ROME (AP) — There are still streamers and banners hanging over the city’s streets and piazzas celebrating Napoli’s Serie A title two seasons ago.
Now there might be another championship to celebrate.
Scott McTominay scored two first-half goals and Napoli beat Torino 2-0 on Sunday to move three points clear of Inter Milan with four rounds remaining in the Italian league.
Inter lost 1-0 at home to Roma earlier for its third consecutive defeat.
Despite losing Victor Osimhen in September and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in January, Napoli is in position to claim its second title in three seasons. That's a shorter span than the two championships in four seasons with Diego Maradona in 1987 and 1990.
McTominay has scored five goals in three matches.
“Obviously we’re now leading the race. But for us it’s keep calm, keep everything relaxed and go game by game, because this game’s not important unless we win the next one and the next one after that,” McTominay said. “So for us it’s calm and see where that gets us.”
The Scotland international put Napoli ahead seven minutes in at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona after redirecting a pass from Andre-Frank Anguissa. Then he doubled the advantage shortly before halftime with a similar goal, redirecting a cross amid four defenders.
With 11 league goals, McTominay set the record for a Scottish player in Serie A, overtaking Denis Law, who had 10 with Torino in 1961-62.
Philip Billing nearly made it 3-0 for Napoli when his header hit the crossbar in the second half.
Napoli hadn’t had sole possession of the lead since February.
Inter missing Thuram
Marcus Thuram has missed three matches and Inter has lost all three without scoring a single goal.
Roma’s attacking midfielder Matias Soulé scored midway through the first half in Milan by redirecting a deflection as the Giallorossi produced one chance after another.
For Inter, the defeat followed a 1-0 loss at Bologna in the league a week ago and a 3-0 midweek loss to AC Milan in an Italian Cup semifinal derby.
“These are three tough defeats and we’re not used to that," Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said.
Thuram, who has been out with a left thigh issue, could return for the first leg of the Champions League semifinals at Barcelona on Wednesday. The France forward has scored 14 goals and provided seven assists across all competitions for Inter this season.
Without Thuram, Lautaro Martinez has appeared fatigued attempting to carry Inter's attack. And Marko Arnautovic, Thuram's replacement, has been ineffective.
Roma is sixth, level on points with fifth-placed Bologna, and two points behind fourth-placed Juventus, which beat Monza 2-0.
Roma’s unbeaten run reached 18 matches, stretching back to December. It was the final game at the San Siro for Giallorossi coach Claudio Ranieri, who plans to retire at the end of the season.
“I've already handed in my coaching license,” Ranieri said with a smile.
Retegui matches Inzaghi
Third-placed Atalanta was held 1-1 by relegation-threatened Lecce in a match that was postponed from Friday due to the death of Lecce’s physical therapist.
Jesper Karlsson put Lecce ahead in the first half with a penalty and Mateo Retegui equalized in the second half with a penalty for his league-leading 24th goal.
Retegui matched the Atalanta record established by Filippo Inzaghi, who also scored 24 goals in 1996-97.
Pulisic propels AC Milan to win
Christian Pulisic scored for the first time in more than a month and AC Milan won 2-0 at relegation-threatened Venezia .
It was another solid performance for the Rossoneri after the Cup win over Inter.
Still, Milan remained in ninth place.
Pulisic’s 10th league goal of the season came five minutes in when Venezia gifted the ball to Milan and Youssouf Fofana set up the United States international in the middle of the area.
Pulisic’s previous goal came in a 2-1 win over Como on March 15.
Milan produced several more chances but couldn’t quite find the target until Santiago Gimenez lobbed over the goalkeeper to finish off a counterattack in second-half stoppage time.
Yildiz shown red
Nico Gonzalez and Randal Kolo Muani scored first-half goals for Juventus against last-placed Monza. Juventus played the entire second half with 10 men after Kenan Yildiz was sent off for elbowing an opponent in the face.
Yildiz will likely receive a two-match ban for the offense against Monza midfielder Alessandro Bianco, which could rule him out of key upcoming matches against Bologna and Lazio.
Fabregas beats Vieira
Como beat Genoa 1-0 for its fourth straight win and secured a second consecutive season in the top flight for the first time since the 1980s.
Como coach Cesc Fabregas got the best of Genoa counterpart Patrick Vieira, who he replaced in Arsenal’s lineup two decades ago.
Gabriel Strefezza scored near the hour mark for Como by finishing off a counterattack.
Also, Fiorentina beat Empoli 2-1 in a Tuscan derby with goals from Yacine Adli and Rolando Mandragora. The Viola face Real Betis in the first leg of the Conference League semifinals on Thursday.
Several of Sunday’s matches were postponed from Saturday due to the funeral of Pope Francis. All of the games were preceded by a moment of silence to mourn Francis, who died last Monday at 88.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Andrew Dampf, The Associated Press
