MILAN — Napoli rallied from two goals down to rescue a 2-2 draw at home against Empoli on Sunday, while Genoa beat AC Milan 1-0 to leapfrog Rafa Benitez’s Napoli into third spot in Serie A.
Simone Verdi and Daniele Rugani had given Empoli a comfortable lead but two goals in five minutes from Duvan Zapata and substitute Jonathan De Guzman saw Napoli recover.
"The character that the team showed in the second half is positive," Benitez said. "But I am not happy because I wanted to see this attitude from the first minute.
"It’s a bad result. Drawing at home is always bad."
Former Milan defender Luca Antonelli scored the only goal of the game in Genoa to send the home side third, two points above Napoli.
"This third spot is deserved, we are really happy with our results at the moment, we didn’t expect it," Antonelli said. "Our aim remains to secure the 40 points for safety as soon as possible, even if it is great to wake up, look at the table and find yourself in this position."
Sampdoria can move a point behind its city rival with a win at Hellas Verona on Monday.
Lazio moved fifth with a 2-1 win at bottom club Parma.
Udinese was level with Milan after Andrea Stramaccioni upset his former team Inter Milan 2-1 to leave Roberto Mancini still without a league win since his return to the Nerazzurri bench.
Elsewhere, Atalanta also fought back from two goals down to beat Cesena 3-2 in a relegation battle.
Napoli was poor for most of the match, where some abysmal defending allowed Verdi to score his first top-flight goal on the counter and Rugani to prod home from close range in the 53rd.
However, Zapata headed Napoli back into the game shortly before De Guzman levelled, two minutes after coming off the bench, slotting Christian Maggio’s low cross into the bottom left corner.
Empoli boss Maurizio Sarri was sent off for protesting.
Genoa took advantage of Napoli’s slip to move third after a mediocre performance from Milan, which started the day two points behind its opponent.
The only positive news for Milan was Riccardo Montolivo making his first start since breaking his left leg in a pre-World Cup friendly with Italy in May.
Antonelli — who had progressed through the youth ranks at Milan but only played once in Serie A with the team — scored shortly after the half hour, beating Daniele Bonera to head home a corner for his third goal in as many matches.
Parma started positively but coach Roberto Donadoni will be further in trouble after its 12th league defeat.
It should have taken the lead in the 11th minute but Massimo Gobbi’s strike was wrongly ruled out for offside following some good play by Antonio Cassano.
Parma did go in front a minute from halftime as Raffaele Palladino headed Fabiano Santacroce’s cross into the top right corner but Stefano Mauri headed home from practically on the line to level in stoppages.
Parma gifted Lazio the lead on the hour when Felip Djordjevic stole the ball off Alessandro Iacobucci and raced down the right flank before crossing for Felipe Anderson to tap in his first Serie A goal.
It was Stramaccioni’s first match against Inter as coach since he was fired at the end of the 2012-13 season.
Inter hit the crossbar through Mateo Kovacic before taking the lead on the stroke of halftime when Mauro Icardi timed his run to perfection to beat the offside trap and smash home Fredy Guarin’s through ball.
However, Bruno Fernandes levelled on the hour with a sublime shot from the edge of the area into the top far corner.
Rodrigo Palacio’s poor backpass was pounced on by Cyril Thereau, who took the ball past the onrushing Samir Handanovic before sending it into the empty net.