Caputo fires Sassuolo top with Crotone brace as virus cases increase

Roberto De Zerbi's exciting team are on seven points after three games and cannot be caught until Sunday with Udinese and Roma sharing just one point between them ahead of their match later Saturday.

They are a point ahead of five teams, including Napoli -- who take on champions Juve on Sunday -- Inter Milan and Atalanta, who are all expected to challenge for the Serie A title this season.

Caputo, known as "Ciccio" in Italy, was on Friday called up for Italy ahead of matches against Moldova, Poland and the Netherlands between October 7-14, and the 33-year-old celebrated with a clinical performance that takes him to three goals in as many games this season.

He struck from the penalty spot in the 58th minute to put the hosts in the lead, just nine minutes after Simy had levelled Domenico Berardi's first-half opener with a penalty of his own for Crotone. The forward made it 3-1 with five minutes remaining after being put clean through by Berardi before Manuel Locatelli completed the rout with a close range finish deep into stoppage time.

The other match scheduled for after Sassuolo's win, Genoa's home clash with Torino, was postponed earlier in the week followed a raft of Covid-19 cases for the hosts which rose to 22 among playing and coaching staff on Saturday.

Both Napoli and Atalanta announced new cases among playing staff on Saturday, with Gennaro Gattuso's side now counting midfielder Eljif Elmas among those with the virus after Poland international Poitr Zielinski was revealed as testing positive on Friday.

However Juve coach Andrea Pirlo said on Saturday that he didn't believe there was "any risk" of the match not being played. "I don't think there will be problems that mean we can't play the match," he told reporters. We've prepared for the match like all the other teams have so tomorrow evening we will be ready to play. It (the situation) hasn't changed anything for us at all."

No Napoli players have been called up to the Italy squad, with the Italian Football Federation saying that the decision to not select the club's players was a "precautionary" measure following the surge in cases.

Atalanta said one case "with low viral load was diagnosed within the team group", adding that the unnamed player was asymptomatic.