Napoli beat Verona to keep title hopes alive

Champions Juventus stretched their lead to nine points with a precious 2-1 victory at AC Milan on Saturday that took the Turin giants a step closer to a record-equalling fifth consecutive 'Scudetto'.

Napoli's hopes of a first title in 26 years faded last week when Higuain was slapped with his ban, following a meltdown that saw the Argentina striker push the referee on the way to a crushing 3-1 defeat at Udinese.

But Maurizio Sarri's men stayed in the title hunt for one more week at least thanks to a convincing win that saw Gabbiadini, Lorenzo Insigne and Jose Callejon hit the net against Serie A's basement side to bring the gap back to six points with six games remaining.

Gabbiadini stepped in as a direct replacement for Higuain, and was in the right place at the right time on 33 minutes to head the rebound from Callejon's strike past Pierluigi Gollini.

Verona's chances of taking anything away from the San Paolo were hit before the interval when Samuel Souprayen saw red for a clumsy challenge on Callejon in the area.

Insigne stepped up to beat Gollini from the resulting penalty to double Napoli's lead on the stroke of half-time, but more was to come, Callejon adding Napoli's third in the second half with a tap-in after Omar El Kaddouri had sprung the offside trap.

- One hand on the title -

Elsewhere, an own goal from Pablo Armero sent Sampdoria on their way to a 2-0 home win over Udinese, with Fernando adding their second five minutes from time.

Torino maintained their purple patch following last week's vital win away to Inter Milan by beating Atalanta 2-1, who hit a late consolation through Luca Cigarini after trailing following strikes by Bruno Peres and Maxi Lopez.

Lazio are away to Palermo in Sunday's late game, while Roma will look to tighten their grip on third place at home to Bologna on Monday.

Juventus appear to have one hand on a record-equalling title, with a major test to come next week for Napoli, who face Inter Milan away.

On Saturday, the champions could afford to rest several regulars on their way to a comeback win over a battling Milan side, whose hopes of Europa League qualification are now hanging by a thread.

Paul Pogba struck a second-half winner at the San Siro after Mario Mandzukic had levelled Alex's 18th-minute opener for the hosts just before the half hour.

The result left Milan in sixth place, seven points behind Fiorentina in fifth -- the league's last Europa League qualifying spot -- after La Viola's shock 2-0 defeat at Empoli.

Goals from Manuel Pucciarelli and Piotr Zielinski ended Empoli's nearly two-decade wait to beat their local rivals, and placed further doubt on the future of Viola coach Paulo Sousa.

Empoli had not beaten Fiorentina home or away since 1997, but after Pucciarelli's 41st-minute strike the hosts thwarted a second-half fightback by the visitors and wrapped up the points when Zielinkski struck two minutes from time.

Fiorentina's sixth game without a win has dented their Europa League hopes in the week Sousa, in his first season at the club, was reported to have met representatives from a Russian league side.

Representatives from Zenit Saint Petersburg were reportedly in attendance at the Castellani stadium as rumours mounted that Sousa had met in midweek with the club.

But he told Sky Sport: "It's normal for scouts or sporting directors (from other clubs) to travel to other games."

Sousa admitted Fiorentina's poor run of form was "worrying", but said club president Andrea Della Valle "has confirmed he wants me to remain at the club".

"Now we have to get back to winning ways, like we were at the start of the season."