Juventus squeeze past Napoli to keep title hopes alive

Juventus edged Napoli 1-0 on Saturday to keep their Serie A title hopes alive by cutting Inter Milan’s lead at the top to six points.

A deflected shot from Claudio Marchisio effort on the stroke of half-time gave Claudio Ranieri’s team the three points although Inter can restore their advantage on Sunday when they tackle AS Roma.

David Trezeguet was given a rare start in the Juve line-up and he could have scored after 15 minutes when Marco Marchionni’s cross found the French striker but his shot was saved by Navarro.

Moments later Juventus’s Nicola Legrottaglie was booked for bringing down German Denis and he will be suspended for the Turin derby.

Napoli could have scored on 38 minutes but Marek Hamsik saw his drive saved by Gianluigi Buffon in the Juventus goal.

Juventus took the lead in the 44th minute when Marchisio collected the ball from Christian Poulsen and his shot took a deflection off ex-Juventus player Manuele Blasi on its way into the goal.

Napoli thought they had levelled in the dying minutes of the game when Ezequiel Lavezzi found the net but his effort was ruled out for offside.

In Saturday’s other game, Mauro Zarate scored twice to give Lazio a 2-0 win over Bologna and keep up their hopes of a UEFA Cup spot next season.