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Race for Serie A title heating up

February 01, 2016 07:45 IST

Milan thump Inter after Icardi fluffs penalty

Juventus players

IMAGE: Players of Juventus celebrate the victory after the Serie A match against AC Chievo Verona. Photograph: Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images

AC Milan stormed to a 3-0 win in a frenzied derby against Inter Milan who missed a penalty when they were trailing 1-0 and had coach Roberto Mancini sent off on Sunday.

Inter substitute Mauro Icardi, dropped from the starting line-up after being publicly criticised by Mancini last week, hit his spot kick against the post minutes after coming on as he squandered a chance to cancel out Alex's first-half opener.

Carlos Bacca and M'baye Niang quickly compounded Icardi's misery as they scored two more for Milan, who had failed to win any of the last three meetings between the two sides, and seriously dent Inter's lingering title hopes.

Irresistible Juve thump Chievo for 12th league win in a row

Earlier, Juventus thumped Chievo 4-0 away to win their 12th league game in a row but it was not enough to topple leaders Napoli who thrashed Empoli 5-1, helped by Gonzalo Higuain's 22nd goal of the season.

Jose Callejon scored twice while Lorenzo Insigne and an own goal by Michele Camporese completed the rout as Napoli reached the 50-goal mark in their 22nd game to stay on course for their first Serie A title since 1990.

Alvaro Morata scored twice in the first half at Chievo and second-half goals from Alex Sandro and Paul Pogba gave Juventus their second successive 4-0 win away from home.

The win left Juventus, who are aiming for a fifth successive title, with 48 points from 22 games.

It also equalled their record number of consecutive league wins in a single season.

Napoli lead with 50 points from 22 games with Fiorentina on 42 and Inter fourth on 41. Milan's win kept them sixth with 36.

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