Football
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Lorenzo Tonelli nets late winner on his Napoli debut as Serie A resumes

Defender Lorenzo Tonelli marked his belated Napoli debut with a goal deep into stoppage time to secure a 2-1 win over 10-man Sampdoria on the return to Serie A action following the winter break.

Sampdoria had gone into half-time at San Paolo ahead against the run of play after an own goal from Elseid Hysaj on 30 minutes.

The visitors, though, found themselves down to 10 men just after the hour when defender Matias Silvestre collected his second caution.

With 13 minutes left substitute Manolo Gabbiadini stabbed the ball in from close range after it was knocked back across goal by Jose Callejon.

The Partenopei finally got a winner when, into the fifth minute of stoppage time, Tonelli -- who had not played since a summer transfer from Empoli -- smashed Ivan Strinic's cutback into the roof of the net.

Napoli move level on points with second-placed Roma, who play at Genoa on Sunday.

Earlier, in the first Serie A match of 2017 at the Stadio Castellani, Empoli beat fellow relegation-battlers Palermo 1-0 through a 78th-minute penalty from substitute Massimo Maccarone.

Thiago Cionek fouled Maccarone to break up a clear scoring chance from the center of the area, and the Empoli man drilled his spot kick into the left side of the net, all less than two minutes after coming on.

Empoli moved seven points clear of Palermo and the drop zone.

Meanwhile, the Pescara-Fiorentina match scheduled for Sunday was postponed because of too much snow and ice inside and around Stadio Adriatico.

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