Napoli’s small Serie A title hopes all but mathematically died on Saturday as they lost 2-1 at Palermo. And it was worse news for Bari who were relegated to Serie B with four matches still to play following their 1-0 defeat at home to Sampdoria. Napoli dropped to third behind champions Inter Milan due to their defeat in Sicily while leaders AC Milan could go eight points clear with just 12 points left on offer if they win at second-bottom Brescia later in the day. Inter’s faint title hopes may have all but ended in last week’s defeat at Parma but Leonardo’s team proved in the 2-1 home win over Lazio that they’re still going to fight to the end. Inter looked headed for a disastrous afternoon when goalkeeper Julio Cesar brought down Mauro Zarate for a penalty midway through the first half.
Although Andrea Ranocchia had got back onto the line, the referee dismissed the Brazilian shot-stopper and Zarate added injury to insult by slotting home from the spot. Wesley Sneijder curled home a sumptuous free-kick five minutes before the break and then after half-time Samuel Eto’o pounced on a slip by Giuseppe Biava to round Fernando Muslera in the Lazio goal and shoot home. The referee then evened up the numbers by showing a straight red card to Lazio captain Stefano Mauri for what seemed a minor foul on Inter’s Japanese full-back Yuto Nagatomo. Udinese failed to take advantage of Lazio’s slip as they were beaten 2-0 at home by Parma. It also opened the way for sixth-placed Roma to close in to four points behind their city rivals following their 1-0 defeat of Chievo. Bari, who have looked doomed for months, needed to win to stand any chance of staying up but were relegated thanks to Nicola Pozzi’s second half penalty, which moved Samp out of the bottom three above Lecce on a better head-to-head record.
