Napoli beat lowly Livorno, Palermo climb to fifth

Napoli consolidated fourth place in Serie A by beating lowly Livorno 2-0 away today and Palermo climbed to fifth with a 3-0 home win over Fiorentina.

Christian Maggio scored on the stroke of halftime with a glorious right-footed volley for Napoli, whose bid for Champions League qualification was helped by Livorno's Cristiano Lucarelli making a mess of a second-half spot kick.

Luca Cigarini sealed matters with a stoppage-time free kick when the hosts had midfielder Davide Marchini in goal after Alfonso De Lucia was sent off for handball outside the box with all their replacements used.

Napoli have 37 points from 21 games, nine points behind leaders Inter, who face second-placed Milan in a high-stakes derby later today.

Palermo prevailed thanks to a first-half double by 19-year-old Uruguayan forward Abel Hernandez and Igor Budan's acrobatic effort just before the hour.

The Sicilians' victory means Juventus drop to sixth after their miserable run continued with a 2-1 home defeat by third-placed Roma yesterday, leaving coach Ciro Ferrara in danger of losing his job.

Sampdoria boss Luigi Del Neri's surprise decision to drop off-the-boil forward Antonio Cassano seemed to pay dividends as the early pacesetters' twice came from behind to beat struggling Udinese 3-2 and halt a slide in form.

Hosts Udinese, who are now one point above the relegation zone, were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty in the closing stages when Alexis Sanchez was taken down in the area.

Lazio are one point higher up in the standings after they were held 1-1 at home by Chievo Verona.