On Sunday, eight Italian championship matches were played.
In the first one, despite Dries Mertens missing a penalty in the very beginning of the match, Napoli managed to take the lead away against the Empoli team in the 19th minute. This time, Lorenzo Insigne scored after a mistake by the opponents.
Shortly after, Mertens scored a great penalty, and Insigne converted another penalty, so Maurizio Sarri's team was leading 3-0 after the first half.
However, in the second half, they allowed Omar El Kaddouri to reduce the hosts' deficit, and with Massimo Maccarone scoring from the penalty spot, Empoli started to breathe down Napoli's neck. The home team had several attacks towards the end of the match, but Napoli managed to hold on and not lose any points.
Meanwhile, Atalanta defeated Pescara 3-0 in front of their own fans and closed in on Inter Milan and Lazio, who both played draw yesterday and lost points today. Gian Piero Gasperini's team stood out with a double by Alejandro Gomez, and Alberto Grassi added another goal.
The capital team Roma drew against Cagliari away with no goals scored. The league leaders Juventus played away as well. Truth be told, it went slightly better for them as Juan Cuadrado's early goal with a header brought three points for the Bianconeri.
With nine games remaining until the end of the season, Juve continues to maintain a safe lead over their closest rivals.
Roma temporarily displaced Napoli from the second spot, but Luciano Spalletti's team defeated Sassuolo yesterday evening.
Roma managed to win despite initially falling behind after Gregoire Defrel's goal. However, they quickly equalized thanks to Leandro Paredes' strike in the 16th minute, and later goals from Mohamed Salah and Edin Dzeko secured the victory for the Giallorossi.
Results:
Empoli 2 - 3 Napoli
7' Dries Mertens (Napoli) missed a penalty
[0-1] 19' Lorenzo Insigne
[0-2] 24' Dries Mertens
[0-3] 38' Lorenzo Insigne (from the penalty spot)
[1-3] 70' Omar El Kaddouri
[2-3] 82' Massimo Maccarone (from the penalty spot)
Atalanta 3 - 0 Pescara
[1-0] 14' Alejandro Gomez
[2-0] 69' Alberto Grassi
[3-0] 90' Alejandro Gomez
Bologna 4 - 1 Chievo
[0-1] 40' Lucas Nahuel Castro
[1-1] 61' Simone Verdi
[2-1] 72' Blerim Dzemaili
[3-1] 90' Blerim Dzemaili
[4-1] 90' Federico Di Francesco
Cagliari 0 - 0 Lazio
Crotone 0 - 1 Fiorentina
[0-1] 90' Nikola Kalinic
Sampdoria 0 - 1 Juventus
[0-1] 7' Juan Cuadrado
Udinese 4 - 1 Palermo
[0-1] 12' Roland Sallai
[1-1] 42' Cyril Thereau
[2-1] 60' Duvan Zapata
[3-1] 68' Rodrigo De Paul
74' Alessandro Diamanti (Palermo) sent off
[4-1] 80' Jakub Jankto
Roma 3 - 1 Sassuolo
[0-1] 9' Gregoire Defrel
[1-1] 16' Leandro Daniel Paredes
[2-1] 45' Mohamed Salah
[3-1] 68' Edin Dzeko
