Milan (Italy) (AFP) - Inter Milan climbed to the top of Serie A on Sunday after a 2-1 win at Genoa and a little help from their closest rivals.

The Italian summit was there for the taking after AC Milan were held to a 2-2 draw by Sassuolo before champions Napoli were beaten 1-0 at Udinese earlier in the day.

That left the door open for Inter, who grabbed their opportunity at Genoa courtesy of goals in either half from German defender Yann Bisseck and captain Lautaro Martinez.

Genoa’s Portuguese forward Vitinha scored in the 68th minute to set up a nervy ending but Inter held on to go one point clear of Milan with Napoli a point further back in third.

“We showed character because it was a difficult match. These are three very important points,” said Inter coach Cristian Chivu.

Earlier, Napoli squandered the chance to move to the top of the table when their three-match winning run in the league came to a halt.

Despite having two goals disallowed, Udinese still stole the show thanks to Jurgen Ekkelenkamp’s decisive 73rd minute goal.

Injury-ravaged Napoli will be feeling this was an opportunity missed as a win would have lifted them top of the table following AC Milan’s slip.

But coach Antonio Conte said he had “nothing to reproach my players for”.

“In our emergency situation, they’re giving everything. They just need to show more character, and some spite.”

Napoli and Milan had gone into the weekend level on points, with the northerners in the driving seat on goal difference.

- Milan ‘need to improve’ -

In Milan, French forward Armand Lauriente secured the 77th minute leveller for Sassuolo, who had taken an early lead via Ismael Kone.

Milan fought back with Davide Bartesaghi equalising after the half hour.

Having opened his Serie A scoring account, the 19-year-old defender added a second after the break, striking from a tight angle only for Lauriente to seal the away team a share of the points.

“We played a good match,” Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri said.

“People might think we dropped two points, I think we gained a point that could be important,” he told DAZN.

“We still need to improve, because we’re conceding too many goals. But we’re in the top four, that was our objective at the start of the season.”

In the day’s late match, Juan Cabal scored the only goal of the game as Juventus moved up to fifth with a 1-0 win at Bologna, who finished with 10 men after Norwegian centre-back Torbjorn Heggem was dismissed.

Victory brought Juve just a point behind Roma, who host Como on Monday night, in the final Champions League qualifying position.

AC Milan, along with Inter, Bolgona and Napoli, will be missing from league action next weekend as they take part in the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.