Juve, Napoli win to close gap on Roma; Milan held
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Victories for Napoli and Juventus kept the pressure on Serie A leader AS Roma on Wednesday, while Kaka scored his first goal since returning to AC Milan in a 1-1 draw against Lazio.
Jose Maria Callejon and Dries Mertens scored to help Napoli to a controversial 2-1 win at Fiorentina. Giuseppe Rossi had leveled from the penalty spot with his ninth goal in 10 games.
Napoli’s Christian Maggio was sent off after receiving his second yellow card 10 minutes from time while Fiorentina’s Juan Cuadrado was also dismissed in stoppage time after being booked a second time for diving.
“I don’t want to talk about the referee but only about the game,” Napoli coach Rafa Benitez said. “We won by making the most of the space behind the defense, we held the ball well and tried to get the most we could at a difficult ground.”
Fiorentina protested furiously and replays seemed to indicate that Cuadrado had been tripped in the penalty area by Gokhan Inler. “I have to analyze the performance of the team without being influenced by refereeing decisions, even when those are decisive,” Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Montella said. “We created a lot, we didn’t deserve to lose.”
Juventus beat Catania 4-0 with goals from Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo, Carlos Tevez and Leonardo Bonucci.
Napoli and Juventus are two points behind Roma, which has won all nine of its opening matches and was hosting last-place Chievo Verona yesterday.
Milan was desperate for victory after slipping to 10th following two defeats in three matches, while Lazio had not won at San Siro since 1989.
Kaka, who had twice gone close in the first half, broke the deadlock nine minutes after the interval, curling a stunning strike into the top right corner for his first Milan goal in 4-1/2 years following an unhappy spell at Real Madrid.
Milan has conceded more headed goals than any other team this season and its defense was again caught out when Michael Ciani equalized with a free header from Antonio Candreva’s cross.
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