AC Milan kept hold of their five-point lead at the top of Serie A on Sunday after a hard-fought 2-1 win at Sampdoria, while Napoli moved third after strolling to victory over bottom side Crotone. Franck Kessie's penalty on the stroke of half-time and Samu Castillejo's 77th-minute strike were just enough for the seven-time European champions to move up to 26 points and keep second-placed local rivals Inter Milan at arm's length. Coach Stefano Pioli hailed a dogged display from a team missing injured talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic, defender Simon Kjaer and midfielder Ismael Bennacer.

"This is a team that makes the most of every situation, even the most negative, to show what they can do," Pioli said to Sky Sport Italia. "I keep being surprised by the maturity of the players... They never get downhearted by bad results or let good ones go to their heads." Ivory Coast midfielder Kessie coolly struck home his spot-kick after Jakub Jankto unluckily handled while challenging for the ball with Theo Hernandez. Sandro Tonali hit the post for Milan just after the break but the away side were on the back foot for much of the second half until substitute Castillejo doubled their lead with his first touch, set up by a fine pull-back from Ante Rebic. Rebic would then surely have removed all doubt with 11 minutes left had Davide Calabria not ruined a fine team moved by duffing his pass to the waiting Croatian, who is yet to score this season. That left Pioli's team to sweat out the final minutes after Albin Ekdal's powerful header just escaped Gianluigi Donnarumma's clutches, and their lead at the top of the table would have been cut to three had Swede Ekdal not put another aerial effort wide with the last attack of the game.