Napoli crush Cagliari 5-0 in Serie A

Cagliari (Italy) Feb 27 (IANS) SSC Napoli inflicted a 5-0 drubbing on Cagliari to increase their lead at the top of Serie A to four points though second-placed Juventus have a game in hand. For the visitors it was a club-record 10th straight league victory.

Real Madrid veteran Jose Callejon on Monday put Napoli up 1-0 with a goal in the 29th minute and the away side led 2-0 at the break courtesy of a strike in the 42nd minute by Dries Mertens who connected with a cross from Elseid Hysaj reports Efe.

The goal had resonance for Mertens coming in the same stadium in Cagliari where the Belgium international posted a hat-trick in his first match for Napoli in December 2016.

Napoli captain and attacking midfielder Marek Hamsik increased the margin to 3-0 with a goal in the 61st.

Winger Lorenzo Insigne converted a penalty nine minutes later and left-back Mario Rui scored on a direct free kick in the final minute of regulation to complete the rout.

"It was game over once we got the second goal today " Napoli head coach Maurizio Sarri was quoted as saying by the club s website.

"We were in control and never really ran any risks. I m happy with that because the team were able to enjoy themselves after that and knock the ball about as they do so well " he added.

The outcome leaves Cagliari in the 14th spot just five points above the relegation zone.

The game between six-time defending champions Juventus and Atalanta in Turin was postponed due to snow. Juventus who have 65 points have a 13-point lead over Lazio making the title race a two-way battle.

"Looking at the standings I think we re doing an amazing job but it s also unknown territory for us. Napoli have never had more than 86 points in a season and have never enjoyed this sort of points average before " Sarri reckoned according to Napoli s website.

"We ll see how we handle ourselves over the next few months considering that we ve never been in this sort of position before. Our lead over Juventus doesn t count for much. We re going to have to scrap it out point by point and Juventus are a juggernaut of a team. We have 12 games to play in which every moment and every detail could make the difference -- luck too sometimes " he said.

--IANS
pur/hs