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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Napoli capitalise on Inter Milan’s slip to move to top of the rankings

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Milan: Marek Hamsik equalled Diego Maradona’s record as Napoli’s all-time top goalscorer as they took advantage of Inter Milan’s first defeat of the season and moved top of Serie A with a 3-1 win at Torino on Saturday.


Inter went down 3-1 to Udinese at the San Siro earlier in the day and Hamsik, who now has 115 Napoli goals in all competitions, led the way as Maurizio Sarri’s side made the most of Inter’s loss with a three-goal blitz in the first half-hour that saw off Torino and moved them top on 42 points, two ahead of Inter, who drop back to second.


“It’s very pleasing to score 115 goals as a midfielder. That’s a good number,” Slovakian international Hamsik told Sky Sport Italia.


Napoli’s win came after a 1-0 home defeat to Juventus a fortnight ago that saw them relinquish top spot to Inter and a poor goalless draw with Fiorentina last week that saw them fail to take advantage of Inter’s own 0-0 draw at Juve.


“We are really happy with the performance,” added Hamsik.


“I don’t know if it’s an advantage to be top of the table, but it can help us remember how strong we are.”


The loss for Luciano Spalletti’s team also gives third-placed Juventus, themselves four points behind Napoli, the opportunity to leapfrog their old rivals Inter at Bologna on Sunday.


“We will probably need of something (in the winter transfer window) if we’re going to make that step forward,” admitted Spalletti.


Kalidou Koulibaly sent Napoli on their way in the fourth minute when he headed home Allan’s flick-on from a corner, and the away side looked out of sight with just 25 minutes gone when Piotr Zielinski collected Jorginho’s precise through ball and slotted home their second.


Hamsik effectively ended the match as a contest with 30 minutes gone when he swept home Dries Merten’s pass first time past Salvatore Sirigu, scoring his first goal since the start of October and finally equalling Maradona’s record.— Reuters


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