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Serie A: Napoli and Juventus both win ahead of two-week break

Juventu's Italian forward Federico Bernardeschi celebrates after scoring during the Italian Serie A football match Cagliari Calcio vs Juventus at the Sarde
Image: Federico Bernardeschi celebrates scoring for Juventus

Fernando Bernardeschi scored the only goal as champions Juventus kept Serie A leaders Napoli in their sights with a 1-0 win over Cagliari on Saturday.

Napoli cemented their position in top spot before Italy's two-week winter break with 51 points from 20 games after seeing off Verona 2-0.

They are one point clear of Juventus with Inter Milan a distant third, nine points behind the leaders, after being held 1-1 at Fiorentina on Friday.

Italian winger Bernardeschi nudged home on 74 minutes following a solo break by Douglas Costa down the right flank, but there were worries for Massimiliano Allegri's side with Paulo Dybala limping off with a suspected hamstring strain.

Both Napoli's goals came in the second half against a dogged Verona, with Kalidou Koulibaly breaking the deadlock after 65 minutes in Naples and Jose Callejon sealing the win 13 minutes later.

Roma missed the chance to join Inter on 42 points, slipping to fifth after a shock 2-1 defeat to 10-man Atalanta.

Atalanta, fresh from their Italian Cup defeat of Napoli, were two goals up by half-time through Andreas Cornelius and Marten de Roon.

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Edin Dzeko reduced the deficit on 56 minutes but Roma failed to take advantage of playing the entire second half with an extra man on the pitch after De Roon was sent off for a second yellow card.

Lazio - like Roma with a game in hand - moved just two points behind Inter into fourth after Ciro Immobile hit four goals in a 5-2 goal blitz in against SPAL.

Immobile is having another great season at Lazio after scoring 23 times last campaign, and moved two ahead of Inter's Mauro Icardi at the top of the Serie A scorers charts, with 20 goals in 19 games.

Spaniard Luis Alberto opened for Lazio after just five minutes with Immobile bagging a first-half hat-trick, completing the scoreline five minutes after the break.

Captain Leonardo Bonucci headed in his first AC Milan goal to see off Crotone 1-0 win at San Siro, further boosting the struggling side after their Italian Cup win over Inter.

Bottom club Benevento won their game second in a row, with Massimo Coda's brace giving them a 3-2 win over 10-man Sampdoria, while Andrey Galabinov scored late to move Genoa away from the relegation zone with a 1-0 at Sassuolo.

Earlier former Watford boss Walter Mazzarri made a winning start as Torino coach with a 3-0 home win over Bologna, just two days after taking over from Sinisa Mihajlovic.

Lorenzo De Silvestri, M'Baye Niang and Iago Falque all scored to give Torino just their second win in their last nine matches.

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