Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Sports

European contenders square off as Napoli faces Fiorentina

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Naples, Italy (SportsNetwork.com) - Fiorentina travels to Napoli on Sunday for a meeting between two sides with European aspirations who are also coming off Coppa Italia exits this past week.

Fiorentina enters the fixture in fourth place, two points clear of Napoli, which is attempting to turn around a season that is heading in the wrong direction.

After a run of six wins in seven games from December to February had Napoli positioned in the top four, the club has won just once in its last seven games, dropping Rafael Benitez's men to sixth place and out of a European spot.

The season took another hit on Wednesday as the club was bounced from the Coppa Italia by Lazio in the semifinals, leaving them to chase the Europa League crown as well as a place in the top five in Serie A.

Napoli's struggles have put added pressure on Benitez to turn things around, while Fiorentina enters the match having earned seven points from its last three league outings to sit six points back of Lazio for the final Champions League place in Serie A.

Like Napoli, Fiorentina also suffered the disappointment of being eliminated from the Coppa Italia in the semifinal round, at the hands of Juventus, and the Viola will be eager to return to winning ways.

Juventus owns a 14-point lead at the top of the league and the club will expect to collect three more points at last-place Parma on Saturday, although Juve may be without striker Carlos Tevez as he struggles with an injury ahead of the contest.

If Roma wants to keep its faint title hopes alive the team will need three points from its trip to seventh-place Torino, while third-place Lazio will be eyeing a chance to overtake Roma as the club puts its seven-match winning streak on the line against Empoli.

Sampdoria resides in fourth place, just one point back of Fiorentina, and the club hits the road to tangle with AC Milan at the San Siro.

Inter Milan faces Hellas Verona, second-from-the-bottom Cagliari takes on Genoa, while Cesena is four points from safety and meets up with Chievo.

Sassuolo visits Atalanta in a contest between bottom-half teams and Palermo invades Udinese.