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Inter ends Napoli winning streak

October 22, 2017
Napoli’s Dries Mertens in action with Inter Milan’s Miranda during their Intalian league football match at Stadio San Paolo in Naples Saturday. — Reuters
Napoli’s Dries Mertens in action with Inter Milan’s Miranda during their Intalian league football match at Stadio San Paolo in Naples Saturday. — Reuters

MILAN — Inter Milan ended Napoli’s winning streak in Serie A with a goalless draw despite a hard-fought top of the table clash in Naples Saturday.

Napoli — which suffered Champions League disappointment at Manchester City this week — now has 25 points from nine games to maintain its two-point advantage on second-placed Inter.

Champions Juventus and Lazio — joint third on 19 points — have a golden opportunity to narrow the gap Sunday when they take on Udinese and Cagliari respectively.

Napoli had been on a winning streak in 13 Serie A games going back to last season.

But it came up against a stubborn Inter, chasing a first win in Naples in 20 years, and who underlined its title credentials in front of 50,000 spectators at the San Paolo Stadium.

Both teams had their goalkeepers to thank for the point with Inter’s Samir Handanovic and Napoli’s Pepe Reina pulling off some fine saves.

Napoli plays at Genoa with Inter hosting local rival Sampdoria, which earlier Saturday crushed struggling Crotone with a five-goal blitz to move fifth.

Sampdoria, which has have a game in hand, were three goals up by half-time. Gianmarco Ferrari headed in after three minutes against his former club.

Fabio Quagliarella converted a penalty on 11 minutes after Arlind Ajeti dragged down Duvan Zapata, with Gianluca Caprari tapping in a third before the break.

Polish pair Karol Linetty and substitute Dawid Kownacki added two more for good measure in a five-minute spree from 71 minutes as Sampdoria kept its perfect home record.

Crotone — with 19 goals conceded — is just one point above the relegation zone after a fifth defeat.

Bayern stretches winning run

Champions Bayern Munich continued its winning run under new coach Jupp Heynckes with a 1-0 victory at Hamburg SV Saturday to join leaders Borussia Dortmund at the top of the Bundesliga.

Corentin Tolisso fired in the winner in the 52nd minute after some sloppy defending from 10-man Hamburg to lift it to 20 points, level with Dortmund which let a two-goal lead slip to draw 2-2 at Eintracht Frankfurt.

“You could see Hamburg were very motivated and were fighting hard,” Heynckes told reporters. — Agencies


October 22, 2017
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