Edin Dzeko bust open the Serie A title race on Wednesday with the one aim in Inter Milan’s 1-0 win over Napoli which lower the leaders’ benefit on the high of the league to 5 factors.
The Bosnia captain’s highly effective header from Federico Dimarco’s cross 10 minutes after the break was sufficient to finish Napoli’s unbeaten report and put Inter eight factors away from the tempo setters.
Simone Inzaghi’s aspect sit fourth and are again within the dialogue for the Scudetto after their third straight league win, one which places some strain on a Napoli workforce who threatened to run away with the league earlier than the World Cup.
“I am 36 but I want to keep playing at the highest level and the only way to achieve that is with hard work,” Dzeko advised DAZN.
“I’ll keep going as long as I can make the difference.”
Second-placed AC Milan had been the primary beneficiaries of their native rivals’ win on the San Siro, their title defence boosted by a 2-1 win at Salernitana within the day’s first match.
Also lurking are Juventus, who sit third and an additional two factors off the tempo following their last-gasp 1-0 win at Cremonese.
Inter ought to have been forward earlier than Dzeko netted the winner, with Matteo Darmian losing an ideal lay-off from the Bosnia captain halfway via the primary half when he smashed over the bar.
An underwhelming Romelu Lukaku additionally shot over as Inter failed to completely capitalise on their clear superiority over disappointing Napoli, they usually nearly paid the worth when Giacomo Raspadori’s late shot was well-saved by Andre Onana.
“We can offer more quality… Some of our players were a bit below par today,” mentioned Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti.
“What I saw tonight was not what we’re capable of, so it’s my fault. We need to do more in training to find our form and fitness.”
Juve run continues
Poland ahead Arkadiusz Milik struck his fifth league aim of the season in added time with a free-kick which handed Juve their seventh straight win.
They have not conceded a aim in a run which is able to give them a lift amid a finance scandal which hit late final 12 months.
“It’s a good win and another step forward… Milik scored a great goal, but it wasn’t an easy win,” mentioned coach Massimiliano Allegri to DAZN.
Cremonese are but to win a sport of their first high flight season since 1996 however they struck the woodwork twice and shall be inspired by successive residence attracts with Milan and Juve both aspect of the break for the World Cup.
The away followers drew applause from all sections of the Stadio Giovanni Zini within the first half after they displayed a banner in assist of former Italy striker Gianluca Vialli, who’s battling pancreatic most cancers.
Vialli started his profession at home-town workforce Cremonese in 1980 and 12 years later moved to Juve, the place he gained the Serie A title in 1995 and the next 12 months’s Champions League.
Lecce stun Lazio
Six factors behind Milan are Lazio, whose defeat at Lecce got here after Ciro Immobile had given them a half-time lead together with his 189th Serie A aim, which took him above Alessandro De Piero and Beppe Signori within the all-time scoring charts.
Gabriel Strefezza levelled for Lecce simply earlier than the hour mark, and Federico Di Francesco’s brilliantly volleyed cross discover Lorenzo Colombo for a tap-in which moved his workforce as much as twelfth, 9 factors away from the relegation zone.
“We completely lost our way after the break… We just switched off and handed the game to our opponents,” mentioned Lazio boss Maurizio Sarri.
Lorenzo Pellegrini drew sixth-placed Roma degree on 30 factors with their native rivals with an early penalty which gave his workforce a 1-0 win over Bologna.
Mario Pasalic snatched a last-gasp 2-2 draw for seventh-placed Atalanta at Spezia with a stoppage-time leveller to finish a comeback from two targets down.
Spezia are 5 factors forward of Sampdoria, who sit 18th after claiming their second win of the season, 2-1 at Sassuolo.
