind Napoli in third and will step onto the field at the Gewiss Stadium still angered by the penalty decision which cost them a 2-1 defeat at Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s side will have star attacker Ademola Lookman out at the weekend, when the Bergamo-based outfit will no doubt have one eye on Tuesday’s second leg of their Champions League play-off.

Player to watch: Moise Kean Italy striker Kean will line up against Como at Sunday lunchtime hoping to help Fiorentina continue their push for Champions League football with three points separating Raffaele’s Palladino’s team from Lazio.

The 24-year-old is having his best ever season in front of goal and has netted 15 times in 23 Serie A appearances since signing from Juve last summer.

He will take to the field for the first time after exposing the racist abuse he was subjected to online by Inter fans following Fiorentina’s defeat at the San Siro.

Key stats 1 – Napoli lead Inter Milan by a single point.

5 – the number of goals separating Kean from top scorer and Italy teammate Mateo Retegui.

Fixtures (times GMT) Friday

Bologna v Torino (1945)

Saturday

Atalanta v Cagliari (1400), Lazio v Napoli (1700), AC Milan v Verona (1945)

Sunday

Fiorentina v Como (1130), Monza v Lecce, Udinese v Empoli (1400), Parma v Roma (1700), Juventus v Inter Milan (1945)

Monday

Genoa v Venezia (1945)

Inter Milan kept up the pressure on Serie A leaders Napoli on Sunday with a convincing 4-0 win at lowly Lecce which moved the defending champions three points from the summit. Goals from Davide Frattesi, Lautaro Martinez, Denzel Dumfries and Mehdi Taremi gave Inter their seventh win in eight league matches in a dominant performance in southern Italy. Simone Inzaghi’s team are also four points ahead of third-placed Atalanta with a game in hand on both their title rivals, their match at Fiorentina which was stopped in December due to Edoardo Bove’s on-pitch collapse.

“We approached the match brilliantly and it wasn’t easy because we got back at dawn after the match in Prague on Wednesday, we had two days and then another trip down here,” said Inzaghi.

“But in two days we managed to plan an aggressive performance, and they did exactly what I asked.”

Inter are motoring at a key part of the season, with Wednesday’s visit of Monaco offering a chance to confirm direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League and the derby with AC Milan coming up next weekend.

Saturday’s win was their eighth in a row away from home in Serie A, and they haven’t even conceded a goal on the road in Italy’s top flight since their first win in that run, at Udinese in late September.

Inter could have won by more as Carlos Augusto and Frattesi had goals ruled out for tight offsides within a minute of each other midway through the first half.

By that point the away side were leading through Frattesi’s sixth-minute tap in which came after some fantastic footwork and a smart pass from Marcus Thuram.

Captain Martinez rifled in his sixth goal in eight matches in all competitions six minutes before the break and the Argentina striker was key to Dumfries sealing the points with a brilliant backheeled assist just as Lecce were getting a foothold in the game.

Taremi capped a near-perfect evening for Inter with his first goal in Serie A, slotted home from the penalty spot after Frattesi was tripped by Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone.

Milan’s late drama

AC Milan turned jeers to cheers as two goals in stoppage time led to a stunning 3-2 win of a chaotic lunchtime clash with Parma.

Trailing to what looked like being Enrico Delprato’s winner for Parma heading into added time, Milan triumphed thanks to late strikes from Tijjani Reijnders and Samuel Chukwueze, sending previously frustrated fans delirious with joy.

Nigeria forward Chukwueze’s bundled finish gave Sergio Conceicao’s seventh-placed team a huge boost ahead of a massive week, with Wednesday’s match at Dinamo Zagreb a chance to secure a top eight spot in the Champions League before the Milan derby.

However all is not well at Milan and fiery Conceicao almost came to blows with deposed captain Davide Calabria on the pitch, the pair being held back by coaching staff while the rest of the team celebrated with fans.

Calabria, who was replaced as captain by Mike Maignan earlier this month, brushed over the incident as being a “dressing room matter” while Conceicao cryptically said “if your kids are behaving badly, you have to act”.

Conceicao also substituted star players Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez after a dismal display from his team in the first half which brought a chorus of boos from fans, whose long-standing discontent with American owners RedBird had threatened to bubble over in the 80th minute when Delprato forced home on the rebound.

Defeat was especially harsh for Parma who were left with nothing from an excellent performance and stay a point above the relegation zone, level with Lecce.

Fiorentina got their bid for Champions League football back up and running by winning a tetchy contest at Lazio 2-1 and snapping a six-match winless streak.

Raffaele Palladino‘s side are sixth, three points behind fourth-placed Lazio thanks to early strikes from Yacine Adli and Lucas Beltran.

The Tuscans escaped with three points from a match which finished with both Palladino and Lazio coach Marco Baroni sent off and Pedro hitting the post in the final seconds after Adam Marusic pulled a goal back in stoppage time.

