NAPLES, Italy (Reuters) -Napoli earned a deserved 2-1 win over Fiorentina at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Sunday to move back on to the shoulders of Serie A leaders Inter Milan.
Napoli moved on to 60 points, one behind Inter who secured a 3-2 comeback win over Monza on Saturday. Fiorentina remained seventh in the standings on 45 points.
Napoli fans' pre-match choreography behind both goals spelled out the words "Anema e Core" asking for "Heart and Soul" from their side, and the players responded with a dominant first-half display.
It was all Napoli in the opening stages, the hosts peppering the Fiorentina area with crosses and a constant stream of passes aimed at Romelu Lukaku.
Fiorentina keeper David de Gea saved a close-range shot from Giacomo Raspadori and the ball finally arrived with Lukaku after 26 minutes.
De Gea failed to hold onto a long range shot from his former Manchester United teammate Scott McTominay, and Lukaku was in the right place to convert from just outside the six-yard box.
The Fiorentina keeper did better to parry away another Raspadori effort with his leg, and in a rare foray forward, the visitors earned a corner which led to Moise Kean heading over.
Normal service resumed as Napoli continued to press, and Giovanni Di Lorenzo cannoned a shot off the crossbar with De Gea beaten and the keeper saved with his foot from Leonardo Spinazzola.
It was a slower-paced start to the second half, until Raspadori again called De Gea into action with a strike on goal, and on the hour mark the Napoli forward got his just reward.
Lukaku bided his time before playing the perfect through pass into Raspadori who controlled the ball on the turn before driving a low shot into the far corner.
Fiorentina pulled themselves back into the game six minutes later when Moise Kean played a backheeled pass and Albert Gudmundsson drilled a shot into the bottom corner.
Napoli should have wrapped up the win, with Giovanni Simeone scuffing his added-time shot when through one-on-one with De Gea, but Antonio Conte's side ended a run of five games without victory.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Ed Osmond)
