Napoli Extend Lead At Top Of Serie A With Win At AC Milan

Napoli grew their lead at the top of the Serie A table to seven points with a 2-0 win at AC Milan on Tuesday.

Antonio Conte's resurgent side wrapped the match up inside the first half, courtesy of an early Romelu Lukaku goal and a sensational strike by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Napoli sit on 25 points, with champions Inter Milan on 18 but with the chance to reduce the gap when they visit Empoli on Wednesday.

A third defeat of the campaign leaves AC Milan in eighth place, 11 points behind the leaders.

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ai/core/v-ndtv/vdo.

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js");Belgian striker Lukaku scored his fourth goal of the season since joining the 2023 Italian champions in the summer when he broke the deadlock on five minutes.

He raced onto a pass from Frank Anguissa, held off a defender and slotted coolly past Mike Maignan in the AC Milan goal.

Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret was forced twice into action before the half-hour to maintain his side's lead.

As the clock ticked down to half-time, Georgian winger Kvaratskhelia doubled the visitors' lead.

Picking the ball up on the left wing, he drove suddenly inside on his right foot past Youssouf Fofana and rifled a shot from distance into the far post beyond the dive of Maignan.

Alvaro Morata thought he had given Milan a lifeline two minutes after the break with a powerful header.

However, upon VAR review he was shown to have been offside in the build-up to the goal and it was disallowed.

The hosts continued to search for a way back into the encounter and only a fine reflex save by Meret to deny Rafael Leao in the 83rd minute kept Napoli's two-goal cushion intact.

Earlier, goals in either half by Riccardo Orsolini and Jens Odgaard sent Bologna up to 10th in the table with a 2-0 win at Cagliari.

Lecce climbed off the foot of the table by beating nine-men Verona 1-0 thanks to a Patrick Dorgu goal on 51 minutes.

The away side lost Jackson Tchatchoua to a red card five minutes before half-time, then Reda Belahyane was given his marching orders inside the final 10 minutes for a second bookable offence.

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