Milan (AFP) – Marek Hamsik equalled Diego Maradona’s record as Napoli’s all-time top goalscorer as they took advantage of Inter Milan’s first defeat of the season and moved top of Serie A with a 3-1 win at Torino on Saturday.

Inter went down 3-1 to Udinese at the San Siro earlier in the day and Hamsik, who now has 115 Napoli goals in all competitions, led the way as Maurizio Sarri’s side made the most of Inter’s loss with a three-goal blitz in the first half-hour that saw off Torino and moved them top on 42 points, two ahead of Inter, who drop back to second.

“It’s very pleasing to score 115 goals as a midfielder. That’s a good number,” Slovakian international Hamsik told Sky Sport Italia.

“We are really happy with the performance. I don’t know if it’s an advantage to be top of the table, but it can help us remember how strong we are.”

The loss for Luciano Spalletti’s team also gives third-placed Juventus, themselves four points behind Napoli, the opportunity to leapfrog their old rivals Inter at Bologna on Sunday.

Kalidou Koulibaly sent Napoli on their way in the fourth minute when he headed home Allan’s flick-on from a corner, and the away side looked out of sight with just 25 minutes gone when Piotr Zielinski collected Jorginho’s precise through ball and slotted home their second.

Hamsik effectively ended the match as a contest with 30 minutes gone when he swept home Dries Merten’s pass first time past Salvatore Sirigu, scoring his first goal since the start of October and finally equalling Maradona’s all-competitions record.

Torino striker Andrea Belotti pulled one back in the 63rd minute, ending an eight-game goal drought that stretches back nearly two months, but that was as good as it got for the hosts.

Inter looked like they were set to maintain their unbeaten record and momentarily extend their lead at the top when hot-shot Icardi levelled the scores with his 18th goal of the season, a smart volley just 71 seconds after Lasagna’s 14th-minute opener.

But despite dominating, the hosts could not find the breakthrough, and were punished just after the hour mark.

Inter defender Davide Santon compounded a poor display by handballing Silvan Widmer’s cross, and after referee Maurizio Mariani consulted the video assistant referee to check that the ball had not gone out before the Udinese right-back reached the ball, he awarded the penalty from which De Paul gave the away side the lead.

Inter continued to push and almost levelled in the 68th minute when Milan Skriniar thumped Antonio Candreva’s cross off the bar, but were punished when Barak finished a lightning break with 13 minutes left to sink the home side.