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Roma end Napoli’s 10-win streak to throw Serie A title race wide open

Rome, Italy | AFP | Napoli’s 10-match winning streak in Serie A came to an end on Saturday when they slumped to a shock 4-2 home defeat to AS Roma as the leaders suffered just their second league loss this season.

The result kept Napoli on top of the table but their lead is now just one point after Juventus earlier defeated Lazio courtesy of an injury-time strike from Paulo Dybala.

Juventus, crucially, also have a game in hand.

When Lorenzo Insigne gave Napoli the lead from close range after six minutes it seemed the evening would be straightforward.

But Turkey’s Cengiz Under levelled just a minute later with a deflected shot.

That set the stage for Edin Dzeko to carve out a little bit of personal history.

He made it 2-1 in the 26th minute with a header from an Alessandro Florenzi cross before he curled in a terrific left-foot strike from the edge of the area in the 79th minute for 3-1.

That goal allowed the Bosnian striker to become the first player to score at least 50 goals in three of Europe’s major leagues — Italy’s Serie A, the German Bundesliga and the Premier League in England.

Diego Perotti made it 4-1 ten minutes from time after pouncing on a lazy clearance from on-loan Roma left-back Mario Rui.

Dries Mertens pulled one back for Napoli in time added-on but the three points allowed Roma to move into third place in the table, albeit 16 points behind the pacesetters.

Argentina striker Dybala marked his comeback after a month on the sidelines by scoring a last-gasp winner in Juve’s 1-0 victory at Lazio in a perfect boost ahead of next week’s Champions League clash at Tottenham.

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