Napoli scrape through against a storming Atalanta
The visitors impose themselves 3-2 at the Gewiss Stadium
With Napoli eking out a 3-2 win in the 2024-2025 Serie A Enilive MD21, the Nerazzurri's unbeaten streak of 15 straight games came to its close at the end of a spine-tingling and fiercely contested dispute.
Off to a better start, the Nerazzurri neared the opener with Éderson (who finished a hair too high) before breaking the deadlock on 16 minutes through Retegui, who cleaved his powerful left-footed twist-shot under the roof of the net to open the scoring in Bergamo. The visitors levelled on 27 minutes through Politano. Opening all floodgates, the equaliser made way to an all-out contention. Napoli then took the lead in the 40th with McTominay.
Bent on turning the tide from the restart, the Nerazzurri swept down on Napoli in the 55th through a hell-raising Lookman: upon wreaking havoc through Napoli's defence with his footwork magic, the Nigerian laid down his law with a thunderous left-footer towards the far away post. Going pedal to the medal, Atalanta had another crack two minutes later, when Meret resorted to a last-ditch save to deny Samardžić before saving the day on De Ketelaere in the 70th. The visitors turned the match around once more on 78 minutes through Lukaku's header, a goal that ultimately settled the outcome.
ATALANTA 2-3 NAPOLI
Scorers: Retegui 16 (A), Politano 27 (N), McTominay 40 (N), Lookman 55 (A), Lukaku 78 (N).
Atalanta: Carnesecchi, Djimsiti, Hien, Scalvini (Brescianini 84), Bellanova, de Roon, Éderson, Ruggeri (Zappacosta 68), Samardžić (Pašalić 76), Retegui (De Ketelaere 68), Lookman (Zaniolo 77). Unused bench: Rui Patrício, Rossi, Toloi, Sulemana, Palestra. Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.
Napoli: Meret, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus, Olivera, Anguissa, Lobotka (Gilmour 74), McTominay, Politano (Mazzocchi 81), Lukaku (Simeone 84), Neres (Spinazzola 74). Unused bench: Contini, Scuffet, Billing, Marin, Simeone, Ngonge, Hasa, Raspadori. Coach: Antonio Conte.
Referee: Andrea Colombo from Como
Assistant referees: Stefano Alassio from Imperia and Giorgio Peretti from Verona;
Fourth official: Antonio Giua di Olbia;
V.A.R.: Aleandro Di Paolo from Avezzano;
A.V.A.R. Marco Di Bello from Brindisi.
Notes: Neres (N), Djimsiti (A), Ruggeri (A), Conte (N), Scalvini (N), Hien (A), and McTominay (N) booked.