Piotr Zielinski and Dries Mertens scored for Napoli while Ruslan Malinovskyi, Merih Demiral and Remo Freuler netted for Atalanta to secure the victory.
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It was a topsy-turvy thriller at the Diego Maradona stadium as Atalanta beat Napoli 3-2 in the Serie A fixture on Saturday. The pressure was on the hosts as AC Milan and Inter Milan already won their games earlier in the day, leapfrogging them in the table. Ruslan Malinovskyi opened the scoring for Atalanta inside the opening seven minutes before Piotr Zielinski equalized for the hosts. Dries Mertens put the home side in front, early in the second half before Merih Demiral leveled the score for Atalanta. And then, Remo Freuler completed the away side’s comeback to earn three points.
The race for the Scudetto title is now incredibly tight as Milan lead on 38, Inter 37, Napoli 36 and Atlanta have 34 points. Napoli came into the match without the injured Lorenzo Insigne, Victor Osimhen, Kalidou Koulibaly, Fabian Ruiz and Kostas Manolas. The absence of all these big names certainly affected their performance, especially in the defence, which wasn’t solid enough.
Duvan Zapata was released down the left flank and the Colombian cut inside before pulling the ball back for Malinovskyi on the edge of the area. The Ukrainian footballer slotted the ball home with a superb left-footed strike that ended in the top corner.
In response Napoli nearly equalized as Mario Rui flashed a ball across the face of goal, Hirving Lozano, who came sliding in, failed to score from five yards. Meanwhile Zapata was too hot for Napoli defence to handle as he set up Matteo Pessia but the latter’s shot went just wide.
Both the goalkeeper’s were having a busy night as Napoli custodian David Ospina denied Davide Zappacosta at the near post before Juan Musso also did well to smother Lozano’s effort.
Napoli equalized, five minutes before break when Kevin Malcuit used his pace to get past Freuler and deliver a low cross into the near post. Mertens laid the ball to Zielinski, whose initial attempt was blocked by Jose Palomino but smashed home from the rebound.
And then, within two minutes into the second half, the home side turned things around. Mertens started the run from his own half and easily out-sprinted Merih Demiral before slotting the ball past an out-rushing Musso and into the net. It was the veteran Belgian’s fifth goal in four games.
Zapata was involved once again as his glancing header from Joakim Maehle cross hit the woodwork before being cleared by the defender. Atalanta hit back as Rafael Toloi slid the ball through for Demiral on the right side of the penalty area. The Turkish defender blasted into the roof of the net from a tight angle. the score was now 2-2.
Atalanta completed the turnaround in the 71st minute. Ilicic cut inside from the right and rolled the ball to Freuler on the edge of the area. The Swiss midfielder steered into the far bottom corner from 12 yards.
Elsewhere, in San Siro, Milan defeated Salernitana 2-0 to overtake Napoli to the summit of the table. Milan got off to a perfect start as Rafael Leao dribbled past three defenders before cutting the ball back for Franck Kessie inside the box. The Ivorian midfielder swept home to score only his third league goal of the season.
Alexis Saelemaekers doubled the lead in the 18th minute. The Belgian cut inside from the right side of the penalty area and slotted the ball into the far bottom corner with a brilliant left-foot curler.
Although the home side couldn’t score more goals they played positively to earn all three points and secure their 12th victory of the campaign.
