Higuain gives Napoli victory, Roma win again
ROME (Reuters) - Napoli won 1-0 at Palermo to maintain the pressure on Serie A leaders Juventus, while AS Roma kept their slim title hopes alive by extending their winning streak to eight league games with a 2-1 victory at Udinese on Sunday.
Second-placed Napoli saw off struggling Palermo thanks to Gonzalo Higuain's first-half penalty that took them back within three points of Juve, who beat Sassuolo 1-0 on Friday.
Roma's Edin Dzeko and Alessandro Florenzi struck as they moved to 59 points in third behind Juventus on 67 and Napoli with 64 after 29 matches.
Napoli's Higuain converted from the spot in the 22nd minute after Raul Albiol was brought down by Sinisa Andelkovic, taking his league-leading tally to 27 goals and giving Walter Novellino a disappointing start to life in the Palermo dugout.
“The boys played a great game,” said Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri, “if a bit too flamboyant.
“The team are enjoying themselves, the boys are serene and peaceful. The 64 points we have sums up our season -- superb.”
Roma had won one of their previous seven games when Luciano Spalletti replaced Rudi Garcia on Jan. 14 but the new coach has overseen an impressive revival and they consolidated their grip on the Champions League qualifying spot with Sunday's triumph.
“Every coach has his way of playing,” Dzeko told reporters. “At the moment, the results are doing the talking for Luciano.”
Dzeko scored in the 14th after being played in by a deft Mohamed Salah pass and Florenzi added an outstanding second in the 74th, controlling Miralem Pjanic's lofted ball with his right foot before prodding the ball beneath Orestis Karnezis.
"We have to keep far away from the teams behind us,” Spalletti added, “and that's done through victories like these.”
Udinese, struggling in 16th place on 30 points, responded through Bruno Fernandes in the 85th.
Verona struck late to secure a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina, who return to fourth place on 54 points, level with Inter Milan, who saw off Bologna 2-1 on Saturday, and five behind Roma.
Fiore's Mauro Zarate opened the scoring in the 40th minute, but Eros Pisano's equaliser for Verona four minutes from time denied Paulo Sousa's side the chance to pull clear of Inter.
AC Milan lost 17-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to a nasty head injury in their disappointing 0-0 draw at mid-table Chievo, who may feel relieved to have escaped with a point.
"All that was missing from our performance was a goal," Milan's assistant coach Nenad Sakic, standing in for the suspended Sinisa Mihajlovic, told Mediaset Premium.
"If we had won the game, it wouldn't have been a steal at all. We should have scored."
The stalemate leaves Milan in sixth on 48 points, having lost ground on their rivals for European qualification.
Genoa leapfrogged Torino into 12th place after coming from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at home, with two penalties from ex-Torino forward Alessio Cerci and a Luca Rigoni winner after 66 minutes cancelling out Ciro Immobile's first-half double.
(Reporting by Ed Dove; Editing by Ken Ferris and Rex Gowar)