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By Alasdair Mackenzie
(Reuters) – Empoli surprised Napoli with a 2-1 home victory on Wednesday to bolster their hopes of survival and leave visitors 18 points behind Serie A's leaders Juventus.
The winner of Giovanni Di Lorenzo in the second half allowed the Tuscan players to leave the relegation zone at the expense of Bologna before the remaining matches of the 30th week.
Napoli midfielder Piotr Zielinski equalized for the visitors a minute before halftime after Empoli striker Diego Farias opened the scoring.
Napoli remains second in the standings with 63 points, with a 10-point advantage over Inter Milan, third, but Juventus, who beat Cagliari 2-0 on Tuesday, has a huge lead over his nearest rival.
Empoli, undefeated in their last five home games, has risen to 17th with 28 points, one ahead of Bologna, who will face Atalanta in Bergamo on Thursday.
"We were out of the rhythm of the first minute at the last minute, it was a deserved defeat," admitted Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti to Italian broadcasters.
Ancelotti made five changes to the team that won 4-1 at AS Roma last weekend, but his team was behind 28 minutes after Farias's shot deflected off Zielinski's arm towards the goalkeeper. opponent Alex Meret.
Meret then came to the rescue of Napoli with a decisive goal to prevent Francesco Caputo, before Zielinski was tied just before the break, with a powerful long-term strike that he was refusing to celebrate against his former club.
Empoli s' imposed at the start of the second half and returned to the lead in less than seven minutes when Di Lorenzo nodded in a corner of the impressive Ismael Bennacer.
Farias had a chance to put the result undoubtedly for the hosts when he scored on goal a quarter of an hour late, but he was denied by another excellent rescue from Meret.
Napoli will then face Genoa at home in Serie A on Sunday, before facing Arsenal in the first leg of their quarter-final match of the Europa League against the Emirates next Thursday.
"We have to roll up our sleeves and think about the next game," added Ancelotti.
"Defeats are never physiological, we were disorganized, distracted, we did not follow our plans, it's not a problem with the defense, it's a substandard performance in general."
(Report by Alasdair Mackenzie, edited by Toby Davis)
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