Dybala nets first goal of 2025 to give Roma over Venezia in Serie A

MILAN (AP) — Serie A leader Napoli failed to make the most of a stumble by title rival Inter Milan as it was held to a 1-1 draw by Udinese on Sunday.

Napoli was looking to move six points clear of second-placed Inter Milan after the defending champion surprisingly lost 3-0 at Fiorentina in their rearranged match on Thursday.

Instead, Inter can close the gap to just one point with a victory on Monday — against Fiorentina again — after Napoli paid the price for its poor finishing.

It was another good result for mid-table Udinese, which ended a five-match winless run with a victory over Venezia last weekend.

Napoli missed a number of chances at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Scott McTominay prodded wide from point-blank range but atoned for that error almost immediately by heading in a corner to give Napoli the lead in the 37th minute.

However, a series of Napoli mistakes allowed Jurgen Ekkelenkamp to level three minutes later with a swerving shot from outside the area into the far bottom corner.

It was a second straight draw for Napoli, which was held 1-1 at Roma last weekend.

Dominant Lazio

Lazio moved back into fourth place with a dominant 5-1 win over bottom club Monza.

Adam Marusic's header gave Lazio only a slender lead at the break, despite being in full control, but the floodgates opened in the second half with Pedro scoring twice and Taty Castellanos and Faruq Dele-Bashiru adding the others.

Stefano Sensi converted a late penalty for Monza, which remained eight points from safety.

Lazio leapfrogged two points above Juventus, which slipped back to fifth. It was 10 points below Napoli.

First for Dybala

Paulo Dybala netted his first goal of 2025 to help a much-changed Roma team to a 1-0 win at relegation-threatened Venezia.

Dybala powerfully converted a second-half penalty after teammate Angeliño was tripped by Venezia defender Alessandro Marcandalli.

Roma coach Claudio Ranieri had opted to rotate his team ahead of Thursday’s Europa League playoff against Porto.

Roma remained ninth in Serie A. Venezia was second from last, five points from safety.

Cagliari boosted its chances of avoiding the drop with a 2-1 win over fellow struggler Parma to inch four points clear of the relegation zone. Parma stayed in the bottom three.

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