Napoli triumphs over Lazio but match ends in chaos with three red cards. Inter top of Serie A

MILAN (AP) — Napoli recorded a comfortable 2-0 win at Lazio amid a chaotic finish to their Serie A match on Sunday as the defending champion continued its good form from the end of 2025.

Leonardo Spinazzola and Amir Rrahmani scored in the first half of Napoli’s first match of 2026 as Antonio Conte's side remained third, a point behind AC Milan and two points below Inter Milan, which beat Bologna 3-1.

Inter hosts Napoli next weekend.

There was a bad-tempered finish to Napoli's match, with three red cards in the final 10 minutes.

Lazio defender Adam Marušić and Napoli counterpart Pasquale Mazzocchi were sent off after getting into a scuffle, that descended into a brawl with Conte trying to separate the two sides.

Lazio forward Tijjani Noslin had already been sent off in the 81st minute following a second yellow card.

Napoli had ended last year in fine form with a 2-0 victory over Cremonese, shortly after winning the Italian Super Cup.

The visitors took the lead in the 13th minute. Matteo Politano twisted and turned down the right flank before putting in a cross for Spinazzola to volley home.

Napoli doubled its advantage in the 33rd when Rrahmani headed a Politano free kick into the bottom right corner.

The only negative note for Napoli — apart from the red card — was the sight of David Neres having to be helped off in the 70th minute after the in-form winger went down with an apparent ankle problem, adding to the team’s already lengthy injury list.

Lautaro Martínez scored one goal and set up another as Inter avenged a recent defeat to Bologna in the Italian Super Cup semifinals.

Lautaro set up the opener for Piotr Zieliński shortly before halftime and headed in Inter's second goal shortly after the break.

Marcus Thuram bundled in a corner before Santiago Castro netted a late consolation for Bologna.

Fiorentina started the year by getting only its second win of the season, snatching a 1-0 victory over midtable Cremonese to move to within three points of safety.

Substitute Moise Kean — who had only come off the bench eight minutes earlier — scored in stoppage-time, tapping in a rebound after Cremonese goalkeeper Emil Audero could only parry Niccolò Fortini's header.

Hellas Verona lost 3-0 at home to Torino to leave the three teams in the relegation zone all on 12 points, although Verona has played a match less than Fiorentina and Pisa.

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Inter Milan's Lautaro Martinez, right, scores his side's second goal during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Inter and Bologna in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (Spada/LaPresse via AP)

Inter Milan's Lautaro Martinez celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Inter and Bologna in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (Spada/LaPresse via AP)

Napoli's Pasquale Mazzocchi, left, and Lazio's Adam Marusic during the Italian Serie A soccer match between SS Lazio and SSC Napoli in Rome, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (Fabrizio Corradetti/LaPresse via AP)

Napoli's Pasquale Mazzocchi, right, and Lazio's Adam Marusic are separated by Napoli's head coach Antonio Conte during the Italian Serie A soccer match between SS Lazio and SSC Napoli in Rome, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

Napoli's Leonardo Spinazzola celebrates after scoring during the Italian Serie A soccer match between SS Lazio and SSC Napoli in Rome, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (Fabrizio Corradetti/LaPresse via AP)

Napoli's head coach Antonio Conte during the Italian Serie A soccer match between SS Lazio and SSC Napoli in Rome, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

Napoli's Amir Rrahmani celebrates after scoring during the Italian Serie A soccer match between SS Lazio and SSC Napoli in Rome, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (Fabrizio Corradetti/LaPresse via AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Artemis II astronauts fired their engines and blazed toward the moon Thursday night, breaking free of the chains that have trapped humanity in shallow laps around Earth in the decades since Apollo.

The so-called translunar ignition came 25 hours after liftoff, putting the three Americans and a Canadian on course for a lunar fly-around early next week. Their Orion capsule bolted out of orbit around Earth right on cue and chased after the moon to nearly 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) away.

It was the first such engine firing for a space crew since Apollo 17 set out on that era’s final moonshot on Dec. 7, 1972. NASA said that preliminary reports indicate it went well.

NASA had the Artemis II crew stick close to home for a day to test their capsule’s life-support systems before clearing them for lunar departure.

Now committed to the moon, the Artemis II test flight is the opening act for NASA’s grand plans for a moon base and sustained lunar living.

Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will dash past the moon then hang a U-turn and zip straight home without stopping on land. In the process, they will become the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth, breaking the Apollo 13 distance record set in 1970. They also may become the fastest during their reentry at flight’s end on April 10.

Glover, Koch and Hansen already have made history as the first Black, the first woman and the first non-U.S. citizen to launch to the moon. Apollo’s 24 lunar travelers were all white men.

To set the mood for the day’s main event, Mission Control woke up the crew with John Legend’s “Green Light” featuring Andre 3000 and a medley of NASA teams cheering them.

“We are ready to go,” Glover said.

Mission Control gave the final go-ahead minutes before the critical engine firing, telling the astronauts that they were embarking on “humanity’s lunar homecoming arc” to bring them back to Earth.

Koch replied: “With this burn to the moon, we do not leave Earth. We choose it.”

The next major milestone will be Monday’s lunar flyby.

Orion will zoom 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) beyond the moon before turning back, providing unprecedented and illuminated views of the lunar far side, at least for human eyes. The cosmos will even treat the Artemis II astronauts to a total solar eclipse as the moon temporarily blocks the sun from their perspective.

While awaiting their orbital departure earlier Thursday, the astronauts savored the views of Earth from tens of thousands of miles high. Koch told Mission Control that they can make out the entire coastlines of continents and even the South Pole, her old stomping ground.

“It is just absolutely phenomenal,” radioed Koch, who spent a year at an Antarctic research station before joining NASA.

NASA is counting on the test flight to kickstart the entire Artemis program and lead to a moon landing by two astronauts in 2028. Orion’s toilet may need some design tweaks before that happens.

The so-called lunar loo malfunctioned as soon as the Artemis crew reached orbit Wednesday evening. Mission Control guided astronaut Koch through some plumbing tricks and she finally got it going, but not before having to resort to using contingency urine storage bags.

Controllers also managed to bump up the cabin temperature. It was so cold earlier in the flight that the astronauts had to dig into their suitcases for long-sleeved clothes.

The contingency urine bags came in handy later in the day. Mission Control ordered the crew to fill a bunch of the empty bags with water from the capsule’s dispenser. A valve issue arose with the dispenser following liftoff, and NASA wanted plenty of drinking water on hand for the crew in case the problem worsened. The astronauts used straws and syringes to fill the pouches with more than 2 gallons (7 liters) worth before pivoting to the moon.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

In this photo provided by NASA, a view of the Earth from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it orbits above the planet during the Artemis II test flight, on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this photo provided by NASA, an Artemis program patch floating in the International Space Station's cupola, on March 30, 2026. (Jessica Meir/NASA via AP)

Spectators view NASA's Artemis II moon rocket launch from the A. Max Brewer Bridge, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Titusville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Spectators view NASA's Artemis II moon rocket launch from the A. Max Brewer Bridge, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Titusville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)