Napoli keeps rolling with win over Sampdoria
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Naples, Italy (SportsNetwork.com) - Napoli extended its unbeaten run across all competitions to five matches on Sunday with a 4-2 victory over Sampdoria at the Stadio San Paolo.
Gonzalo Higuain netted a pair of goals, along with tallies from Manolo Gabbiadini and Lorenzo Insigne as the club kept pace in the race for the Champions League berths in Serie A.
After advancing to the semifinals of the Europa League with a 6-3 aggregate victory over Bundesliga side Wolfsburg on Thursday, Rafa Benitez's men hoped to get off to a fast start.
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But it was the visitors who opened the scoring after 12 minutes through an own goal credited to Napoli's Raul Albiol.
The own goal seemed to give Napoli the urgency it needed to kick start the offense as the hosts responded with an equalizer from Gabbiadini just past the half-hour mark.
Higuain made it 2-1 just three minutes later and Insigne added a tally two minutes into then second half to make it 3-1.
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Higuain completed his double with a penalty kick nine minutes from time before Luis Muriel added a second consolation goal for Sampdoria in stoppage time as Napoli claimed all three points.
Also in the Italian top flight on Sunday, German Denis' netted a last-gas equalizer as Atlanta claimed a point in a 2-2 draw with Empoli at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia, while Genoa rolled to a 3-1 win over Cesena.
Luca Toni netted a pair of goals to go with a third tally from Juan Gomez as Hellas Verona held on to take a 3-2 win over Sassuolo at the Stadio M.A. Bentegodi, while Miroslav Klose and Alberto Paloschi traded goals as Lazio and Chievo played to a 1-1 draw.
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A 22nd-minute penalty kick from Antonio Nocerino was enough to lift struggling Parma to a 1-0 win over Palermo, while Matteo Darmian and Fabio Quagliarella scored in a 2-1 win over Torino over Juventus.
In Sunday's final fixture, Duje Cop scored on either side of the intermission and Diego Farias added another goal to lead Cagliari to a comfortable 3-1 result over Fiorentina.