Napoli fought back well against AC Milan on Sunday. In their own Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, the Neapolitans fell behind 0-2 due to two goals from Olivier Giroud. The score was equalized to 2-2 in the second half via Matteo Politano and Giacomo Raspadori. Milan remains third thanks to the point. Napoli climbs to fourth place.
Milan started with Tijjani Reijnders in the starting line-up. In an opening phase where Napoli had the better chances, Milan took the lead. Giroud nodded a cross from Christian Pulisic into the hands of Alex Meret, who just failed to hit the ball out of the goal: 0-1.
After the 0-1, Napoli was close to the equalizer through Matteo Politano. The Italian received a low, tight cross at the far post at his feet, but could not get it in with his weaker right leg.
???????????? Politano ?? The Italian scores the tying goal in a brilliant way ?????#ZiggoSport #SerieA #NapoliMilan pic.twitter.com/1Psee5cVoo
— Ziggo Sport Voetbal (@ZS_Voetbal) October 29, 2023
A few minutes later, Milan even managed to double the margin. This time Davide Calabria came with a cross to Giroud. The French striker hung high in the air and headed home from the inside of the post: 0-2.
In the second act, Napoli quickly came back into the game. Politano dribbled in from the right side of the sixteen, cut down his opponent and scored devastatingly in the far intersection: 1-2.
After the tying goal, Napoli had chances to equalize through Politano, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. However, Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan managed to keep his goal clean.
In the 64th minute the French goalkeeper had to fish. Raspadori shot a free kick hard into the right corner from about 25 meters to the goal, leveling the score.
Still need Raspadori man! ?? What a delicious equalizer in a tasty Italian cracker! ??#ZiggoSport #SerieA #NapoliMilan pic.twitter.com/dz7HAi1Oxz
— Ziggo Sport Voetbal (@ZS_Voetbal) October 29, 2023
In the last quarter of the match, both teams had great opportunities to take the lead. Rafael Leao dribbled in, shot into the short corner, but was stopped by Napoli goalkeeper Meret. In the final phase of the match, Napoli was also down to ten men. Natan received his second yellow after a foul on Luka Romero and had to intervene early.
| No. | Team | M | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Internazionale | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 25 |
| 2 | Juventus | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 23 |
| 3 | AC Milan | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 22 |
| 4 | Napoli | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 18 |
| 5 | Fiorentina | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 17 |
| 6 | Atalanta | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 16 |
| 7 | Bologna | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 15 |
| 8 | AS Roma | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 14 |
| 9 | Lazio | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 13 |
| 10 | Monza | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 13 |
| 11 | Lecce | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | -2 | 13 |
| 12 | Frosinone | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | -2 | 12 |
| 13 | Torino | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | -5 | 12 |
| 14 | Genoa | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 11 |
| 15 | Sassuolo | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | -4 | 11 |
| 16 | Hellas Verona | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | -6 | 8 |
| 17 | Empoli | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | -13 | 7 |
| 18 | Udinese | 10 | 0 | 7 | 3 | -8 | 7 |
| 19 | Cagliari | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | -12 | 6 |
| 20 | Salernitana | 10 | 0 | 4 | 6 | -14 | 4 |