Football
PA Sport 9y

Inter fall flat; Lazio close gap on Napoli with easy win at Sassuolo

Fiorentina beat lacklustre Inter Milan 1-0 to remain clear of Sampdoria in Serie A's final European place.

The in-form Mohamed Salah, on as a first-half substitute, scored the only goal 10 minutes after the break - although injuries left his side to hang on with nine men for the closing stages.

Inter forwards Mauro Icardi and Lukas Podolski were out of sorts and the influential Xherdan Shaqiri was introduced too late to turn the game as Roberto Mancini's side lost ground on the leading group.

Torino rounded off a memorable week for them with a 1-0 win over Napoli which moved them up to eighth in Serie A just days after they reached the last 16 of the Europa League.

Captain Kamil Glik scored the only goal of the game midway through the second half as Torino dented Napoli's hopes of catching Roma in second place.

Napoli must now start to look over their shoulders and hold on to third with just two and three points respectively separating Rafael Benitez's men from their nearest challengers.

Lazio remained in the hunt for Champions League football with a 3-0 win at Sassuolo on Sunday.

The capital club remained in fourth place but turned up the heat on Napoli and Roma above them as goals from Felipe Anderson, substitute Miroslav Klose and Marco Parolo sealed victory.

It was Lazio's third straight win and ensured they would go into their Coppa Italia clash with Napoli in midweek full of confidence.

Sampdoria came from behind to beat Atalanta 2-1 on Sunday for their first win since January 18.

Stefano Okaka struck the winner nine minutes from time to silence the crowd at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium.

The hosts had taken a 16th-minute lead through defender Guglielmo Stendardo but the visitors pulled level in the 68th minute thanks to a goal from Luis Muriel, who started for the first time since joining Samp from Udinese in January.

Okaka then clinched all three points for Samp, a team who had collected just three points - all from draws - since their previous victory.

A strike from substitute Alejandro Rodriguez helped relegation-threatened Cesena claim a 1-0 victory over Udinese.

The Spanish forward headed home the winner in the 76th minute to hand the hosts just their fourth win of the campaign.

The result allowed Cesena to close the gap on Atalanta, who hold the last position of safety, to four points while Udinese dropped to 13th place after suffering a third successive defeat.

Hellas Verona halted a four-match winless run with a 2-1 victory at Cagliari on Sunday to boost their Serie A survival hopes.

Luca Toni put Hellas ahead in the ninth minute before substitute Juanito Gomez headed the second in the 56th minute.

Cagliari captain Daniele Conti pulled one back with a free-kick with seconds remaining but the visitors held on for their seventh win of the campaign.

Palermo stretched their unbeaten run at home to 10 Serie A matches with a goalless draw against Empoli on Sunday afternoon.

The Sicilian outfit, who have not lost at the Renzo Barbera stadium since September, had the best chance of the game in the 11th minute when Franco Vazquez's right-footed volley hit the crossbar with Empoli goalkeeper Luigi Sepe already beaten.

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