Lazio thumped Empoli 4-0, their eighth successive league win, to go second in Serie A yesterday and Napoli ended their dismal run with a 3-0 win over Fiorentina despite being denied a clear goal.

Hosts Lazio leapfrogged city rivals Roma, who were held to a controversial 1-1 draw at Torino as they failed to take advantage of leaders Juventus shock defeat at otherwise beleaguered bottom side Parma on Saturday.

Relegation-threatened Atalanta, who had a training session interrupted by protesting fans on Saturday, beat Sassuolo 2-1 at home to ease their relegation worries with two goals from German Denis, an overhead kick and a penalty.

Despite Saturday’s defeat, Juventus (70 points) are 12 clear of Lazio and well on course for a fourth successive title. Roma are a further point behind in third, which earns a place in the Champions League play-off round.

Napoli president Aurelio Di Laurentiis had threatened to confine his players to a training camp for an “unlimited period” after their semi-final Coppa Italia elimination at home to Lazio on Wednesday, and his outburst seemed to work.

Dries Mertens put Napoli ahead in the 23rd minute with a curling effort and they should have gone further in front just after half an hour when Gonzalo Higuain’s long-range shot crashed off the underside of the bar.

Television replays showed the ball crossed the line before bouncing out but the goal line assistant, despite being well positioned, did not see it and play continued.

Serie A does not use goal line technology which will be introduced next season.

In the end, it did not matter as Marek Hamsik and Jose Callejon scored in the last 20 minutes to seal a comfortable home win against a disappointing Fiorentina, ending a five-match winless run in all competitions.

In the late game, Sampdoria joined fifth-placed Fiorentina on 49 points after holding Milan to a 1-1 draw at San Siro.

Samp took the lead shortly before the hour mark as nifty footwork from Samuel Eto’o set up Roberto Soriano.

Milan equalised when Nigel de Jong’s acrobatic volley was deflected into the net by Samp defender Alfred Duncan.

Lazio raced to a 3-0 half-time lead through Stefano Mauri, Miroslav Klose and Antonio Candreva, and Felipe Anderson added a fourth shortly after the break.

They still had to play the last half hour with 10 men after substitute Diego Novaretti was booked twice in 12 minutes and sent off before the hour.

Alessandro Florenzi put Roma ahead with a 57th-minute penalty which was awarded for a foul on Daniele De Rossi, although there appeared to be minimal contact on the volatile midfielder.

Substitute Maxi Lopez quickly equalised for Torino, although Roma believed the ball went out of play in the build-up.

Atalanta, 17th in the 20-team table, moved seven points clear of the danger zone after beating Sassuolo while third-bottom Cesena lost 1-0 at home to Chievo.

Serie A

Atalanta 2
Denis 42, 63p;
Sassuolo 1
Berardi 59;

HT: 1-0. Att: 14,550.
Red cards: Missiroli (S) 71; Biava (A) 81.

Cesena 0
Chievo 1
Pellissier 82;

HT: 0-0. Att: 15,094.

Lazio 4
Empoli 0
Mauri 4; Klose 31; Candreva 44; Anderson 53;

HT: 3-0. Att: 49,500.
Red card: Novaretti (L) 56.

Milan 1
Duncan 74 og;
Sampdoria 1
Soriano 58;

HT: 0-0. Att: 30,735.

Napoli 3
Mertens 23; Hamsik 71; Callejon 89;
Fiorentina 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 20,000.

Torino 1
Maxi Lopez 64;
Roma 1
Florenzi 58p;

HT: 0-0. Att: 20,000.

Udinese 1
Di Natale 81;
Palermo 3
Lazaar 15; Rigoni 21; Chochev 66;

HT: 0-2. Att: 6,000.

Standings

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Juventus	30	21	7	2	57	15	70
Lazio	30	18	4	8	58	28	58
Roma	30	15	12	3	41	22	57
Napoli	30	14	8	8	50	37	50
Fiorentina	30	13	10	7	43	34	49
Sampdoria	30	12	13	5	38	31	49
Torino	30	11	10	9	35	32	43
Milan	30	10	12	8	44	37	42
Inter	30	10	11	9	46	37	41
Genoa	29	10	11	8	40	34	41
Palermo	30	9	11	10	42	44	38
Sassuolo	30	8	11	11	36	45	35
Chievo	30	9	8	13	22	31	35
Udinese	30	8	10	12	33	41	34
Empoli	30	6	15	9	30	36	33
Verona	30	8	9	13	36	54	33
Atalanta	30	6	11	13	26	41	29
Cesena	30	4	10	16	28	53	22
Cagliari	30	4	9	17	35	58	21
Parma (-3)	29	5	4	20	24	54	16

Top scorers
17 goals: Tevez (Juventus).
16 goals: Menez (Milan), Icardi (Inter).
15 goals: Toni (Verona).
13 goals: Higuain (Napoli), Dybala (Palermo).
11 goals: Quagliarella (Torino), Di Natale (Udinese).

Next fixtures

Wednesday: 18.30 Genoa vs Parma.

Saturday: 18.00 Sampdoria vs Cesena. 20.45 Juventus vs Lazio.

Sunday: 12.30 Sassuolo vs Torino. 15.00 Chievo vs Udinese; Empoli vs Parma; Palermo vs Genoa; Roma vs Atalanta. 18.00 Cagliari vs Napoli. 20.45 Inter vs Milan.

Monday: 20.45 Fiorentina vs Verona.