Kevin de Bruyne injured himself hitting his fourth Serie A goal but Napoli went on to beat visiting Inter Milan 3-1 on Saturday, halting their slide and moving to the top of Serie A.
AC Milan left the leadership door ajar when they drew with Pisa on Friday night to move onto 17 points. Napoliv are now one point clear at the top after a timely win at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Napoli had been struggling, losing two of their last three Serie A games, including a defeat at AC Milan, before suffering a 6-2 humiliation at PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Tuesday.
They responded in front of their home crowd.
Napoli won a penalty after 33 minutes when Henrikh Mkhitaryan brought down Napoli right back Giovanni Di Lorenzo
Mkhitaryan injured himself making the challenge and went off before De Bruyne stepped up to convert the penalty. It was the Belgian’s fourth league goal of his first Italian season. He had already scored twice from the penalty spot and once with a free kick.
But the 34-year-old Belgian clutched a hamstring after scoring and was helped off the field before play resumed.
Scott McTominay doubled the home lead when he smashed the ball from the edge of the box after 54 minutes.
Hakan Calhanoglu hit back from the spot five minutes later after Alessandro Buongiorno blocked a Lautaro Martinez strike with an arm.
Andre-Frank Anguissa drove home a third for Napoli after 67 minutes to finish the scoring.
Inter Milan are fourth behind Roma who visit Sassuolo on Sunday and could draw level with Napoli.
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