Napoli dismantles Crotone to move up to third
Napoli moved third in Serie A on Monday (AEDT) after strolling to a 4-0 win over bottom side Crotone, taking advantage of Roma and Sassuolo's goalless draw.
Gennaro Gattuso's side are on 20 points, level with Juventus and three behind leader AC Milan after goals from Lorenzo Insigne, Hirving Lozano, Diego Demme and Andrea Petagna earned the away side a simple three points despite starting without Dries Mertens and the injured Victor Osimhen.
Insigne opened the scoring with a trademark curling strike after cutting in from the left with half an hour gone, and the task became simpler for the away side five minutes after the break when Jacopo Petriccione was sent off for a late, high challenge on Demme.
Italy international Insigne then laid on Lozano for the second with a superb long pass that left the Mexican with a simple finish, and Demme made sure of the result with a drilled low strike 14 minutes from the end following a lay-off from substitute Mertens.
Belgium forward Mertens then supplied the pass that allowed Petagna to hammer home the fourth in stoppage time as Napoli temporarily closed the gap between them and Milan.
Roma meanwhile was left ruing missed chances after its home draw with Sassuolo as both teams had goals ruled out by VAR and the hosts played the second half with 10 men.
Roma is five points off the lead in sixth after wasting opportunities to win despite having a man less for 50 minutes, while Sassuolo is one ahead in fifth.
Pedro was sent off for a second bookable offence five minutes before the break. His coach Paulo Fonseca followed him to the stands at the end of the first half after Henrikh Mkhitaryan's goal was ruled out for a foul by Edin Dzeko following a VAR check.
The host dominated after the break despite being outnumbered and were unlucky to not take the lead when Leonardo Spinazzola's cross was guided onto the post by Sassuolo defender Gian Marco Ferrari, under pressure from Dzeko.
Sassuolo thought it had snatched the points with 15 minutes left when Lukas Haraslin whipped a long-range shot past Antonio Mirante, only for the goal to be ruled out for the tightest of offsides by VAR.
"I'm very proud of my team. We played very well even when down to 10. We were very well organised defensively and didn't allow Sassuolo many opportunities," Fonseca said.
Parma's match with newly-promoted Benevento also finished goalless while mid-table side Hellas Verona drew 1-1 with Cagliari.
Atalanta's match at Udinese was postponed after heavy rain made the pitch unplayable.
