The 30-year-old's moment of despair came in the 70th minute when he was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Jose Callejon. He will now be suspended for the next game, against leaders Juventus.

The match in Naples was his 149th league game for Lazio, having featured in every one since 18 October 2015. Former midfielder Zanetti played for Inter Milan between 1995 and 2014, setting the current record.

Acerbi later tweeted: "I apologise for leaving my team-mates with 10 men at such a difficult time of the match. The 149 consecutive games played to date must be the starting point to start from."

Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi said the defender should not have been dismissed.

"I'm sorry because we were back to 2-1 and there were 25 minutes left," said the former Italy striker. "Acerbi clearly took the ball, then maybe even the opponent. They are the sort of episodes which have gone against us recently."

Ciro Immobile's 65th-minute strike had given the visitors hope after Callejon's opener and Arkadiusz Milik's brilliant free-kick put second-placed Napoli 2-0 up. Lazio kept pressing after Acerbi saw red, but could not break through for a second time.

Napoli have 47 points from 20 games, six behind leaders Juventus, who play Chievo at home on Monday. Inter are in third place with 40 points, with Lazio fifth on 32 points.