Napoli beat shorthanded Inter to continue Serie A title party

ROME: Napoli continued their Serie A title party on Sunday (May 21) with a 3-1 home victory over 10-man Inter Milan that jeopardised the visitors' Champions League hopes.

Inter remained third in the table but only a point ahead of Lazio, who visit Udinese in the late game, and two clear of AC Milan.

Yet with two finals looming - against Fiorentina in the Italian Cup on Wednesday and Manchester City in the Champions League on Jun 10 - coach Simone Inzaghi made eight changes from the team that beat AC Milan in the second leg of their European semi-final last Tuesday.

Inter's task became even tougher when veteran centre back Roberto Gagliardini picked up a second yellow card in the 41st minute.

Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa put Napoli ahead after 67 minutes, spinning and volleying a shot into the corner of the net.

Inzaghi threw on some regular starters and one of them, Denzel Dumfries, set up Romelu Lukaku for a close-range equaliser after 82 minutes.

Napoli skipper Giovanni Di Lorenzo curled a 20-metre shot into the top corner to restore the lead three minutes later.

As Inter pressed desperately, Gianluca Gaetano finished off a Napoli counter-attack with his first league goal for the club deep into added time.

Inter's European chances could be enhanced on Monday when second-placed Juventus face a second Italian Football Federation ruling on illicit transfer activity. An original 15-point deduction was later revoked by the country's highest sports court.

Fiorentina, who also have two cup finals coming up, against West Ham in the Conference League as well as the Italian Cup, drew 1-1 at Torino in the afternoon.

Luka Jovic, who started on the bench, gave Fiorentina the lead but Antonio Sanabria levelled for the hosts.

Earlier, Cremonese's