Local hero Vergara shines again as Napoli beats Fiorentina but injury crisis deepens

MILAN (AP) — Antonio Vergara is giving Napoli supporters a hometown hero amid a deepening injury crisis at the Serie A defending champion on Saturday.

Vergara scored a wonder goal in the Champions League midweek and weighed in with a goal and an assist in Serie A to help Napoli beat Fiorentina 2-1.

Napoli’s first win in four matches in all competitions cut the gap to Serie A leader Inter Milan to six points. Inter plays at Cremonese on Sunday.

However, the victory came at a cost as Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo was taken to hospital in tears in the first half with a suspected torn ACL in his left knee.

Napoli has struggled with injuries — some long term — all season and the players sidelined include Kevin De Bruyne, Frank Anguissa, David Neres, Billy Gilmour, Matteo Politano and Amir Rrahmani.

“It’s game after game after game having to use players who should be resting,” Napoli coach Antonio Conte said. "I know this type of injury (to Di Lorenzo), it seems like a torn cruciate. It’s a very bad thing, we know how much he means to us.

“Then someone says we complain. Normal injuries are not happening to us but serious ones. And it’s hard to patch things up no matter how much we’re doing it. The team is doing something extraordinary.”

Napoli was looking to rebound from being eliminated from the Champions League on Wednesday after a 3-2 loss to Chelsea.

Vergara scored his first goal for Napoli in that defeat and he added to that with his first Serie A goal on Saturday, in the 11th minute. Rasmus Højlund was blocked from collecting a long ball by Fiorentina defenders but that allowed Vergara to latch onto it and sprint clear before drilling into the bottom right corner.

The locally born midfielder leapt over the advertising hoardings and onto the track to celebrate with the fans.

Fiorentina came close to equalizing moments after the host should have doubled its lead but Roberto Piccoli headed a free kick off the post and, as the action continued, Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret pulled off an incredible save to parry Albert Guðmundsson’s header at point-blank range.

Napoli doubled its lead at the start of the second half when Vergara picked out Miguel Gutiérrez on the right and he cut inside past Fiorentina defender Robin Gosens before curling into the far bottom corner.

Manor Solomon reduced the deficit in the 57th minute, tapping in the rebound after Meret parried Piccoli’s attempt.

Fiorentina remained 18th in Serie A, one point from safety.

Domenico Berardi had a great return to the starting lineup by scoring and forcing an own goal as Sassuolo won at Pisa 3-1. Berardi’s first start since November followed a hamstring strain.

Sassulo climbed up to 11th while Pisa remained four points from safety. It did, however, climb off bottom spot and above Hellas Verona on goal difference after Verona lost at mid-table Cagliari 4-0.

Head-to-head record is the first tiebreaker at the end of the season.

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Sassuolo's Domenico Berardi kicks the ball during the Serie A soccer match between Pisa and Sassuolo, in Pisa, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (Alessandro La Rocca/LaPresse via AP)

Sassuolo's Domenico Berardi, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring, during the Serie A soccer match between Pisa and Sassuolo, in Pisa, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (Alessandro La Rocca/LaPresse via AP)

Fiorentina's Manor Salomon, right, celebrates after scoring during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Napoli and Fiorentina in Naples, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP)

Napoli's Rasmus Hojlund, right, and Fiorentina's Marin Pongracic battle for the ball during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Napoli and Fiorentina in Naples, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP)

Napoli's Antonio Vergara celebrates after scoring during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Napoli and Fiorentina in Naples, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP)

A 5-year-old boy and his father must be released by Tuesday from the Texas center where they’ve been held after being detained by immigration officers in Minnesota, a federal judge ordered Saturday in a ruling that harshly criticized President Donald Trump's administration’s approach to enforcement.

Images of Liam Conejo Ramos, with a bunny hat and Spiderman backpack being surrounded by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights on Jan. 20, sparked even more outcry about the administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. It also led to a protest at the Texas family detention center and a visit by two Texas Democratic members of Congress.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, who sits in San Antonio and was appointed by former Democratic President Bill Clinton, said in his ruling that “the case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”

Biery had previously ruled that the boy and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, could not be removed from the U.S., at least for now.

In his order Saturday, Biery said: “apparent also is the government's ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence,” suggesting the Trump administration's actions echo those that author and future President Thomas Jefferson enumerated as grievances against England.

Biery also included in his ruling a photo of Liam Conejo Ramos and references to two lines in the Bible: “Jesus said, ’Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,” and “Jesus wept.”

He's not the only federal judge who has been tough on ICE recently. A Minnesota-based judge with a conservative pedigree accused the agency as a serial violator of court orders.

Stephen Miller, the White House chief of staff for policy, has said there’s a target of 3,000 immigration arrests a day. It’s that figure which the judge seemed to describe as a “quota.”

Spokespersons from the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Neighbors and school officials say that federal immigration officers in Minnesota used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer. The Department of Homeland Security has called that description of events an “abject lie.” It said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.

The government says Arias entered the U.S. illegally in December 2024. The family's lawyer says he has a pending asylum claim that allows him to remain in the country.

During the Jan. 28 visit with Texas Reps. Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett, the boy slept in the arms of his father, who said Liam was frequently tired and not eating well at the detention facility that houses about 1,100 people, according to Castro.

Detained families report poor conditions like worms in food, fighting for clean water and poor medical care at the detention center since its reopening last year. In December, a report filed by ICE acknowledged they held about 400 children longer than the recommended limit of 20 days.

Associated Press writer Valerie Gonzalez contributed to this article.

A canister of pepper spray launched by Texas troopers flies towards protesters outside the South Texas Family Residential Center detention facility where Liam Ramos and his father are being detained in Dilley, Texas, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

An order to release 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from detention, which included a picture of the boy and Bible verse references under the signature of U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, is photographed Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Sydney Schaefer)

An order to release 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from detention, which included a picture of the boy and Bible verse references under the signature of U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, is photographed Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Sydney Schaefer)