Napoli fails to close gap on Juventus
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, February 18, 2013
Napoli's hopes of closing the gap on Juventus at the top of the Serie A to two points were dashed yesterday following an under-par performance in a 0-0 draw at home to Sampdoria.
With leader Juventus losing 0-1 at AS Roma on Saturday, Napoli was looking to up the pressure on its Turin rival and bounce back after a 0-3 Europa League loss at home against Viktoria Plzen on Thursday.
After a minute's silence to remember former Napoli player Carmelo Imbriani, who died of cancer on Friday at 37, it was the visitors who came out in determined mood with Gianluca Sansone going close early on.
Napoli responded well though, with Lorenzo Insigne letting fly from distance and Edinson Cavani then failing to capitalize on some good movement, fluffing a shot while off-balance into the arms of grateful goalkeeper Sergio Romero.
Samp's big chance to break the deadlock came just after the half-hour mark when Napoli 'keeper Morgan De Sanctis tipped a low drive from Sansone past the post, then flapped at the resulting corner only to be bailed out by Valon Behrami, who cleared off the line. Behrami was at it again after the break, this time with a decisive block to deny Mauro Icardi's shot.
Juventus still remains within touching distance, albeit four rather than two points away, with the two sides meeting at the San Paolo in March.
Also, Pescara lost 0-2 to Cagliari and Torino beat Atalanta 2-1. Genoa, easing itself clear of the drop-zone, saw off Udinese 1-0 and Catania is seventh thanks to a 1-0 defeat of Bologna.
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