MILAN – An electric San Siro helped Inter beat the cold and a stubborn Napoli side to edge a hard-fought encounter 2-1. Guarin and Milito grabbed the goals as the Nerazzurri leapfrogged Napoli to move into second place in the standings.
Andrea Stramaccioni's troops took an early lead with a training ground move. Guarin made a late dart into the far side of the box to meet Cassano's corner first time and power past De Sanctis at the near post. San Siro erupted. Napoli tried to muster a fightback and offered attacking threat in the shape of Insigne, Cavani and Hamsik. But six minutes before the break Inter were two up and Guarin was again at the heart of it. The Colombian collected a defensive clearance and played an inch-perfect ball into the path of Milito, who showed poise to bring it under control while holding off his man before slotting past De Sanctis.
In the second period, Cassano had the chance to extend Inter's lead further but was denied by the woodwork. Handanovic then thwarted Inler and conceded a corner, from which Napoli pulled one back. Pandev knocked the ball towards the near post, Handanovic saved, Maggio hit the bar and then had the chance to stab in the rebound but Handanovic pulled off another miracle on the line only to see Cavani sweep home the loose ball. Replays showed Pandev was offside at the start of the scramble but it was a tough call. Napoli went close to finding an equaliser in the 75th minute as Pandev freed Cavani: Handanovic saved, then repeated the feat from Maggio with three minutes of normal time remaining. Two minutes later, Palacio did superbly to keep the ball in play and get his shot away from a tight angle, firing inches wide of the far post. There were to be no more goals. Inter beat Napoli 2-1 and overtook their rivals in the league table, moving up to second place on 34 points.
Inter 2-1 Napoli (HT:
2-0)
Scorers: Guarin 8, Milito 39,
Cavani 54.
Inter: 1 Handanovic; 23
Ranocchia, 19 Cambiasso, 40 Juan Jesus; 55 Nagatomo, 4 Zanetti, 21
Gargano, 14 Guarin, 31 Pereira; 99 Cassano (Palacio 60), 22 Milito
(Coutinho 74).
Unused subs: 12 Castellazzi, 27
Belec, 6 Silvestre, 17 Mariga, 24 Benassi, 28 Pasa, 33 Mbaye, 41
Duncan, 52 Romanò, 88 Livaja.
Coach: Andrea
Stramaccioni.
Napoli: 1 De Sanctis; 55
Gamberini (Pandev 46), 28 Cannavaro, 5 Britos; 11 Maggio, 85 Behrami,
88 Inler (Dzemaili 58), 18 Zuniga; 17 Hamsik (Mesto 84); 24 Insigne,
7 Cavani.
Unused subs: 22 Rosati, 2 Grava, 4
Donadel, 6 Aronica, 8 Dossena, 9 Vargas, 14 Campagnaro, 15 Colombo,
21 Fernandez.
Coach: Walter Mazzarri.
Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Bologna).
Booked: Handanovic 28, Gamberini 43, Gargano 58, Pandev 60, Behrami 61.
Added time: 3+3 minutes.
Attendance: 57,374.
