Juve stretch lead as Campagnaro saves Napoli
Press Trust of IndiaMilan, Feb 10 (AFP) Argentine defender Hugo Campagnaro scored a superb late volley to save Napoli's blushes in a 1-1 draw with Lazio which boosted Juventus's Serie A title defence. Juventus had assured their 17th win of the campaign earlier when goals by Mirko Vucinic and Alessandro Matri, the latter scoring without his boot, secured a 2-0 home win over Fiorentina yesterday. "My boot flew off just before the goal because someone had stepped on the back of my foot," said Matri. "I scored in my sock, but it was all for the best." It left Napoli needing to beat Lazio at the Olympic Stadium to restore their three-point deficit but they came up short, dropping two points to see the gap to Juve grow to five points with Lazio in third six points further adrift. "It was a very important point for us," said Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri. "It wasn't easy to win. They started with pace and we found the going tough." Although Lazio are still without Miroslav Klose, Vladimir Petkovic's side gave no indication they were missing the German striker. Lazio flew out the blocks and kept the pace high in search of an early goal, and were rewarded when Sergio Floccari chested down Abdoulay Konko's inch-perfect cross to rifle a volley past a rooted Morgan De Sanctis. Marek Hamsik immediately stung the hands of Federico Marchetti, but his effort was straight at the Lazio 'keeper. Indeed, it was De Sanctis who would have most work on the night. He was forced to scramble for the rebound after Antonio Candreva's 35-metre drive had the keeper in trouble. Moments later he was at full stretch to palm away Candreva's angled shot from the right. Just after the half hour Floccari turned his marker to unleash a right-foot shot from over 20 metres which smashed off De Sanctis's upright as the keeper looked on. More (AFP) PM 02100916 NNNN