Napoli edges AC Milan in Serie A thriller
Napoli moved to within three points of Serie A leader Inter after edging past AC Milan 2-1 in an enthralling clash at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Inter had pulled further clear of Antonio Conte's side after its victory over Udinese earlier in the day, but Napoli ensured it kept its Scudetto hopes alive with a battling display.
Ahead of the game, Milan confirmed that Ruben Loftus-Cheek had successful appendectomy surgery after being diagnosed with acute appendicitis, though he is expected to be on the sidelines for some time.
Napoli, however, made a lightning start and were ahead just after a minute had been played when Matteo Politano collected Giovanni Di Lorenzo's searching pass behind the Milan defence, holding off Strahinja Pavlovic and firing the ball home inside the box.
Romelu Lukaku then put the hosts further ahead in the 19th minute, scuffing the ball over Mike Maignan after being found by Billy Gilmour's clever pass into the area.
Napoli were able to get into the break two goals ahead, but were met by an improved Milan in the second half, with substitute Santiago Gimenez firing just wide moments after being introduced into the action.
AC Milan was handed a lifeline in the 69th minute when Theo Hernandez was fouled inside the area by Philip Billing, who had only been on the pitch for four minutes after replacing Frank Anguissa.
However, Gimenez's weak spot-kick was brilliantly saved by Alex Meret, who dived low to his left to thwart the Mexican's effort from 12 yards, though more drama was to come.
With seven minutes remaining, Luka Jovic emerged from the bench to race into the area and tuck home Hernandez's teasing delivery into the six-yard box. A crazy ending to the game saw Milan throw everything at Napoli to try and salvage a point, but Sergio Conceicao's side was unable to find a way through late on.
