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Insigne, Callejon on target as Napoli win

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MILAN: Lorenzo Insigne and Jose Callejon struck inside the opening minutes as classy Napoli kept their title hopes alive with a 2-1 win at AC Milan on Saturday. A week after seeing Fiorentina stun leaders Juventus 2-1 to carve open the Serie A title race, AC Milan hoped to upset predictions at a packed San Siro. But a year after Insigne’s double inspired the southerners to a famous 4-0 away romp, it took a superb second-half performance from Milan’s teenaged goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to limit the damage. Napoli remain third but have reduced the gap on Juventus, who host Lazio, to one point. Roma are in second, also one point adrift before hosting Cagliari in Sunday’s late game.


Paraguayan Gustavo Gomez, 23, was drafted in for suspended Alessandro Romagnoli at right-back but he struggled in the opening stages as Napoli hit two goals in the opening nine minutes. Dries Mertens escaped down the right to collect Allan’s through ball before finding Insigne on the left flank. The Italy midfielder took a touch before firing a superb drive that Donnarumma got his fingertips to before seeing it fly into the top corner. Insigne’s sixth goal of the campaign should have prompted a quick reaction, but Milan seemed to do the opposite. Mertens, on 12 league goals since stepping in to replace injured Polish striker Arkaduisz Milik, earned his second assist of the game all too easily minutes later.


After coolly sidestepping Gomez, the Belgian’s ball in behind the Milan defence found an overlapping Callejon, who raced in to beat the onrushing Donnarumma down low from a nearly impossible angle. A quickfire third was thwarted when Donnarumma rushed out promptly to block at the feet of Callejon, Mertens somehow fluffing a great chance close in moments later after racing through unchallenged to meet Allan’s long ball. When Milan won a corner on 35 minutes it prompted the biggest cheer thus far, but Gomez glanced a header wide from Giacomo Bonaventura’s well-worked move with Suso. — AFP


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