Hamsik eyes Maradona record

MILAN — Marek Hamsik moved to within three goals of Diego Maradona's Napoli record in a 3-1 win at Chievo as veteran Zdenek Zeman steered Pescara to a first win since August in a 5-0 rout of Genoa Sunday.
 Slovakia midfielder Hamsik took his tally to 112 Sunday with an easy tap-in seven minutes before half-time, and is now just three short of Maradona's 115-goal club record.
 The new goal came after the 30-year-old attacking midfielder scored his maiden Serie A hat trick in a 7-1 rout at Bologna two weeks ago.
 Lorenzo Insigne, fresh from scoring against Real Madrid in a 3-1 Champions League defeat to the Spanish giant, broke the deadlock on 31 minutes with a superb curling strike.
 Piotr Zielinskini had Napoli 3-0 to the good before the hour and although Riccardo Meggiorini beat Pepe Reina with a stunner for a 72nd-minute consolation, it proved too little too late.
 Napoli's 16th win moved Maurizio Sarri's men up to second place, one point above Roma before it hosts Torino later Sunday.
 But the club's media blackout — ordered by President Aurelio De Laurentiis following a spat with Sarri in the wake of defeat to Real — was confirmed post-game.
 Chievo remains in 11th spot, 31 points behind Juventus but well clear of a relegation zone from which Pescara will now harbor hopes of escaping.
 Zeman, however, said the task will be difficult and the players he inherited are unfit.
 "I'm happy for the lads, we have to keep thinking that we can stay up although it will be difficult," said Zeman.
 A legendary figure in Serie A who has coached Roma, Lazio, Napoli and Cagliari, he also famously led Foggia into Serie A and to the brink of UEFA Cup qualification in three successive seasons.
 Pescara was on fire from kickoff, Alberto Cerri forcing Lucas Orban into an own goal in the fifth minute after a great effort down the left.
 Pescara's only previous win this season was a shock 3-0 away defeat of Sassuolo last August, but Zeman's men were 3-0 in front by half-time thanks to goals by Gianluca Caprari and Ahmad Benali.
 Caprari secured his brace in the 81st minute and Cerri finally got on the scoresheet six minutes later.
 Pecara remains rooted to the bottom on 12 points, 49 behind Juventus and 10 adrift of fourth-from-bottom Empoli while Genoa dropped to 16th.
 Elsewhere, Seko Fofana hit a superb long-distance volley after coolly flicking Duvan Zapata's pass into the air in the seventh minute to give host Udinese a seventh-minute lead.
 But hopes of dominating a mid-Table battle with Sassuolo were tempered by Frenchman Gregoire Defrel, who came off the bench to hit a second-half brace in the space of nine minutes.
 Host Sampdoria conceded a sixth-minute opener when Chilean Mauricio Isla hit a superb angled drive at the Luigi Ferraris stadium.
 Sampdoria got back on level terms soon after, Fabio Quagliarella staying on his feet to connect with Luis Muriel's deflected punt from deep on the left to beat Gabriel on the volley to secure a share of the spoils.
 Earlier Sunday, 20-year-old Brazil international Gabriel 'Gabigol' Barbosa came off the bench to hit his maiden Serie A goal for Inter Milan to secure a 1-0 win at Bologna that has boosted their Europa League qualifying hopes.
 Inter sits fourth, 15 points behind Juventus and five points behind Roma. — AFP