Football
PA Sport 6y

Napoli spurn chance to go top of Serie A; Gattuso gets first win with AC Milan

Napoli missed the opportunity to return to the top of the Serie A table as they were held to a goalless home draw by Fiorentina.

After leaders Inter Milan and third-placed Juventus shared the same scoreline on Saturday evening, a win for Napoli would have seen them leapfrog Inter but they could not make a breakthrough against a dogged Fiorentina team.

The visitors actually had the best chances. Giovanni Simeone had the ball in the net but his effort was ruled out for offside before the Argentinian then squandered a one-on-one chance.

Roma were unable to find a way past an inspired Stefano Sorrentino as they were held to a goalless draw at Chievo.

Eusebio Di Francesco's side had the opportunity to close to within three points of Serie A leaders Inter Milan but found Chievo goalkeeper Sorrentino's net impenetrable.

It was not for the lack of trying, however, with Roma, who had won seven of their last eight matches to catapult themselves up the standings, having a remarkable 26 shots on goal with eight on target.

Sorrentino's best work came in the 24th minute when he first repelled Patrik Schick's backheel and then got up quickly to deny Gerson on the follow up.

AC Milan recorded their first league win since Nov. 5 and their first under new coach Gennaro Gattuso as they beat Bologna 2-1.

Giacomo Bonaventura netted two goals to help Milan recover from last week's shock draw at Benevento.

Bologna were level with Milan on 21 points going into the match at San Siro, but it was the Rossoneri who took the lead in the 10th minute when Nikola Kalinic headed down Ignazio Abate's ball for Bonaventura to fire home.

It was Milan's first league goal at home since Sept. 20.

Simone Verdi leveled 13 minutes later but Bonaventura doubled his tally with a header 14 minutes from time.

At the other end of the standings, Verona looked like they would climb out of the bottom three after goals from Alessio Cerci -- from the penalty spot -- and Martin Caceres put them in control away at relegation rivals SPAL.

However, Alberto Paloschi and Mirco Antenucci struck in the final four minutes to rescue a point for the hosts, with Antenucci levelling things up at 2-2 with the game's second spot kick.

Benevento remain at the foot of the table after losing 2-0 at Udinese, with Antonin Barak and Kevin Lasagna on the score sheet.

Crotone's losing run extended to five matches with a 2-1 defeat at Sassuolo, who moved out of the relegation places. Edoardo Goldaniga and Matteo Politano scored for the hosts before a Francesco Acerbi own goal gave Crotone some hope.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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