Federico Dimarco scored the opening goal just before half-time at a foggy Stadio Ennio Tardini before Marcus Thuram netted in stoppage time to give Inter a sixth straight league win and a handy advantage on third-placed Napoli.

Inter will hold top spot until at least the weekend, when Cristian Chivu's team will host the champions in a Scudetto showdown at the San Siro.

But their lead could be cut back to a point on Thursday as local rivals AC Milan, who sit second and are level on 38 points with Napoli, host struggling Genoa on Thursday night.

Inter could have won more easily as Pio Esposito, who started in place of Thuram in view of Sunday's clash with Napoli, hit the crossbar in the 29th minute, while Parma old boy Ange-Yoan Bonny had a late goal ruled out for handball.

But it was Petar Sucic who wasted the best opportunity of the night midway through the second half when he somehow shot wide when sent clean through by Lautaro Martinez.

In the end, it didn't matter and Inter now have a healthy cushion between themselves and Napoli, who had to fight back from two goals down at half-time to squeak a draw in Naples.

Napoli slip

Giovanni Di Lorenzo swept home a brilliant leveller with eight minutes remaining to grab a point after Scott McTominay's header early in the second half started the fightback.

"The positive thing is that we came back from going two goals behind, but it's not the right result... we wanted to win our first match of 2026 in front of our fans," said Di Lorenzo to DAZN. "I'm pleased with myself for the goal, but it's not enough."

Inter's win has piled pressure on Napoli, especially given the continued injury crisis affecting Conte's squad. Andre-Frank Anguissa and Romelu Lukaku were in the stands while star summer signing Kevin De Bruyne is still absent, with niggling injuries causing problems almost every match.

McTominay's third league goal of the season sparked an onslaught on the Verona goal, but Rasmus Hojlund was denied a 72nd-minute equaliser when he was penalised for handball following a VAR check.

After Amir Rrahmani also had a goal chalked off for offside skipper Di Lorenzo salvaged something from the match and maintained Napoli's unbeaten home record this season.

Atalanta continued their revival under Raffaele Palladino with a 2-0 win at Bologna, with Nikola Krstovic bagging both goals after starting in place of injured Gianluca Scamacca.

Krstovic netted smart low finishes in each half to push Atalanta above Bologna into seventh, albeit eight points behind Juventus, who sit fourth in the last Champions League spot.

While Atalanta look like a new team, Bologna sit eighth and are slipping down the table after failing to win since the end of November, although they have a game in hand due to their participation in the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.

Fiorentina were denied a second win of the season by Pedro's stoppage-time penalty in a thrilling 2-2 draw at Lazio and are two points behind Genoa, who sit just outside the relegation zone.

Martin Frese

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