Cavani's brace pushes Napoli ahead of Inter Milan

By Alberto Cagliano Feb 17, 2012, 21:52 GMT

Rome - Edinson Cavani scored a brace Friday to help Napoli beat Fiorentina 3-0 and leapfrog Inter Milan in fifth place in the Serie A.

The Nerazzurri crashed 3-0 at home against Bologna, whose veteran Marco Di Vaio scored two second-half goals within two minutes.

Cavani is now level with AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic on 15 goals as both lag two goals adrift of Udinese veteran Antonio Di Natale.

'The first thing I think after this game tonight is that this is the attitude for (next week's Champions League) game (against Chelsea),' Cavani said. 'From now on we think about that challenge.'

The Uruguayan opened the scoring on three minutes as Slovak Marek Hamsik found him free in the box for a prompt flick past the onrushing Artur Boruc.

A similar assist from Hamsik on 55 minutes allowed Cavani to secure the win for the Naples side before a late counter-attack goal from Argentine Ezequiel Lavezzi.

Naploi now occupy the last available Europa League berth one point ahead of Inter.

The Nerazzurri suffered a second straight home defeat, after a 1-0 from bottom side Novara, and their 10th in the season, leaving the pitch under the jeers of the Giuseppe Meazza crowd.

After playing a decent first half, with Douglas Maicon missing two headers and Diego Forlan being blocked by the in-form Jean-Francois Gillet, Inter evaporated under two close goals from Di Vaio.

The veteran Marco Di Vaio on 37 minutes was unmarked with the leisure to adjust a pass and beat Julio Cesar, repeating himself one minute later as defender Andrea Ranocchia incredibly set him up with an ill-conceived chest control.

Robert Acquafresca came on for Di Vaio and with five minutes left added a third goal after storming through a static defence.

Inter also have Champions League duty next week against Olympique Marseille.

In remaining action of the 24th round, leaders Milan visit lowly Cesena on Sunday with a one-point lead on Juventus, who on Saturday welcome Catania with a game in hand.