MILAN: Napoli grew their lead at the top of the Serie A table to seven points with a 2-0 win at AC Milan on Tuesday.
Antonio Conte’s resurgent side wrapped the match up inside the first half, courtesy of an early Romelu Lukaku goal and a sensational strike by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Napoli sit on 25 points, with champions Inter Milan on 18 but with the chance to reduce the gap when they visit Empoli on Wednesday.
A third defeat of the campaign leaves AC Milan in eighth place, 11 points behind the leaders.
Belgian striker Lukaku scored his fourth goal of the season since joining the 2023 Italian champions in the summer when he broke the deadlock on five minutes.
He raced onto a pass from Frank Anguissa, held off a defender and slotted coolly past Mike Maignan in the AC Milan goal.
Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret was forced twice into action before the half-hour to maintain his side’s lead.
As the clock ticked down to half-time, Georgian winger Kvaratskhelia doubled the visitors’ lead.
Picking the ball up on the left wing, he drove suddenly inside on his right foot past Youssouf Fofana and rifled a shot from distance into the far post beyond the dive of Maignan.
Alvaro Morata thought he had given Milan a lifeline two minutes after the break with a powerful header.
However, upon VAR review he was shown to have been offside in the build-up to the goal and it was disallowed.
The hosts continued to search for a way back into the encounter and only a fine reflex save by Meret to deny Rafael Leao in the 83rd minute kept Napoli’s two-goal cushion intact.
Earlier, goals in either half by Riccardo Orsolini and Jens Odgaard sent Bologna up to 10th in the table with a 2-0 win at Cagliari.
Lecce climbed off the foot of the table by beating nine-men Verona 1-0 thanks to a Patrick Dorgu goal on 51 minutes.
The away side lost Jackson Tchatchoua to a red card five minutes before half-time, then Reda Belahyane was given his marching orders inside the final 10 minutes for a second bookable offense