Udinese stall Napoli as Lazio reclaim third

MILAN (AFP) –

Udinese’s Brazilian midfielder Allan Marques Loureiro (R) vies with Slovakian Napoli‘s midfielder Marek Hamsik during their Serie A football match at Friuli Stadium in Udine on February 25, 2013. Udinese held challengers Napoli to a scoreless draw.

Udinese stalled Napoli’s Serie A title challenge with a scoreless draw on Monday as Lazio reclaimed third place from AC Milan with a 2-0 win over Pescara thanks to a pair of sublime long-range goals.

Napoli had hoped to capitalise on the extra day’s rest after their Europa League exit at the hands of Czech side Viktoria Plzen last Thursday to close the gap on leaders Juventus to four points.

However Walter Mazzarri’s title challengers were left lamenting several missed chances during a performance which left them six points off the pace.

Mazzarri, however, refused to point the finger.

“If we played like that against Juventus we’d still have given them a game,” said the coach.

“Obviously the win would have been better for us but we created opportunities and simply didn’t have the rub of the green.”

Opportunity knocked, and in Monday’s late match Lazio eased past struggling Pescara to a 14th league win which moved the Biancocelesti one place up to fourth.

Milan, who drew 1-1 with Inter in the ‘Derby della Madonnina’ on Sunday, went the other way.

“We needed the three points we took tonight to get us up and running again, and we’re back up to third ahead of our rivals,” said Lazio coach Vladimir Petkovic, whose side next face Milan away on Saturday.

“It was important to go into our game to Milan with a positive frame of mind and now we’ll be a bit more relaxed for our trip to the San Siro.”

Lazio broke the deadlock in the 29th minute when Romanian defender Stefan Radu first-timed Senad Lulic’s cut-back to smash the ball past Ivan Pelizzoli and into the top corner off the crossbar.

Barely six minutes later Pescara’s defence gave Lulic time and space to advance and he repaid them by sending another sublime strike inside the beaten Pelizzoli’s right hand post.

Pescara had little to offer and Lazio should have made it three when Sergio Floccari wasted Radu’s delivery by shooting wide of Pelizzoli just after the hour.

Napoli, meanwhile, underlined their intentions by starting with the attack-minded front trio of striker Edinson Cavani, Lorenzo Insigne and Marek Hamsik.

But the visitors were left frustrated after a first half in which Udinese seemed happy to sit back and defend and wait to counter-attack.

Early on Cavani failed to make contact despite a sly run towards goal when Giandomenico Mesto aimed in a cross.

Udinese did hit Napoli on the counter, but both Antonio Di Natale and Giovanni Pasquale sent their efforts high and wide respectively.

Napoli, however, had the momentum and after Gokhan Inler sent a long range effort over from long-range Hamsik missed the best chance of the half when he headed a long cross from the left straight at ‘keeper Daniele Padelli.

Udinese started in more positive fashion after the break and came close just five minutes in although Argentine Roberto Pereyra wasted Antonio Di Natale’s cross by firing into the stands from close range.

Napoli regained control but just couldn’t finish the job despite a number of promising offensives, with Cavani spurning a late chance with 15 minutes on the clock after a great move down the left with Colombian Pablo Armero.