Second-half substitute Gianluca Sansone scored a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw yesterday with Napoli which put the brakes on the early season titles hopes of Walter Mazzarri’s side.

Edinson Cavani made his return for Napoli following his absence for the shock 1-0 midweek defeat to Atalanta.

And it took ‘Il Matador’ only six minutes to put Napoli ahead, slotting home from close range after Torino keeper Jean-Francois Gillet had pushed Marek Hamsik’s cross-goal pass into his path.

Napoli were stunned, however, when Sansone, who replaced Alessandro Sgrigna in the 70th minute, pounced in injury time to secure a share of the points.

Napoli’s second draw of the season still leaves them in third, four points behind Inter and five behind Juventus, who suffered a 3-1 defeat to Inter, their first in 49 games, in Saturday’s ‘Derby d’Italia’.

The real goal action, however, was going on elsewhere as Catania turned on the style to hammer Lazio 4-0 and Fiorentina secured a 4-1 win at home to Cagliari to move up to fourth.

Lazio’s second straight defeat, following their midweek reverse at Fiorentina, means they drop to fifth and are now nine points shy of Juve.

Catania made their intentions clear from the start, Alejandro Gomez breaking down the left to smash a left-foot shot under Albano Bizzarri’s crossbar in the eighth minute.

Lazio were struggling to find rhythm and their task became more difficult when the hosts were awarded a penalty for handball and Francesco Lodi converted to double their lead in the 25th minute.

A few minutes later, Gomez stunned Lazio again when he arrived late at the back post to send a lob from deep on the left just over the goal-line as Lazio’s players protested.

Gomez played a pivotal role in Catania’s fourth, running down the left flank to leave his marker behind before setting up Pablo Barrientos for an easy tap-in past Bizzarri.

At the Artemio Franchi stadium, Gonzalo Rodriguez gave Fioren-tina the lead when he rose to meet a corner to send a bouncing header past Michael Agazzi.

Cagliari equalised before the interval when Federico Casarini’s first-time volley, following a free-kick from the left, took a deflection before beating Emiliano Viviani in the Viola goal.

The goal was initially ruled offside, but after consultation with his linesman the referee pointed to the centre circle.

Any hope of a Cagliari fightback was extinguished early in the second half when Stevan Jovetic restored Fiorentina’s lead after coolly slotting a left-foot volley into the net from a corner.

Having then survived a potential equaliser, Fiorentina broke on the counter to score their third, Luca Toni turning Jovetic’s cross-shot into the corner of the net.

Colombia midfielder Juan Cuadrado made it four for Fiorentina six minutes from time.

Serie A

Bologna 1
Diamanti 46;
Udinese 1
Di Natale 73;

HT: 0-0. Att: 23,909.

Catania 4
Gomez 9, 29; Lodi 25 pen; Barrientos 69;
Lazio 0

HT: 3-0. Att: 10,922.

Fiorentina 4
Rodriguez 14; Jovetic 50; Toni 54; Cuadrado 84;
Cagliari 1
Casarini 43

HT: 1-1. Att: 19,533.

Napoli 1
Cavani 6;
Torino 1
Sansone 90;

HT: 1-0. Att: 30,000.

Pescara 2
Abbruscato 49; Weiss 90;
Parma 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 16,000.

Roma 4
Totti 11; Osvaldo 31; Lamela 69; Destro 79;
Palermo 1
Ilicic 84;

HT: 2-0. Att: 30,598.
Red card: Destro (R) 80.

Sampdoria 1
Maresca 53;
Atalanta 2
Bonaventura 2; De Luca 76;

HT: 0-1. Att: 21,499.

Siena 1
Paci 55;
Genoa 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 8,076.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Juventus	11	9	1	1	23	8	28
Inter	11	9	0	2	22	10	27
Napoli	11	7	2	2	16	7	23
Fiorentina	11	6	3	2	16	8	21
Lazio	11	6	1	4	16	15	19
Roma	11	5	2	4	26	20	17
Catania	11	4	3	4	15	16	15
Parma	11	4	3	4	14	16	15
Atalanta (-2)	11	5	2	4	10	13	15
Milan	11	4	2	5	17	13	14
Udinese	11	3	5	3	14	16	14
Cagliari	11	4	2	5	11	17	14
Torino (-1)	11	2	6	3	12	10	11
Pescara	11	3	2	6	8	17	11
Sampdoria (-1)	11	3	2	6	13	16	10
Chievo	11	3	1	7	10	21	10
Genoa	11	2	3	6	10	15	9
Bologna	11	2	2	7	12	17	8
Palermo	11	1	5	5	9	17	8
Siena (-6)	11	3	3	5	12	14	6

Top scorers
8 goals: El Shaarawy (Milan).
7 goals: Milito (Inter), Cavani (Napoli), Di Natale (Udinese), Lamela (Roma).

Next fixtures
Saturday: 18.00 Cagliari vs Catania; 20.45 Pescara vs Juventus.
Sunday: 12.30 Palermo vs Sampdoria. 15.00 Chievo vs Udinese; Genoa vs Napoli; Lazio vs Roma; Milan vs Fiorentina; Parma vs Siena; Torino vs Bologna. 20.45 Atalanta vs Inter.

Prima Divisione ‘A’
AlbinoLeffe vs FeralpiSalo 1-1; Como vs Cremonese 0-0; Cuneo vs Pavia 2-0; Lecce vs Portogruaro 2-1; Reggiana vs SudTirol 2-2; Trapani vs Tritium 2-0; Treviso vs San Marino 1-3; Entella vs Lumezzane 1-1.

Leading standings: Lecce 25; Carpi 17; Entella 16; SudTirol 15; Portogruaro, Trapani 14; Pavia, Como 13.

Prima Divisione ‘B’
Avellino vs Sorrento 3-0; Barletta vs Andria 0-1; Benevento vs Prato 1-2; Catanazaro vs Frosinone 0-3; Gubbio vs Viareggio 2-1; Paganese vs Carrarese 2-0; Pisa vs Nocerina 1-1.

Leading standings: Frosinone 19; Gub-bio 17; Pisa, Avellino, Latina 16; Paga-nese 15; Viareggio, Perugia 13.