MILAN: Napoli drew 0-0 with Torino on Sunday, their third goalless draw in four Serie A games, allowing Juventus to take a 13-point lead at the top of the table.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side were held to stalemates by AC Milan and Fiorentina in their last two away games and failed to find the net once again at the Stadio San Paolo.

Arkadiusz Milik came close on several occasions and Lorenzo Insigne curled a shot off the post but Torino held firm to frustrate their hosts.

“We lacked a goal, just as we did against Fiorentina,” Ancelotti told Italian broadcasters. “We played with focus, motivation, determination, but its unacceptable to have 18 scoring opportunities over two games and not score any of them.”

The result leaves Napoli in second place on 53 points, while Torino occupy ninth with 35 points.

Earlier, Radja Nainggolan scored the winner as Inter Milan managed to beat Sampdoria 2-1 in Serie A after a dramatic finale at San Siro to consolidate their grip on third place.

Nainggolan rifled in low from the edge of the box on 78 minutes after Danilo D’Ambrosio had opened the scoring five minutes earlier, with Manolo Gabbiadini equalising for Sampdoria in between.

Luciano Spalletti’s side sit seven points adrift of Napoli and again moved four points clear of fourth-placed AC Milan.

Genoa captain Domenico Criscito scored deep into injury time to grab a 2-1 win over Lazio which left the capital club in seventh, four points adrift Milan in the race for Champions League qualification.

Milan Badelj gave Lazio the lead shortly before halftime and hit the crossbar after the break but Genoa leveled in somewhat fortunate circumstances when Lucas Leiva’s attempted clearance bounced off Antonio Sanabria’s leg and into the back of the net.

Genoa snatched all three points in stoppage time as a poor clearance fell to Domenico Criscito, who drilled it into the bottom right corner.

There were also wins for Udinese and Empoli over Chievo Verona and Sassuolo respectively and in the lunchtime kick-off Fiorentina won 4-1 away to SPAL.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2019