MILAN (AP) 鈥 Napoli didn鈥檛 let flares and delays affect its performance as Antonio Conte鈥檚 side ground out a 1-0 win at Lecce to take firm control of Serie A on Saturday.
Giacomo Raspadori scored the only goal to keep Napoli three points ahead of second-placed Inter Milan, which beat Hellas Verona 1-0.
Napoli needs only seven points from the remaining three rounds to win its second league title in three years.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an important step, I can鈥檛 lie,鈥 Conte said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e on track and we want to stay there until the end.
鈥淣obody will remember if we finish second or if we had a good season. History must be written and you do it by winning: The others read it.鈥
There was a tense atmosphere in Lecce and plenty of banners and chants insulting the league鈥檚 governing body as fans were furious Lecce was forced to play against Atalanta just three days after Graziano Fiorita.
There was a moving minute鈥檚 silence before the match but the tension boiled over after kickoff when fans threw flares and fireworks onto the field, causing the match to be temporarily halted in the sixth minute.
Play was going to continue after about four minutes but there was another delay to repair the bottom of the net, where a firework burned a hole.
Napoli thought it got off to the perfect start when Romelu Lukaku had the ball in the back of the net after 100 seconds but it was ruled out for offside.
The visitors did take the lead in the 24th after Raspadori was bundled over right on the edge of the area and he dusted himself down to curl a free kick into the bottom right corner.
Lecce reacted well and Kialonda Gaspar headed a corner onto the crossbar but, despite laying siege to the goal, it couldn鈥檛 find the equalizer and remained just a point above the relegation zone.
Much-changed Inter
Despite the importance of the match against Verona, Inter made wholesale changes ahead of the second leg of the Champions League semifinal against Barcelona on Tuesday.
and was one of 10 changes to the starting lineup from last week鈥檚 . Defender Yann Bisseck was the only player retained.
Inter nevertheless got off to a quickfire start when Kristjan Asllani drilled a penalty into the bottom right corner in the ninth minute after Verona defender Nicol谩s Valentini handled the ball.
Inter鈥檚 first win in six matches followed a dismal run that shattered its dreams of a treble as it was beaten by AC Milan in the Italian Cup semifinals and lost two Serie A matches on the bounce.
Verona was six points above the relegation zone.
Celebrations postponed
Parma had to postpone its celebrations of securing Serie A safety after losing at home to Como 1-0.
Gabriel Strefezza scored in the 79th and some truly awful misses left Parma six points above the drop zone.
Cagliari was only a point above Parma and also still not safe after losing to Udinese 2-1.
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