Lazio halted Napoli’s quest for a Serie A title for at least another day by defeating Sassuolo in their home ground.
Lazio, needing a victory to maintain their slim chance of winning the championship, scored early on with Felipe Anderson and secured the points in injury time with Toma Basic’s goal.
Nevertheless, Napoli needs just one point from their remaining six matches to clinch the title, making the delay likely only temporary. Their next opportunity to do so will be on Thursday against Udinese.
Napoli’s only previous league titles were in 1987 and 1990, during Diego Maradona’s stint at the club. With five games remaining, Lazio’s triumph returned them to second place, 15 points behind the leaders, after Juventus overtook them earlier in the day with a 2-1 home victory over Lecce.
Meanwhile, in other Serie A matches, Inter Milan boosted their chances of qualifying for the Champions League with a comfortable 6-0 win over struggling Verona, with both Edin Dzeko and Lautaro Martinez netting twice.
However, AC Milan, who will face Inter in the Champions League semi-finals next week, saw their top-four aspirations suffer a setback as they drew 1-1 with second-bottom Cremonese, dropping to sixth place.
Junior Messias saved Milan from a worse outcome with a last-gasp equalizer in the 93rd minute. Atalanta secured fifth place in the standings with a 3-2 victory over Spezia, putting them between the two Milan clubs.