Napoli Vs. Cagliari: 2-1 Final After Edinson Cavani Brace

Walter Mazzarri's Napoli laboured to a 2-1 home win over Cagliari to cement their position in the top three of the Serie A and show that their ambitions for the Scudetto are far from over. A scoreless first half in which Napoli dominated but had no clear cut chances quickly made way to a back and forth second, with Edinson Cavani dispatching an early penalty only to see that goal cancelled out almost instantly by Robert Acquafresca. Captain Paulo Cannavaro was hugely to blame for the equaliser, losing the on-loan striker as he attempted to make a clearing header and leaving Acquafresca one on one with Morgan de Sanctis for the easy finish.

However, El Matador wasn't finished, dispatching a beautifully flighted Marek Hamsik pass up and over a stranded Michael Agazzi for the winner. Substitute Guiseppe Mascara had a chance to wrap up the points almost immediately after coming on, but his header came back off Agazzi's right post and rebounded to safety, leaving Napoli to weather some worrisome Cagliari pressure to end the game. But weather it they did, and the Partenopei have now taken full advantage of AC Milan's slip against Palermo on Saturday to close the gap between themselves and the leaders to just three points.

Although it might not have been the most impressive performance of the season for Napoli, who clearly missed Christian Maggio's industry down the right flank, the match will come as a huge relief for Edinson Cavani, who managed to snap his six-game scoreless streak with two very well-taken goals, taking his tally to 22 in the league. The Uruguayan striker remains second in the Serie A scoring charts to Udinese's Antonio di Natale.