Soccer-Napoli's title hopes suffer setback in Sassuolo draw
(Adds Napoli result)
MILAN, March 31 (Reuters) - Napoli's Serie A title hopes suffered a setback on Saturday when they struggled to a 1-1 draw at lowly Sassuolo, needing a late own goal to avoid defeat.
Sassuolo midfielder Rogerio turned Mario Rui's cross into his own net under pressure from Jose Callejon with 10 minutes left to cancel out Matteo Politano's first-half strike for the hosts, who are 16th and four points clear of the drop zone.
Napoli's frustration began when Callejon had a fifth-minute goal disallowed for offside and Lorenzo Insigne's volley was blocked by goalkeeper Andrea Consigli.
Consigli also made a stunning save to deny Insigne in the second half and substitute Arkadiusz Milik was denied a late winner when his bicycle kick struck the crossbar.
The draw put Napoli one point behind leaders Juventus (75 points) who host sixth-placed AC Milan (50) in the late game.
In the afternoon matches, Inter Milan captain Mauro Icardi scored twice in a 3-0 win over Verona, Lazio blasted five goals in the last half-hour to thrash 10-man Benevento 6-2 and Champions League quarter-finalists AS Roma drew 1-1 at Bologna.
Relegation-threatened SPAL hit back to draw 1-1 at Genoa with 10 men after being on the wrong end of a contentious penalty and sending-off decision made with the use of the video assistant referee (VAR).
Icardi, left out of the Argentina squad for this month's friendlies -- which included a 6-1 defeat in Spain -- took his tally to 24 while Ivan Perisic was also on target for fourth-placed Inter (58).
Table-propping Benevento had goalkeeper Christian Puggioni sent off after nine minutes at fifth-placed Lazio for handling outside the area and fell behind to a Ciro Immobile goal.
Astonishingly, the visitors hit back to lead 2-1 with goals by Danilo Cataldi and Guilherme but Lazio ran riot in the last half-hour, their goals including a second for Immobile, who took his season's tally to 26.
Edin Dzeko came off the bench to equalise for third-placed Roma (60), who visit Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday, after Erick Pulgar had given Bologna a first-half lead.
Gianluca Lapadula missed an early penalty for Genoa against SPAL but was given a second chance after Francesco Vicari was controversially judged to have fouled him.
Vicari appeared to make no contact, but after a four-minute VAR consultation, the referee pointed to the spot and sent off the SPAL player. Lapadula converted but SPAL hit back with a Manuel Lazzarri goal on the hour.
Udinese slumped to their sixth successive Serie A defeat when they lost 2-0 at Atalanta, Fiorentina beat second-bottom Crotone 2-0 and Torino won 4-0 at Cagliari, with all their goals coming in the last half-hour.
(Writing by Brian Homewood, editing by Ed Osmond)