Veteran forward Luca Toni scored twice to hand modest Verona a 2-0 win over Napoli which increased the pressure on coach Rafael Benitez in Serie A yesterday.

Bottom-of-the-table Parma’s troubles continued as they lost 4-1 at Sassuolo, playing the last half hour with 10 men, while Chievo eased their relegation worries with a 2-0 win at Genoa.

Napoli are now in danger of losing third spot, which earns a place in the Champions League qualifying rounds, after taking only one point from their last nine.

They remained joint third with 46 points alongside Lazio, but their rivals have a game in hand and visit Torino this evening.

Toni, 37, opened the scoring when he forced his way through the Napoli defence to score from a narrow angle after seven minutes.

He struck again early in the second half, turning the ball in from close range from Emil Hallfredsson’s counter-attack after a Napoli move broke down.

There were 12 yellow cards in an often unsavoury match in which Verona’s Jacopo Sala was sent off in the 89th minute.

Benitez is likely to be under fire for his controversial rotation policy after leaving Gonzalo Higuain, Manolo Gabbiadini and Jose Callejon on the bench at the start.

Parma, who face a bankruptcy hearing on Thursday, were left 11 points adrift at the bottom after another miserable day at Sassuolo, who had lost their last four games.

Nicola Sansone scored twice while Andi Lila replied in between as Sassuolo led 2-1 at halftime.

The game hinged on a second-half incident where Parma goalkeeper Antonio Mirante was judged to have tripped Sansone and was sent off, while the hosts were awarded a penalty. Domenico Berardi converted and Simone Missiroli added a fourth in the 65th minute.

Parma have only nine points from their 25 games after having three deducted for breaching financial regulations.

Alberto Paloschi eased Chievo’s relegation fears with two goals to lift the Verona outfit to a vital 2-0 triumph at Genoa.

The Italian forward broke the deadlock at the Luigi Ferraris stadium early in the second half and then scored his second in the 68th minute as Chievo brought an end to their three-match winless run and climbed into 16th place – eight points clear of the drop zone.

Atalanta survived the sending-off of Carlos Carmona to earn a valuable point at home to Udinese.

With the score level at 0-0 with 14 minutes to go, Carmona was shown a straight red for his challenge on Udinese’s midfielder Allan.

However, Udinese, who had gone close in the first half when Silvan Widmer’s shot crashed off the post with goalkeeper Marco Sportiello beaten, could not make their numerical advantage count as the match finished goalless.

The outcome in Bergamo extended Atalanta’s winless run to six games and left coach Edy Reja still searching for his first victory since becoming coach last month.

Atalanta remained in 17th place, four points clear of the drop zone, while Udinese stayed in 12th.

In the evening match, relegation strugglers Cesena held Inter to a 1-1 draw at the San Siro.

Inter had Xherdan Shaqiri limping off injured before Cesena broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark when Gregoire Defrel flicked the ball over Samir Handanovic.

The hosts started the second half on attack and scored the equaliser through Rodrigo Palacio when he hit home from a Mauro Icardi cross.

Serie A

Atalanta 0
Udinese 0

Att: 14,000.
Red card: Carmona (A) 76.

Genoa 0
Chievo 2
Paloschi 49, 68;

HT: 0-0. Att: 19,500.

Inter 1
Palacio 48;
Cesena 1
Defrel 30;

HT: 0-1. Att: 37,000.

Sassuolo 4
Sansone 24, 36; Berardi 61 pen; Misiroli 65;
Parma 1
Lila 26;

HT: 2-1. Att: 13,000.
Red card: Mirante (P) 61.

Verona 2
Toni 7, 51;
Napoli 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 22,468.
Red card: Sala (V) 89.

Standings

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Juventus	27	19	7	1	54	14	64
Roma	26	13	11	2	38	19	50
Lazio	26	14	4	8	47	27	46
Napoli	27	13	7	7	46	35	46
Fiorentina	26	11	9	6	37	28	42
Sampdoria	26	10	12	4	34	28	42
Inter	27	9	10	8	42	35	37
Genoa	26	9	10	7	37	32	37
Torino	26	9	9	8	30	28	36
Milan	26	8	11	7	37	32	35
Palermo	27	8	11	8	38	40	35
Udinese	26	8	8	10	29	34	32
Sassuolo	27	7	11	9	33	40	32
Verona	27	8	8	11	33	46	32
Empoli	27	5	15	7	27	29	30
Chievo	27	7	8	12	20	30	29
Atalanta	27	5	10	12	22	37	25
Cagliari	27	4	9	14	33	50	21
Cesena	27	4	9	14	25	48	21
Parma (-3)	25	3	3	19	21	51	9

Playing today
Fiorentina vs Milan - 19.00
Torino vs Lazio - 19.00
Roma vs Sampdoria - 21.00

Top scorers
15 goals: Tevez (Juventus), Icardi (Inter).
13 goals: Menez (Milan), Higuain (Napoli), Toni (Verona).
12 goals: Dybala (Palermo).

Next fixtures

Saturday: 18.00 Chievo vs Palermo; 20.45 Milan vs Cagliari.

Sunday: 12.30 Empoli vs Sassuolo. 15.00 Juventus vs Genoa. 20.45 Cesena vs Roma; Lazio vs Verona; Parma vs Torino; Napoli vs Atalanta; Sampdoria vs Inter; Udinese vs Fiorentina.

Serie B
Bologna vs Modena - 0-0
Vicenza vs Catania - today, 20.30

Standings: Carpi 59; Bologna 52; Avellino 49; Frosinone, Vicenza 48; Livorno 47; Pescara, Spezia 46; Lanciano, Perugia 43; Bari 40; Modena 38; Latina, Trapani, Entella 37; Ternana 36; Cittadella, Pro Vercelli 35; Brescia 33; Crotone 32; Catania 31; Varese 28.