MILAN: Defender Andrea Ranocchia became the first Italian to score for Inter Milan in Serie A this season as they brushed aside Udinese 3-0 on Sunday.

Ranocchia volleyed home at the far post in the 29th minute after Argentine forward Rodrigo Palacio had put the visitors ahead with his seventh league goal of the season.

Palacio’s compatriot Ricardo Alvarez completed the scoring in stoppage time at the end of the game.

Inter have scored 27 Serie A goals this season. Twenty-three have come from their South American contingent, Japanese midfielder Yuto Nagatomo has netted twice and one came from Algerian Saphir Taider.

Domenico Berardi grabbed a hat trick, including two penalties, to give Sassuolo a 4-3 win at Sampdoria while Lazio’s problems continued with a shock 2-0 home defeat by Genoa.

Inter are fourth with 22 points from 11 games. They are six points behind Napoli and Juventus, and ahead of Hellas Verona, who beat Cagliari 2-1, on goal difference.

Napoli and Juventus both won in Serie A to move within two points of leaders AS Roma as AC Milan lost 2-0 to Fiorentina with jeers and whistles from their fans echoing round the San Siro on Saturday night.

Rafael Benitez’s Napoli narrowly beat Catania 2-1, with Jose Callejon and Marek Hamsik both scoring their sixth goals of the season, to join Juventus on 28 points and leapfrog them into second place on goal difference.

Paul Pogba scored the decisive goal in Juve’s 1-0 win at Parma, while Fiorentina went fourth after condemning a dismal Milan to their fifth defeat in 11 league matches.