Serie A, Week 16: Inter beat Napoli to go second

The Rossoblu dominated much of the second half and will see the game as two points dropped.

Alvaro Gonzalez pulled up on 18 minutes after getting his studs stuck in the heavy turf. The Uruguyan was alright to continue. Halfway through the first period, Marchetti gathered an Alessandro Diamanti daisy cutter.

The visitors are in good form and come into this game on the back of two home victories. A midweek win at Maribor also saw the Biancocelesti advance in the Europa League as winners of Group J.

Lazio experimented with a 3-4-3 formation at Maribor, but are expected to revert back to a 4-1-4-1.

The visitors pushed hard for the equaliser late on, and Alvaro Perreira nearly managed to turn an Edinson Cavani cross into his own net (with his hand, no less), but ultimately they couldn’t find that killer final ball they needed, allowing Inter to close out the game -- and leapfrog their opponents into second place.

Santana almost gave the home side a dream start inside the first two minutes, cutting in from the left and firing wide.

Nocerino went from villain to hero on 53 minutes. Jean Francois-Gillet could only parry El Shaarawy’s mazy run and chip, but the ball fell into Nocerino’s path and the midfielder headed it in.

Miccoli had a great opportunity to equalize five minutes later, but the pitch at the Stadio Renzo Barbera got the best of him. The forward went on a one-man counterattack only to have the ball get stuck in a particularly deep patch of mud.

The Italian footballing authorities really believe in saving the best for last -- or they would, that is, if there weren’t two matches scheduled for Monday evening. But the thought’s still there: let everyone watch as the second- and third-placed teams battle it out. Whoever’s left standing still gets to consider themselves in the running for the scudetto.

Which, of course, means Napoli will take this opportunity to fail spectacularly.

So it wasn’t surprising, then, that Roma extended their lead just before the break. Totti sent in a lovely, curling kick from 30 yards. A tired Viviano could do nothing but flap at the ball as it flew by, likely dreaming of his halftime espresso.

Match Date / Time: Saturday, December 8 at 8:45 p.m. local, 2:45 p.m. ET

Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Palermo could have been the ones to take advantage of a sluggish Inter side last week, but instead faltered. The visitors found themselves able to take advantage of the nerazzurri defense, but couldn’t manage to slot the ball home, even from close range. The story of Palermo this season, really.

Expect this match to look more like the second half against Torino, although it’s unlikely the bianconeri will need a man advantage to take control of the hapless Palermo. With no need to trouble themselves in defense, the visitors will likely push forward until the rosanero break. It will likely be nothing more than a matter of time.