Napoli afforded itself even more space at second place in the Serie A table with a big 2-1 win over Lazio.
Jose Callejon scored just past the half-hour mark on the break, slotting inside the right post on the low feed from Dries Mertens. Just three minutes later, Arkadiusz Milik buried a free-kick into the top-right corner from just outside the box, doubling Napoli’s lead.
After Callejon hit the post with a header past the hour mark, Ciro Immobile brought Lazio one goal back as he worked Raul Albiol one-on-one. However, the visitors would fall a man down as Francesco Acerbi received a second yellow card and Lazio was unable to draw back level with the disadvantage. The sending off is significant for the record books, as Acerbi had played a full 90 minutes in 148 straight matches, but his suspension next week against Juventus means he will fall just 13 matches short of Javier Zanetti’s Serie A consecutive appearance record.
Elsewhere, Atalanta went to Stadio Benito Stirpe and obliterated Frosinone 5-0 behind four goals from Duvan Zapata. Gianluca Mancini opened the scoring in the 11th minute, but the second half was the Zapata show. He scored his first just a minute before the break on a towering header powered past Marco Sportiello. After halftime, it took just three minutes for Zapata to grab his second, finishing off great individual work by Berat Djimsiti who twisted through defenders.
His third came as he beat Luka Krajnc and took a header from Hans Hateboer to strike home, and for his fourth he got position on Edoardo Goldaniga and headed in a Matteo Pessina cross. The win pushed Atalanta up to seventh on 31 points, just two back of Roma in fourth.
Fiorentina earned an exciting 3-3 draw at home against Sampdoria, falling a man down in the 39th minute but sticking with it during a roller coaster final 10 minutes plus. Holding a 2-1 lead thanks to a brace from debutant Luis Muriel, Fiorentina suddenly found itself trailing 3-2 thanks to 81st and 85th minute goals by Fabio Quagliarella including one from the penalty spot. Thankfully for the home side, German Pezzella was on hand to grab the equalizer in the 93rd minute, powerfully holding up the ball one-on-two in the penalty area and turning to slot home the late effort.
Cagliari also worked a late draw at home thanks to Diego Farias who struck a 91st minute equalizer to finish 2-2 with Empoli. Three of the four goals in that game were scored in the second half with Cagliari up 1-0 at the break.
Finally, Rodrigo Palacio and Jasmin Kurtic cancelled out as Bologna drew 1-1 with SPAL in Ferrara. The match was even on just about all accounts, with the shots 16-14, the possession 53-47 in the home side’s favor, and the teams separated by just two points in the table. The visitors came out the most disappointed with the result, still in the relegation zone on 14 points.
