Serie A 2025-26: Inter Milan extends lead as Napoli draws

Inter Milan moved four points clear at the top of Serie A on Wednesday after winning 2-0 at Parma, while rivals Napoli drew 2-2 at home to Verona.

Federico Dimarco scored the opening goal just before half-time in a foggy Stadio Ennio Tardini before Marcus Thuram scored in stoppage time to give Inter a sixth straight league win and a handy lead over third-placed Napoli.

Inter will hold top spot at least until next weekend, when Cristian Chivu’s team will host the champions in a Scudetto showdown at San Siro.

But the lead could be cut to a point on Thursday when local rivals AC Milan, who are second and level with Napoli on 38 points, host struggling Genoa.

«Today it was important to win and we did that. Now we can start thinking about Sunday’s match,» Dimarco said DAZN.

Inter could have won more easily when Pio Esposito, who started in place of Thuram ahead of Sunday’s clash with Napoli, hit the crossbar in the 29th minute, while Parma old boy Ange-Yoan Bonny had a late goal disallowed for handball.

But it was Petar Sucic who squandered the best chance of the evening midway through the second half when he somehow shot wide when cleared clear by Lautaro Martinez.

In the end it didn’t matter and Inter now have a healthy buffer between themselves and Napoli, who had to fight back from two goals down at half-time to secure a draw in Naples.

Napoli slips

Giovanni Di Lorenzo scored a brilliant equalizer with eight minutes remaining to grab a point after Scott McTominay’s header sparked the fightback early in the second half.

“The positive thing is that we came back from a two-goal deficit, but it is not the right result… we wanted to win our first match of 2026 in front of our fans,” Di Lorenzo told DAZN. «I am happy for myself with this goal, but it is not enough.»

Inter’s victory has put pressure on Napoli, especially given the ongoing injury crisis in Antonio Conte’s side.

Andre-Frank Anguissa and Romelu Lukaku were in the stands, while star player Kevin De Bruyne is still absent, with niggling injuries causing problems almost every match.

McTominay’s third league goal of the season set up a charge for Verona’s goal, but Rasmus Hojlund was denied a 72nd-minute equalizer when he was penalized for handball following a VAR check.

After Amir Rrahmani also had a goal disallowed for offside, captain Di Lorenzo saved something from the match and maintained Napoli’s unbeaten home record this season.

Atalanta continued their revival under Raffaele Palladino with a 2-0 win in Bologna, with Nikola Krstovic bagging both goals after starting in place of the injured Gianluca Scamacca.

Krstovic scored smart low finishes in each half to push Atalanta above Bologna into seventh place, albeit eight points behind Juventus, who sit fourth at the bottom of the Champions League.

While Atalanta look like a new team, Bologna are in eighth place and sliding down the table after not winning since late November, although they still have a game in hand due to their participation in the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.

Fiorentina were denied a second win of the season by Pedro’s stoppage time penalty in a thrilling 2-2 draw against Lazio and are two points behind Genoa, who are just outside the relegation zone.

Published on January 8, 2026