MILAN: Napoli’s Dries Mertens scored two minutes from time to give his second-placed side a 3-2 win over Bologna after the struggling visitors twice fought back to equalise in Serie A on Saturday.

Arkadiusz Milik put Napoli ahead on two occasions but Bologna, without a win in 12 league matches, hit back with goals by Federico Santander and Danilo.

Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli stayed nine points behind leaders Juventus, who have 53 points after a 2-1 win at home to Sampdoria, as the championship reached the halfway mark.

They are five ahead of third-placed Inter Milan, who won 1-0 at Empoli after a second-half goal from Keita Balde. After a winter break, the Serie A resumes from January 19.

Napoli fans and players showed their support for defender Kalidou Koulibaly during the win over Bologna after the Senegal international was subjected to racist chants this week.

With Koulibaly suspended, Napoli fullback Faouzi Ghoulam warmed up wearing the Senegal international’s No 26 shirt.

Fans held up photos of Koulibaly and anti-racism banners with the hashtag label #SiamotuttiKalidou, which translates as “We’re all Kalidou.” Koulibaly had monkey noises directed at him throughout last week’s defeat against Inter in Milan.

Milik scored in the 16th minute, prodding the ball home after a series of rebounds, only for Santander to level for Bologna just after the half hour, the Paraguayan getting in front of his marker at a free kick to power home a header.

Napoli regained the lead with a Milik header six minutes after the restart only to concede another goal from a set piece, Danilo this time scoring in the 80th minute as Koulibaly’s absence was sorely felt.

Belgian Mertens then came to the rescue, cutting inside to score from the edge of the area with a shot which bounced under Lukasz Skorupski, although Bologna nearly levelled again when Napoli’s Mario Rui had to clear off the line following a corner.

“We’re on track with expectations,” said Ancelotti. “We had some good results that have only been watered down by an extraordinary Juventus run.”

HARD-FOUGHT WIN

The visiting section was empty for Inter’s win at Empoli.

Local authorities banned away fans after an Inter supporter died following clashes with opposing supporters outside the San Siro stadium before the match against Napoli.

Balde scored midway through the second half with a scuffed shot that went in off the post.

Inter will also play its next two home matches behind closed doors, plus there will be a partial closure for the club’s third home game, as punishment for the clashes and racist chants.

Lazio remained fourth following a 1-1 draw with Torino in which both sides finished with 10 men. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic scored the equaliser for Lazio after a penalty from Andrea Belotti.

Argentine forward Gonzalo Higuain broke a two-month scoring drought by netting the winner as AC Milan ended a four-match streak without a victory by defeating struggling SPAL 2-1 at the San Siro.

Gennaro Gattuso’s side move up to fifth, one point behind Lazio, to end their four-game winless run.

AS Roma profitted from Sampdoria’s defeat to move up to sixth just two points off the Champions League places, thanks to second half goals for Bryan Cristante (58) and Cengiz Under (75) in a 2-0 win over Parma.

Josip Ilicic came off the bench to score a hat trick in Atalanta’s 6-2 win at Sassuolo. It was Ilicic’s third hat-trick in 2018 matching Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero for the record in Europe’s top five leagues.

Udinese won 2-0 against Cagliari with goals from Ignacio Pussetto and Valon Behrami.

Emanuele Giaccherini scored with a curling free kick as last-place Chievo Verona beat 10-man Frosinone 1-0 for their first win of the season.

Genoa and Fiorentina shared a 0-0 draw.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2018