Livorno 0-2 Napoli

Napoli maintained their impressive challenge for a top-four finish in Serie A with victory at struggling Livorno.

Christian Maggio fired the the Partenopei in front before the interval with Luca Cigarini making sure of the points in stoppage time, moments after Livorno goalkeeper Alfonso De Lucia was given his marching orders.

Cristiano Lucarelli also missed a second-half penalty for the home side, who are just two points above the drop zone following their third defeat in four games.

Napoli, however, stretched their unbeaten run to 14 matches in the league with Walter Mazzarri's side staying fourth and in the running for Champions League football next season.

Despite the gulf between the two sides in the standings, it was Livorno who had the first glimpse of goal when Lucarelli forced a save out of Morgan De Sanctis in the third minute.

Marek Hamsik produced a chance for Napoli soon after, with his right-footed strike swept clear by De Lucia, but it was the home side who had control of the match and they should have taken the lead after 29 minutes.

Nico Pulzetti curled in the perfect ball for Lucarelli, but the striker could only direct his header over the crossbar from three yards out.

Mozart also had a promising opening for Livorno as half-time approached, trying his luck with a low strike from 22 yards which went wide by the narrowest of margins.

And it was Napoli who grabbed the opening goal against the run of play a minute later. Salvatore Aronica pounced on a loose pass between De Lucia and Mozart before swinging in a cross for Maggio, who swerved a delightful volley into the top corner.

Livorno did not deserve to be trailing at the interval, and Lucarelli tried to make amends after the restart but De Sanctis did well to smother his free-kick from the edge of the area.

The hosts were then handed a route back into the match when Michele Pazienza brought Martin Bergvold down in the area after 54 minutes.

Lucarelli stepped up to take the resulting penalty, but saw his strike saved by the feet of De Sanctis before also smashing the rebound over the bar.

Livorno were not deterred by the miss, and Lucarelli had another chance to level the scores after 75 minutes with a header from a Claudio Bellucci cross, only to be denied once more by De Sanctis.

The Napoli goalkeeper proved his worth again minutes later with a fantastic double save to tip away Romano Perticone's close-range header and the rebound from Francesco Tavano.

Any suspicions it would not be Livorno's day were confirmed in the dying minutes when De Lucia was given a red card for handling Cigarini's attempted lob outside of the area.

With all three substitutes on the field, midfielder Davide Marchini put on the goalkeeping gloves but his first job was to pick Cigarini's free-kick out of the net as Napoli put the result beyond doubt.