Gilardino's brace sinks Napoli

Two headers from Italy's international Alberto Gilardino and a late feat from Stevan Jovetic late Saturday helped Fiorentina come from behind to clinch a 3-1 win over hosting Napoli, dpa reported.

Argentine forward Ezequiel Lavezzi put Napoli ahead as he showed to have fully recovered from a long absence, but his good performance was not enough to improve Napoli's recent record of four draws and three defeats in the Serie A.

Fiorentina managed to rebound from a poor run with a convincing win that helped them forget the elimination from the Champions League that they suffered in mid-week against Bayern Munich.

The Naples side now lie two points below sixth place, which grants a berth in the Europa League, while Fiorentina lag three further points below.

Gilardino missed Fiorentina's first chance at the San Paolo stadium, nodding wide amid a static defence shortly before Lavezzi on 18 minutes fired a threatening free kick.

Two dangerous chances went begging for Napoli on 32 minutes as a goal-bound header by German Denis was saved by the diving Sebastien Frey before the Argentine forward missed another deflection less than one minute later.

Napoli's lead came two minutes into the second half, with Fiorentina's defence package at fault as it allowed the diminutive Lavezzi to nod home a cross centred from the right by Christian Maggio.

Colombian Juan Zuniga and the same Lavezzi came close as the Purples appeared to be on the ropes, but the Florence guests still managed to level on the hour with a Gila header off a cross from Stevan Jovetic.

Lavezzi fired wide as he tried to finalize a counterattack, but Gilardino again beat Morgan De Sanctis with four minutes left, deflecting an effort from Brazilian Felipe.

With Napoli desperately pressing ahead and De Sanctis away from his goal, Montenegro's Jovetic added a third blow in injury time.

On Friday, the race for the title took an unexpected turn when leaders Inter Milan lost 3-1 at minnows Catania to worsen a run of four draws from five games.

The champions' slip-up offered AC Milan a chance to close within one point with 10 games left - if they win a home game late Sunday against lowly Chievo.

Also Sunday, third-place Roma look to reduce their seven-point deficit when they visit relegation-threatened Livorno.