Napoli's resurgence sets up thrilling clash with Serie A leader Roma

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Napoli's resurgence sets up thrilling clash with Serie A leader Roma

2025-11-27 22:33 Last Updated At：22:41

MILAN (AP) — Napoli is back.

And just in time as the defending champion visits Serie A leader Roma on Sunday, with just two points separating the sides.

After a series of disappointing results in Serie A and the Champions League, Napoli has bounced back with a 3-1 triumph over Atalanta followed by Tuesday’s 2-0 victory over Qarabag.

“We’ll enjoy it then we’ll put back on the helmet because on Sunday we have Roma,” Napoli coach Antonio Conte said.

Napoli started to struggle as the injury problems kept mounting up, with key players Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and Frank Anguissa ruled out for lengthy spells and others facing shorter periods on the sidelines.

Conte’s team hadn’t won since the end of October before breaking that streak with the victory over Atalanta last weekend.

“Napoli wasn’t dead, it’s not a question of being alive or not alive, but of continuing to work, always giving everything we have,” Conte said. “Then games can be won or not, but we know that we must always give everything.

“It’s a moment of great difficulty for the availability of the players … we have to start from the assumption that the players go on the pitch. If we don’t have any, we need to find different solutions ... we are moving forward, we have played two excellent matches.”

AC Milan will be looking to take advantage of any slip up from Roma.

Milan is level with Napoli, two points below the capital side, and hosts Lazio on Saturday. The Rossoneri will be brimming with confidence after beating city — and title — rival Inter Milan in the derby last weekend.

Inter and Bologna are three points below Roma. Inter visits relegation-threatened Pisa on Sunday, while Bologna hosts Cremonese the following day.

There is a key relegation battle at the other end of the table as bottom club Hellas Verona visits Genoa, which is also in the drop zone and has just two more points than its opponent.

The other side in the bottom three, 19th-placed Fiorentina, travels to Atalanta.

Substitute Kenan Yildiz starred for Juventus midweek as he had a hand in all three goals to help his team snatch a 3-2 victory at Bodø/Glimt to finally get its first Champions League win of the season.

Juventus is seven points behind Roma and hosts relegation-threatened Cagliari on Saturday.

Scott McTominay scored and also forced an own goal in Napoli’s victory over Qarabag and the Scotland international should again be key against Roma.

The often-injured Roma playmaker Paulo Dybala could return from his latest setback.

United States international Christian Pulisic, who has only recently returned from injury, is likely to miss Milan’s match against Lazio.

Pulisic has a muscle strain and his condition is being evaluated day by day, but Milan are unlikely to risk one of their top players.

Pulisic scored the only goal in Sunday’s derby victory, on his first start since returning from a hamstring injury.

Italian media reports that the Asian Football Confederation has approved holding a Serie A game between Milan and Como in Perth, Australia, in February.

FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, would still need to give the green light.

Both Milan and Como fans have voiced opposition to traveling so far for a game between clubs situated less than an hour apart.

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US stocks drift in mixed trading as oil prices keep spurting higher

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is drifting in mixed trading Wednesday as the countdown ticks to an afternoon announcement from the Federal Reserve on what it will do with interest rates. Oil prices, meanwhile, continued to spurt higher because of the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%, a day after falling from its all-time high due to drops for artificial-intelligence stocks and worries about higher oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 314 points, or 0.6%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was virtually unchanged.

Another procession of profit reports from companies showing stronger growth for the start of 2026 than analysts expected helped support the market.

Visa jumped 8.8% after delivering stronger results than analysts expected, and CEO Ryan McInerney said consumer spending remained resilient in the quarter. Starbucks climbed 10% after likewise reporting better results than expected, while saying customers spent more at each visit, particularly at its North American stores.

Most companies so far this earnings reporting season have been topping analysts’ expectations, which has helped the U.S. stock market rally to records despite the high gasoline costs and soured confidence among U.S. households caused by the Iran war.

But those not meeting expectations have gotten punished. GE Healthcare Technologies dropped 12.6% after falling short of analysts’ forecasts. Robinhood Markets tumbled 13% after reporting growth in profit that was not as strong as analysts expected.

Booking Holdings swung between losses and gains after the online travel company said the war with Iran is affecting its results and kept some potential customers from booking rooms during the latest quarter.

The company behind Booking.com, Priceline and other brands is expecting the conflict to continue affecting its business through the end of June. It could affect travel not only in the Middle East but also in major transit corridors, such as between Europe and Asia.

The clearest result in financial markets of the war with Iran is how high oil prices have jumped. The price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June rose again Wednesday, up 5.9% to $117.81. Brent for delivery in July, which is where more of the trading is happening in the oil market, rose 5.3% to $109.92.

Brent’s price is approaching its high point of the war, slightly above $119 per barrel, and is well above its roughly $70 level from before the war. A ceasefire is still in place between the United States and Iran, but so is a closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran and a U.S. blockade of Iran's ships. That's all keeping oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf and crude prices high.

Expensive oil is one of the main reasons virtually all of Wall Street believes the Federal Reserve will not announce a resumption of its cuts to interest rates in the afternoon. While lower rates can help the economy, they also risk worsening inflation.

The consensus among traders is instead that the Fed will hold the federal funds rate steady in what’s likely to be Jerome Powell’s final Fed meeting as its chair. The bigger question is whether Powell will say if he’s staying on at the central bank after ceding the chairmanship. He has been a target of President Donald Trump’s anger for not cutting interest rates more quickly and more sharply.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.39% from 4.36% late Tuesday following the latest rise in oil prices.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, several AI stocks held firmer ahead of reports due after trading ends for the day from the biggest spenders on AI technology. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Microsoft could help show whether all the investment in AI chips and data centers is providing the kind of profits and productivity that would make it all worth it. Worries are high on Wall Street that it may not be and that all the immense spending is just a bubble.

Broadcom added 0.3%, a day after falling 4.4%. Nvidia, though, slipped 0.9%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following a stronger finish in Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.7% for one of the world’s strongest moves.

AP Business Writer Chan Ho-him contributed to this report.