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Napoli fail to make up ground in Serie A with 1-1 Fiorentina drawBy Daniella Matar ,AP MILAN --Napoli missed the chance to close the gap on Serie A leader Juventus as it drew 1-1 at Fiorentina on Sunday.
January 22, 2013, 12:04 am TWN Fiorentina took the lead following a terrible blunder from Morgan De Sanctis. The Napoli goalkeeper rushed out of his area to intercept a long pass from Facundo Roncaglia by the halfway line, but completely misjudged the ball which bounced over him and into the goal. Napoli was level three minutes from halftime as Edinson Cavani headed in Marek Hamsik's free kick for his 100th Serie A goal. Alberto Aquilani could have won it for Fiorentina in stoppage time but blasted a good chance over the bar. Napoli, which had a two-point penalty for match-fixing rescinded on Thursday, is level on points with second-placed Lazio, five points behind defending champion Juventus. Fiorentina remains fifth but it is only two points above AC Milan, which beat Bologna 2-1 thanks to a brace from Giampaolo Pazzini. Roma slipped to seventh after it drew 1-1 at home to an understrength Inter Milan. Milan dominated and Bologna didn't even have a single touch in the opposition penalty area in the first half. Pazzini, who had missed several earlier chances, broke the deadlock in the 65th when he brought down Ignazio Abate's cross, rounded Mikael Antonsson and fired home, with the ball taking a massive deflection off the Bologna defender. Pazzini doubled his side's lead with a stunning goal eight minutes from time, controlling the ball brilliantly before flicking it over Daniele Portanova and volleying home. It was Pazzini's fifth goal against Bologna this season, after he scored a hat trick in the reverse fixture. Philippe Mexes scored a comical own goal moments later to give Bologna hope, but it couldn't find the equalizer. In Rome, Inter was without Antonio Cassano, Diego Milito, Walter Samuel, Philippe Coutinho, Ricky Alvarez, Dejan Stankovic and Luca Castellazzi. Marko Livaja was given his first Serie A start and he almost marked it with a goal, but hit the post. Roma took the lead when it was awarded a penalty in the 20th minute when Andrea Ranocchia was judged to have fouled Michael Bradley, although it looked as if the American had jumped over a sliding tackle from the Inter defender. Francesco Totti stepped up to smash home a powerful spot kick. It was Totti's 222nd Serie A goal, putting him just three behind second-place Gunnar Nordahl in the all-time scoring charts.
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