Ronaldinho scored a consolation from the spot seven minutes from time after he was brought down by Cesare Bovo. At the San Siro, Inter coach Jose Mourinho blasted the club's fans for jeering Brazilian full-back Maicon.

"We need the support of our fans. I don't like it when a section of our fans in a match such as this start whistling a player for a misplaced pass," he moaned.

"Maicon played despite an injury and despite both myself and the medical staff advising him not to. He said: 'there's no-one who can stop me playing'."

Looking at Inter's lead at the top, Mourinho said he wanted a bigger gap.

"We need to earn as many points as possible ahead of the Christmas break and then see what the distance is to Juventus, Milan and Roma," he added.

On paper, Napoli looked to be a tough test for Inter but the champions seemed to be strolling away with the game midway through the first period as they opened up a 2-0 lead.

Napoli gifted their hosts a 16th-minute advantage with poor defending at a short corner which was played to Sulley Muntari who crossed for Colombian centre-back Ivan Cordoba to volley home on the turn.

Inter's second was pure class, though, as Julio Cruz's backheel presented Maicon with space to shoot inside the box.

He scuffed his effort but it arrived at Muntari's feet on the edge of the six-yard box and the Ghana midfielder reacted quickly to flick the ball between his legs and past the helpless Gennaro Iezzo on 25 minutes.

... contd.