Napoli edge Fiorentina as injury crisis deepens

Champions Napoli edged lowly Fiorentina 2-1 in Serie A on Saturday to keep pace in the title race, three days after being dumped out of the Champions League.

Napoli lost 3-2 to Chelsea on Wednesday and 3-0 to Juventus in the league last weekend but bounced back thanks to impressive goals from Antonio Vergara in the 11th minute and Miguel Gutierrez early in the second half.

Staggering under the weight of an injury crisis that includes star midfielder Kevin De Bruyne and striker Romelu Lukaku, Napoli lost captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo to a twisted knee in the first half.

“It’s a serious injury, the cruciate ligament,” coach Antonio Conte said after the game.

“We’re killing these guys, we’re killing football… with 60-70 matches per season, it’s suicide.”

Fiorentina forced Conte’s charges to dig in when Manor Solomon pulled a goal back on 57  minutes, but the home team held on for a narrow win with a lively pressing game.

“We’ll keep fighting,” vowed Conte. “We want to make sure we at least get back into the Champions League.”

Inter Milan travel to Cremonese on Sunday and lead the title charge on 52 points, with AC Milan second on 47 ahead of Tuesday’s game at Bologna.

Napoli climbed provisionally to third on 46. Roma have 43 ahead of Monday’s game at Udinese.

Napoli went into Saturday’s game with just one win from their last seven matches in all competitions.

Earlier on Saturday Pisa lost 3-1 at home to Sassuolo to remain rock-bottom having won just one match from 23.