MILAN (Reuters) - Dries Mertens celebrated his 30th birthday by scoring twice to lead Napoli to a 3-1 win over Cagliari which lifted them into second place in Serie A on Saturday. The Belgian took his tally for the season to 30 goals in all competitions as Napoli dominated their Sardinian opponents in what sometimes appeared to be an attack-versus-defence practice session. Napoli's win took them on to 77 points from 35 games, two more than AS Roma who visit AC Milan on Sunday. Second place earns a spot in the Champions League group stage next season while the third-placed team have to go into the playoff round where Italian sides have a poor record. Mertens got Napoli off to a flying start when he turned in Faouzi Ghoulam’s cross after two minutes.

Source: The Star May 06, 2017 18:45 UTC