Naples, Italy – First-half goals from Marek Hamsik and Paolo Cannavaro propelled Napoli to a 2-0 win over Catania at the San Paolo Stadium on Saturday, allowing the home side to move level with Juventus at the Serie A summit.
Juventus will try to regain the lead on Sunday at Chievo, but Napoli appears to be ready to challenge the defending champions as the club has now captured 16 of a possible 18 points from its six most recent contests.
Catania brought a three-match winning streak of its own to the San Paolo, but the visitors fell behind on the half-hour mark when Edinson Cavani played a neat through ball to Hamsik, who tracked it down and scored from six yards past the helpless Mariano Andujar in the Catania net.
Hamsik had a hand in the second goal as well shortly before halftime when his corner kick was played into the six-yard box, where Cannavaro redirected it home with his right foot.
Alejandro Gomez came close to pulling a goal back for Catania early in the second half, but Napoli looked more likely to add a third goal over the remainder of the contest and the hosts easily coasted to the final whistle.
Torino 0, Sampdoria 0
Turin, Italy - Torino saw its unbeaten streak reach seven games in Serie A on Saturday, but the home side was held to a 0-0 draw by Sampdoria.
A 2-2 draw with Inter Milan last time out was a good result for Torino, but despite creating the better chances in Saturday's game, the hosts were unable to find the breakthrough.
The best opportunities for either side fell to Torino in the first half as Alessio Cerci went close midway through the opening half before a header from Paulo Barreto skimmed off the crossbar.
Torino moves 10 points clear of the drop zone with the result, while Sampdoria is seven points clear of the bottom three.
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