Napoli into second place as Juve crash again
By DPA, IANSSunday, January 9, 2011
ROME - Edinson Cavani scored a hat-trick Sunday in Napoli’s 3-0 drubbing of Juventus to draw level with Antonio Di Natale as top scorer in the Italian Serie A.
The Uruguayan opened his series of three headers on 20 minutes, finding the lower right corner in a static defence off a right-flank cross by Christian Maggio and aimed for the other post six minutes later as Andrea Dossena centred from the left.
Juve only produced a drive and a header from Amauri, playing next to an indifferent Luca Toni, who Friday arrived from Genoa to replace the injured Fabio Quagliarella.
A diving header from Cavani on 53 minutes brought him on 13 goals and sealed a drubbing that follows the 4-1 defeat suffered by Juve at home to Parma Thursday.
Earlier braces from Di Natale and Brazilian Pato spiced up a pulsating 4-4 draw between leaders AC Milan and visiting Udinese Sunday.
Milan lead the standings on 40 points from 19 games at the season’s halfway point, with second-placed Napoli leapfrogging Lazio and trailing on 36.
Champions Inter Milan struggled and fell behind in Catania, but rallied through a brace from Argentine midfielder Esteban Cambiasso, who scored with a drive and a header in the last 15 minutes after Alejandro Gomez put the Sicily hosts ahead on 71 minutes.
The Nerazzurri lag 11 points with two games in hand, while Lazio slipped up at home, losing 2-1 to minnows Lecce and falling six points from the top.
In a round opener in Genoa, two defensive blunders from second-half substitute Juan and the dismissal of goalkeeper Julio Sergio led to Roma’s 2-1 downfall at Sampdoria.
The Rome side took the lead through Mirko Vucinic, but suffered a fifth defeat despite two dismissals for Samp in the final minutes.
“It is a pity. We had played a great game,” Roma coach Claudio Ranieri said. “Then came the two mistakes from Juan. Two big mistakes from a big champion.”
In Bari, veteran Marco Di Vaio moved on to 11 goals, helping Bologna win 2-0 against the tail-enders, Fiorentina rallied from two goals down to beat Brescia 3-2 and Cagliari won 2-1 at Parma.
Chievo and Palermo drew 0-0, while Cesena and Genoa also drew without goals.
