Soccer Football - Serie A - Fiorentina v Napoli - Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence, Italy - January 4, 2025 Napoli's Giovanni Simeone in action REUTERS/Alberto Lingria
FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) -Napoli went top of the Serie A standings thanks to a comfortable 3-0 win at Fiorentina on Saturday, the visitors facing few problems as they registered a fourth successive league victory.
With Napoli's main Scudetto rivals not in league action this weekend -- Atalanta and Inter Milan are both in Saudi Arabia for the Italian Super Cup -- Antonio Conte's side took full advantage.
Napoli are on 44 points, three ahead of Atalanta who have a game in hand, and Inter are a further point back, but with two fewer matches played. Fiorentina dropped to sixth on 32 points.
Mathias Olivera had the ball in the net for Napoli early on but the goal was ruled out for offside, while Leonardo Spinazzola drew a save from Fiorentina keeper David de Gea.
The visitors took the lead in the 29th minute when David Neres went on a mazy dribbling run into the area, going past three players before blasting a powerful shot into the roof of the net.
Fiorentina striker Moise Kean finally got his chance to shine, and found the net, but his goal was chalked off for a handball while controlling the ball and Napoli took their lead into the break.
Fiorentina manager Raffaele Palladino had given defender Matias Moreno his Serie A debut and the Argentine showed his inexperience when hauling down Andre Anguissa in the area.
Romelu Lukaku, who had a penalty saved in Napoli's last game, sent De Gea the wrong way with his low strike straight down the middle to give the visitors a two-goal cushion nine minutes after the interval.
Fiorentina had two chances in quick succession to pull back a goal, with Napoli keeper Alex Meret denying Rolando Mandragora and Amir Rrahmani blocking Lucas Beltran's goalbound shot from the rebound.
Another defensive error allowed Napoli in for a third goal, with Pietro Comuzzo's poor clearance of a cross from Anguissa falling to Scott McTominay who calmly stroked home his fourth league goal of the season in the 68th minute.
Fiorentina could find no way past a Napoli side with the best defensive record in Serie A and, after a run of eight successive league wins, Palladino's side have now gone four games without a win.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Ed Osmond and Clare Fallon)
