Another goal for defender Denzel Dumfries as Inter beats Empoli to keep pace with leader Napoli

MILAN (AP) — Inter Milan’s goals are coming from an unusual source.

Defender Denzel Dumfries was again on target Sunday as Inter beat lowly Empoli 3-1 to keep pace with Serie A leader Napoli.

Inter captain Lautaro Martínez netted the opener to help the Nerazzurri move to within three points of Napoli, which won 3-2 at third-placed Atalanta on Saturday. Inter has a match in hand.

Inter found it hard to get past a resolute Empoli defense but Lautaro broke the deadlock in stunning fashion 10 minutes into the second half when he curled a powerful shot into the top right corner from 20 yards (meters).

Dumfries headed in Inter’s second in the 79th for his fourth goal in five matches.

Sebastiano Esposito held up his hands in apology after pulling one back for Empoli four minutes later. The 22-year-old — who has been in prolific form with 10 goals this season — is on loan at Empoli from Inter.

Marcus Thuram sealed the result with one minute remaining.

Empoli remained a point above the drop zone.

Lazio's embarrassing week

Lazio put an embarrassing week behind it to ease past relegation-threatened Hellas Verona 3-0 for its first victory of the year.

Lazio had started 2025 with a loss in the derby against Roma and then drew at home to relegation-threatened Como last weekend. It began the week by firing the man who handled the club’s eagle mascot after he posted explicit photos online of his penis implant.

However, Lazio got off to the perfect start in Verona as Samuel Gigot headed in a corner with less than two minutes on the clock.

Boulaye Dia doubled Lazio’s lead with an impressive counterattack in the 21st minute as he sprinted forward from inside his own half, took on three Verona defenders, and fired into the bottom left corner.

Mattia Zaccagni, who progressed through the ranks at Verona before joining Lazio in 2021, sealed the win early in the second half.

Verona midfielder Ondrej Duda was sent off in the final minute after he received a second yellow card.

Lazio moved fourth, four points behind Atalanta and 11 points behind Napoli.

Verona — which was bought by American firm Presidio Investors on Wednesday — remained in the relegation zone, level on points with 17th-placed Como.

Relegation fights

Cagliari crushed 10-man Lecce 4-1 to leapfrog a point above its opponent into 13th place.

It was nevertheless only two points above the relegation zone in a tight bottom half of the table.

Parma was only a point above the bottom three after drawing 1-1 against Venezia, which was four points from safety.

Fiorentina stayed sixth but was loudly jeered off the field after it could only draw 1-1 at home to Torino, which played with 10 men for most of the match.

Fiorentina has not won in the league for more than a month, with four losses and two draws.

It seemed as if matters were about to change when Torino defender Ali Dembélé was sent off in the 33rd minute after two yellow cards in six minutes.

Moise Kean headed Fiorentina in front five minutes later but substitute Gvidas Gineitis made the most of a defensive howler from the home side to snatch a point for Torino in the 70th minute.

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