Argentines Walter Samuel and Diego Milito struck inside the last three minutes to give Inter Milan their first win in 10 games in a 2-0 success at Chievo on Friday while Napoli thumped Cagliari 6-3.
Inter gave coach Claudio Ranieri a vital boost ahead of Tuesday’s crucial Champions League second round, second leg clash with Marseille at the San Siro.
The Italians, who won the competition two years ago, trail 1-0 from the first leg in France and many in Italy believe Ranieri’s job depends on progress to the quarter-finals.
Ranieri was a relieved man after Friday’s win and urged the club’s fans to get behind the team to help them progress on Tuesday.
“I’m happy for the lads, they played really well right from the beginning of the game and they deserved it,” he told SkySport.
“It’s been a month (and a half) without a win and with everything we’re going through I’m satisfied for them.
“It’s a result which gives us a morale boost. We said in the dressing room that we need to carry on from the second half against Catania (where they pulled back a 2-0 deficit).
“I hope the San Siro will be full and the fans get behind us because it won’t be easy but we’re ready to give it a go.
“The next step is to look for qualification, we know very well how important it is to everyone.
“This win gives us joy, for a team like Inter to not score in a month is not easy.
“We need to find motivation from within and this win comes at just the right time, it gives us enthusiasm.
“We haven’t given up before now and we must use all our weapons, which are plentiful, to start getting results.”
Inter toiled for 87 minutes in Verona and looked to be heading for their eighth blank in their last 10 games until the dramatic late finale.
The win moved them up to sixth in Serie A and boosted their hopes of securing a European finish.
Inter looked like they would come up short until their grandstand finish as Samuel headed home a Sneijder corner three minutes from time.
And in the very last minute Milito made amends for his earlier penalty miss as he headed in from captain Javier Zanetti’s cross.
Napoli won for the sixth time in a row to move up to fourth, within two points of the final Champions League qualifying position for next season.
This game looked to be over by the half hour mark as Napoli stormed into a three-goal lead, but there was far more drama to come.
Napoli’s final goal came from a long punt from De Sanctis which Goran Pandev controlled before playing in Cristian Maggio to shoot home.
Either side of that Larrivey completed his hat-trick with a pair of headers from Victor Ibarbo crosses.
