ROME: Napoli went through three different coaches during their Serie A title defense last season and ended the campaign in 10th place.

Antonio Conte was hired in July and now Napoli are ending 2024 level with Atalanta atop the Italian league again.

Substitute Giacomo Raspadori scored a late goal and Napoli beat relegation-threatened Venezia 1-0 on Sunday in their final match of the year.

Napoli trail Atalanta only on goal difference but both teams are one point ahead of defending champions Inter Milan, who have a game in hand.

“Even if I play cards with my daughter I want to win,” said Conte, who was hired to get Napoli back into the Champions League. “Personally, I don’t accept minimal goals. But we all know where we started and what the club’s objectives are.”

Atalanta drew 1-1 at Lazio on Saturday and Inter won 3-0 at Cagliari.

Also Sunday, Juventus and Fiorentina drew 2-2 in a match that was briefly suspended because of discriminatory chants aimed at Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic; and AC Milan drew 1-1 with visiting Roma.

After Luciano Spalletti coached Napoli to the Serie A title in 2022-23, Rudi Garcia, Walter Mazzarri and Francesco Calzona managed the team last season, when the Partenopei finished a whopping 41 points behind Inter.

“What happened is in the past. The present is what counts,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “It’s great to be back on top but there’s still a long way to go.”

Napoli had struggled to get the ball past Venezia goalkeeper Filip Stankovic, the son of former Lazio and Inter standout Dejan Stankovic. But Raspadori broke the deadlock in the 79th when he used one touch to fire in a loose ball from the center of the area less than 10 minutes after he came on.

“These are tough matches where it means a lot to come away with three points,” Raspadori said. “We know we’re on the right path.”

In the first half, Stankovic saved a penalty kick from Romelu Lukaku. Then in the second half Stankovic deflected a shot from Lukaku off the post.

Napoli produced 25 shots to Venezia’s four.

Napoli’s 27 goals scored are the least among the top six teams in the standings.

“The squad is improving under every point of view. We just need to score more goals,” Conte said.

Discriminatory chants aimed at Vlahovic prompt brief suspension

Discriminatory chants aimed at Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic by visiting Fiorentina fans prompted a two-minute suspension during the first half.

Vlahovic, a Serbia international who played for Fiorentina before transferring to Juventus three years ago, appeared to tell the referee about the chants. The ref then stopped play, gathered the teams and ordered a warning announcement to be made over the stadium’s public address system.

The announcement said that the match would be suspended definitively if there were more discriminatory chants.

Play then resumed.

Khephren Thuram put Juventus ahead midway through the first half. Former Juventus striker Moise Kean equalized before the break with his 15th goal across all competitions this season. Thuram added another in the second half and Fiorentina equalized again with a volley from Riccardo Sottil in the 87th.

Juventus and Fiorentina are both nine points behind the leaders.

Juventus is the only unbeaten team in the league but the Bianconeri have drawn more matches (11) than they’ve won (seven).

At the San Siro, Tijjani Reijnders put Milan ahead early on and Paulo Dybala equalized for Roma. Under-pressure Milan coach Paulo Fonseca was sent off for protests at the end of the first half.

Earlier, Torino came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Udinese.

LEICESTER: Manchester City provided Pep Guardiola some relief with a 2-0 victory at Leicester to secure just a second win in 14 games for the crisis-hit English champions on Sunday.
Savinho and Erling Haaland struck either side of half-time as City ended a run of eight away games without a win.
The performance was still far from the standards that Guardiola’s side have set in winning an unprecedented four consecutive English top-flight titles.
But the effusive celebrations of Haaland’s header 16 minutes from time showed that three points was all that mattered for the visitors to at least temporarily halt their remarkable slump.
Victory lifts City up to fifth but they are still 11 points behind leaders Liverpool, who have two games in hand.
Defeat leaves Leicester still rooted in the bottom three.
Guardiola made just one change from the 1-1 Boxing Day draw against Everton as Kevin De Bruyne replaced his Belgian international colleague Jeremy Doku.
De Bruyne’s fitness struggles have played a part in City’s slump and he immediately showed what Guardiola’s men have been missing for most of the season.
Rico Lewis picked out De Bruyne, who cushioned a cross into the path of Haaland but his low effort was well saved by Leicester’s stand-in goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk.
Leicester have now lost their last four games after a bright start to Ruud van Nistelrooy’s reign.
The Foxes were left to rue not taking their chances to inflict more misery on a City side still showing a clear lack of confidence.
Any time the home side crossed into City territory in the first half they appeared a major threat.
Jamie Vardy would surely have won a penalty had he not strayed offside before being brought down by Stefan Ortega, while James Justin’s header hit the post after a goalmouth scramble.
City, though, got the crucial opening goal on 21 minutes.
Stolarczyk should have done better than to parry Phil Foden’s long-range effort into the path of Savinho, who swept the rebound into the roof of the net for his first City goal.
Chances continued to come and go for Leicester early in the second half.
Justin should have levelled but his mishit finish from close range allowed Manuel Akanji to clear off the line.
Vardy then had the biggest chance to level when he prodded over Stephy Mavididi’s brilliant in-swinging cross.
However, they were hit by a City sucker punch to end the defending champions’ miserable run on the road.
Savinho was the creator this time as his cross perfectly picked out Haaland, who powered home his 19th of the season ending his four-game goal drought.