Inter Milan kept in touch with Napoli after seeing off struggling Empoli 3-1 on Sunday and going three points behind the Serie A leaders. Goals in the second half from Lautaro Martinez, Denzel Dumfries and Marcus Thuram ensured a hard-fought win for champions Inter at the San Siro. Napoli have become the team to beat thanks to their thrilling 3-2 win at Atalanta, who are seven points off the pace in third, on Saturday but Inter also have a game in hand.

However Inter have a packed schedule due to their Champions League commitments while Napoli have no European football after their disastrous title defence last season.

As well as their final two league phase fixtures in the Champions League — against Sparta Prague and Monaco in consecutive weeks — Simone Inzaghi’s team have the Milan derby and trips to Juventus, Napoli and Atalanta between now and mid-March.

Captain Martinez’s distance effort in the 55th minute took his league total to eight goals from 18 appearances, some way off the 24 he racked up on the way to guiding Inter to their 20th league title last term.

The Argentina striker hadn’t scored at home since early November before Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Bologna but his goal against Empoli was his second in as many matches at the San Siro.

Dumfries’ thumping header, from Kristjan Asllani’s 79th-minute corner, was key as Inter were far from their best and once Inter loanee Sebastiano Esposito halved the deficit for 14th-placed Empoli in the 79th minute a wave of worry swept the stadium.

Fans breathed a collective sign of relief 10 minutes later when Thuram swept in his 13th league goal of the campaign to seal the points and keep Inter’s title defence rolling on.

Lazio stay fourth

Earlier Lazio stayed in Serie A’s Champions League places after thumping struggling Verona 3-0.

Marco Baroni’s Lazio went ahead with just a minute on the clock through Samuel Gigot in Verona, and further strikes from Boulaye Dia and captain Mattia Zaccagni put them fourth, two points above Juventus who beat AC Milan on Saturday.

Sunday’s success ended a three-match winless streak for Lazio, which included derby defeat to rivals Roma, and left Verona in the relegation zone.

Verona slumped to their 14th defeat in 21 league fixtures in front of new chairman Italo Zanzi following the club’s acquisition by American private equity firm Presidio Investors on Wednesday.

The new owners have a job on their hands at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi as Verona are deep in the fight against the drop, sitting in 18th place and separated by goal difference from Como who are just outside the bottom three and host Udinese on Monday.

Verona are in the drop zone due to Cagliari’s 4-1 thumping of fellow strugglers Lecce which moved the Sardinian outfit up to 13th.

Just two points separate Cagliari and Verona, with Lecce, Parma — who drew 1-1 with second-from-bottom Venezia — and Empoli all on 20 points.

Verona, who finished the match with 10 men following Ondrej Duda‘s late sending off, make the short trip to regional rivals Venezia next week.

Napoli extended their lead at the top of Serie A to four points on Sunday after beating lowly Verona 2-0 as champions Inter Milan moved second with a 1-0 success at Venezia. An early own goal from Verona goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipo and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s second-half rocket ensured that Napoli took advantage of Atalanta being held to a goalless draw at Udinese on Saturday and strengthened their bid for a second league title in three seasons. Napoli’s lead isn’t as imposing as it looks, however, as Inter have two games in hand, the first of which is against Bologna at the San Siro on Wednesday.

Atalanta, who are a further point back in third, also have an extra fixture to play due to their participation in the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia and host Juventus on Tuesday before Napoli travel to Bergamo for a huge clash next weekend.

“There’s been a big change in the team since the summer… I can see the machinery starting to work better and better and that’s a point of pride for me and the boys,” said Napoli coach Antonio Conte. 

Montipo could do nothing about either Napoli goal as Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s fifth-minute shot crashed out off the post, hit his back and then crept over the line. 

And he barely saw Anguissa’s screamer whizz past him at his near post in the 62nd minute after the Cameroon midfielder exchanged passes with Romelu Lukaku.

But it was partly down to Montipo that Napoli didn’t win by more, as the 28-year-old made a couple of fine stops on Scott McTominay and David Neres in a attacking barrage from the hosts at the start of the second half, while defender Amir Rrahmani also had a header cleared off the line.

Napoli are a different team to the one hammered 3-0 by Verona on the opening day of the season, even without star winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who has asked the club to be sold amid reports of a 80-million-euro ($82 million) transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.

Neres is usually Matteo Politano’s replacement on the right wing but proved to be a decent substitute for the Georgian on the other flank, helping Napoli stay on the front foot and ahead of the chasing pack.

Inter on a roll

Matteo Darmian shot injury-hit Inter to victory on the Venetian Lagoon with the only goal of the game in the 16th minute.

Italy defender Darmian tapped home his second goal of the season on the rebound after Lautaro Martinez‘s shot was kept out by Venezia goalkeeper and Inter loanee Filip Stankovic.

