Sunday, January 9, 2022 at 7:10 PM• Mart van Mourik

Napoli did excellent business in the Serie A on Sunday afternoon. In-house, the team of coach Luciano Spalletti was 1-0 too strong for Sampdoria. At the same time, Atalanta put on a spectacle against Udinese, who was defeated 2-6. The four Dutchmen who came into action in the Dacia Arena did not directly contribute to the eight goals. For the time being, Napoli (43 points from 21 games) remains third in the ranking, while Atalanta (41 from 20) is fourth.

Napoli – Sampdoria 1-0
Spalletti’s team immediately bit off and showed that they were only satisfied with the victory. On the basis of future Toronto player Lorenzo Insignia got gli Azzurri opportunities through Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani and Diego Demme. It therefore came as a damper for the club when Insigne was injured after half an hour of play. Nevertheless, Napoli held the lead and took the lead two minutes before half-time. Sampdoria thought there would be a whistle for a foul on Dries Mertens, but referee Marco Di Bello allowed it to continue. Andrea Patagna was able to hit the ball unhindered: 1-0. It turned out to be the only goal of the game.

Udinese – Atalanta 2-6
The audience in the Stadio Friuli had a lot to enjoy – at least the audience. After twenty minutes of play it was already 0-2 thanks to hits from Mario Pasalic and Luis Muriel. Just before half time, Ruslan Malinovskyi even made it 0-3. There was no problem for Atalanta, although an own goal by Berat Djimsiti in the 59th minute reduced the tension somewhat. Muriel needed fifteen minutes to bring the margin back to three. Three more goals were scored in the final phase. Beto made it 2-4 in the 88th minute, before Joakim Maehle and substitute Matteo Passina completed the scoring circus in stoppage time. Marten de Roon and Teun Koopmeiners both started in the base at Atalanta; Hans Hateboer was allowed to participate in the last fifteen minutes of Gian Piero Gasperini. Bram Nuytinck played ninety minutes for the home team.