High-flying Napoli reinforced their bid for a first Scudetto since the glory days of Diego Armando Maradona with a morale-boosting 3-1 win away to Atalanta. Despite lacking headline performer Victor Osimhen, Luciano Spalletti’s men made light work of underperforming La Dea to bridge the gap on table-topping Milan.
Atalanta enjoyed plenty of possession in the first half, but Napoli proved lethal on the counters. The Partenopei took an early lead through outgoing captain Lorenzo Insigne, who slotted home a penalty before delivering a clever assist to Matteo Politano in the 37th minute to seal the visitors’ 2-0 lead at half-time.
With Atalanta’s hopes of securing European qualification up in the air, Gian Piero Gasperini’s side went all-out in the second half to avoid defeat, but to no avail. Marten de Roon halved Napoli’s two-goal cushion just before the hour mark to give the Bergamo outfit all to play for in the final half-an-hour of play.
However, another devastating counter-attack sunk Atalanta’s hopes of stealing away a point as Hirving Lozano set Elif Elmas up on a silver platter to re-establish a two-goal lead in the 81st minute. And while Napoli extended their winning Serie A streak to three games, La Dea now face an uphill task to beat the Rome clubs to a top-six finish.
Naples people have a special affection for football, and Spalletti knows how significant it would be for Napoli and the entire city to taste the first Scudetto since 1989/90. The ex-Inter boss also warned his team not to get complacent after winning at the Gewiss Stadium.
“The definitive step is when we win silverware, but we must never lower our guard or think we’ve achieved our goal. It’s true we seem to have stabilised now, but we must never forget those defeats at home, so we can make sure they never happen again,” he said as relayed by TUTTOmercatoWEB.
“This is a united team that has realised it is challenging to give joy to an entire city, a city that deserves it.“