“We work on getting up the pitch and it doesn’t matter who gets there. I found myself in front of goal and thankfully I managed to score and help the team win,” said Darmian.

Inter have had problems closing out matches this season and Sunday’s narrow win, their sixth on the bounce in Serie A, came after Simone Inzaghi’s side threw away a two-goal lead in the Italian Super Cup final against AC Milan.

The away side dominated and should have won by more despite having Italy defender Francesco Acerbi and key midfielders Hakan Calhanoglu and Henrikh Mkhitaryan out injured, with Marcus Thuram, Benjamin Pavard and Federico Dimarco all starting on the bench.

But Stankovic, the son of Inter legend Dejan, was excellent between the sticks and his brilliant save from Davide Frattesi in the 67th minute almost paid off moments later when the post denied USA midfielder Gianluca Busio and allowed Inter to escape with all three points.

“It wasn’t easy after losing the final the way we did, but the boys were brilliant because we came here tired with a host of players out and we played really well,” said Inzaghi.

Earlier Genoa continued their revival under Patrick Vieira with their first home win of the season, 1-0 over relegation rivals Parma, in front of new majority shareholder Dan Sucu.

Genoa are up to 11th on 23 points, a point behind Roma who snatched a last-gasp 2-2 draw at Bologna thanks to a controversial Artem Dovbyk penalty in the eighth minute of stoppage time.

Sergio Conceicao has brought back the feelgood factor to AC Milan as the seven-time European champions host Cagliari on Saturday still on a high from a dramatic Italian Super Cup triumph over local rivals and Serie A kings Inter Milan. Little has gone right for Milan this season, with supporters demanding American owners RedBird sell the club as inconsistent performances and results left one of Italy’s footballing giants miles off the title pace.

But the manner with which Conceicao has started his San Siro reign, replacing compatriot Paulo Fonseca just as Milan set off for Saudi Arabia and commandeering his new team to two fine wins over Juventus and Inter, has completely changed the atmosphere around the club.

Two goals down a minute into the second half of Monday’s final in Riyadh, few would have back Milan to bounce back against Italian champions Inter.

But Milan showed the sort of courage rarely seen this season to snatch victory deep in stoppage time, just as Conceicao did on his playing debut in Italy in 1998, when the Portuguese scored a last-gasp goal to win the Super Cup for Lazio.

Videos of Conceicao dancing for his players while smoking a chunky cigar in triumph immediately flew around social media and were shared by delighted fans in chat groups, celebrating an unexpected success and goading rivals Interisti who have lorded it over Milan in recent seasons.

“As soon as we got back into the dressing room the players asked me to dance and smoke a cigar because they knew that it’s my ritual when I win a trophy,” said Conceicao.

Combative, charismatic Conceicao fits the profile fans wanted in the summer when they demanded league-leading Napoli boss Antonio Conte and the 50-year-old now has to guide Milan to the Champions League spots.

Milan are eighth and trail fourth-placed Lazio, who host Como on Friday hoping to bounce back from a Rome derby defeat, by eight points having played two matches fewer.

One of those games in hand is at Como on Tuesday evening as the Super Cup contenders — the Milan clubs, Juventus and Atalanta — play the league fixtures they missed just after the turn of the year.

And Conceicao will see whether Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez‘s sensational performances against Inter are a sign of things to come from two players who frequently clashed with Fonseca.

“After this kind of win players can lose motivation and get complacent,” added Conceicao.

“That can’t happen because we need to keep showing that we have a winner’s attitude. Milan do not belong in seventh or eighth place in the league.”

Inter will try to cut the four-point gap separating them from Napoli at struggling Venezia where coach Simone Inzaghi will be without injured midfield talisman Hakan Calhanoglu.

However Marcus Thuram, who missed the Super Cup final, should be back for a packed schedule in which Inter host Bologna on Wednesday and then have two Champions League fixtures in as many weeks, with direct qualification for the last 16 yet to be secured.

Player to watch: Charles De KetelaereAtalanta enter a key period for their unprecedented Scudetto bid and star attacker De Ketelaere will be crucial with home clashes against Juventus and Napoli coming next week.

Belgium forward De Ketelaere has scored 10 times and set up nine more in all competitions this season and will line up alongside Ademola Lookman in an unusual strike pairing of two wingers at Udinese on Saturday afternoon.

Italy striker Mateo Retegui is unlikely to be back before the visit of Napoli and may yet miss next weekend’s clash at the Gewiss Stadium which will provide a serious test of their league title credentials.

Atalanta trail Napoli by three points but will play their game in hand on Tuesday against Juve, who first take on local rivals Torino on Saturday.

Team AC Milan in action© AFP

Denzel Dumfries in action© AFP

Team Inter Milan in action© AFP