Napoli moved back into third place in Serie A courtesy of a controversial penalty in a 2-1 win over visiting Genoa on Monday.
In the 73rd minute at the San Paolo stadium, the referee ruled that Gonzalo Higuain was fouled following a free-kick despite what appeared to be minimal contact. After Genoa protested, Higuain converted the ensuing spot kick for his 12th goal this season.
Napoli, which has won four of its last five matches, moved two points ahead of Lazio and Sampdoria in the race for the final Champions League spot. The southern club trails second-place Roma by six points.
Earlier, Udinese won 2-1 at Empoli to move level with Palermo in eighth.
Antonio Di Natale put Udinese in front 19 minutes in and Silvan Widmer scored the winner on the hour mark after Riccardo Saponara had equalized with a penalty in the 37th following a hand ball by Danilo.
Udinese played the final 16 minutes with 10 men after Panagiotis Kone picked up his second yellow card for protests.
The results : Napoli 2 (Higuain 7, 75-pen) bt Genoa 1 (Falque 56); Empoli 1 (Saponara 37) lost to Udinese 2 (Di Natale 19, Widmer 60).
