The Japan Times - Napoli's Serie A title defence nears end with Lazio defeat

With five matches remaining in their respective league seasons the reigning champions trail Inter by 12 points following a poor display in Naples.

Matteo Cancellieri's early tap-in set the tone at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, and Toma Basic made sure of a fine win for ninth-placed Lazio with another simple finish in the 57th minute.

Lazio's performance was a good sign for their Italian Cup semi-final against Atalanta, which is delicately poised at 2-2 ahead of Wednesday's second leg in Bergamo.

But it leaves Napoli counting the days until they officially concede the Scudetto, as if they fail to beat Cremonese and Inter win at Torino next weekend, the Scudetto will return north to Milan.

Napoli could have even lost by more on Saturday as in the 31st minute Vanja Milinkovic-Savic got his hands to an uncharacteristically poor penalty from Mattia Zaccagni, who then smashed over the rebound after slipping to the deck.

That was the first time Zaccagni had failed to score from the penalty spot in Serie A but it made no difference to the final result.

Napoli's title defence might effectively be over but Champions League qualification is still on the cards thanks to an eight-point lead on fifth-placed Como.

Roma, in sixth, host Atalanta in the day's late match and can move to within six points of Napoli with a win.

However Napoli have the better of the head-to-head record which decides the positions of teams who finish the season level on points.

Roma also have problems of their own, with open conflict between coach Gian Piero Gasperini and Claudio Ranieri, who is a senior advisor to the Friedkin family, the capital club's billionaire American owners.

Gasperini abandoned Friday's pre-match press conference on the verge of tears after speaking about Atalanta president Antonio Percassi, with whom Gasperini had a strong working relationship during his hugely successful nine years in Bergamo.

Italian media have widely report one of Gasperini or Ranieri will be out the door come the end of the season, hardly the ideal backdrop as Roma head into a key clash against Gasperini's old club.

Gasperini said his successes at Atalanta, which include winning the Europa League in 2024, were down to a "club which was in sync with the coach", a clear hint he didn't believe he has that at Roma.

S.Fujimoto--JT