Napoli climb to 2nd after beating Milan 1-0 in mediocre outing

MILAN, Dec 20: Napoli leapfrogged AC Milan into second place in Serie A after beating its title rival 1-0 in a mediocre match at San Siro on Sunday.
Eljif Elmas scored an early goal and Milan had an equalizer controversially disallowed right at the death.
Franck Kessié’s goal was ruled out on video review as Olivier Giroud was in an offside position that was judged to be interfering with play, despite the Rossoneri forward being prone on the ground, underneath a Napoli defender.
“In the end they will say that they applied the rules in the right way … but I say: ’How can a player who is on the ground interfere with the defense?” Milan coach Stefano Pioli said.
Napoli moved above Milan on goal difference. The two teams are four points behind defending champion Inter Milan.
Milan and Napoli had been joint leaders until recently, before a slew of injuries took its toll.
But the visitors got off to the perfect start when Elmas headed in a corner at the near post after managing to get away from Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali.
Milan struggled to carve out opportunities but did go close to an equalizer in the 34th minute when Alessandro Florenzi’s shot from distance flew just wide of the right post.
Dušan Vlahović scored again as Fiorentina fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at home to Sassuolo.
Gianluca Scamacca and Davide Frattesi scored within five minutes of each other to give Sassuolo a seemingly comfortable lead in the first half.
Vlahović got a goal back six minutes into the second half. Vlahović was also involved in Fiorentina’s second goal, 10 minutes later, as his attempt was blocked but the ball came to Lucas Torreira to complete the comeback.
Both teams scored at the wrong end as relegation-threatened Spezia held Empoli to a 1-1 draw. (AP)