Atalanta treated Napoli to the second league defeat of the season in the Serie A on Saturday evening in an entertaining game: 2-3. Dries Mertens was accurate, but the attacker had to watch as the visitors turned the match through Merih Demiral and Remo Freuler again. Napoli has lost points for the fourth time in five matches and has now lost the lead to AC Milan. Atalanta is only two points behind number three Napoli in fourth place.
Atalanta’s last league defeat was on October 3, when AC Milan lost 2-3. The team of trainer Gian Piero Gasperini remained unbeaten for eight Serie A matches in a row. With Marten de Roon in the base and Hans Hateboer and Teun Koopmeiners on the bench, the visitors in Naples had a dream start. Duván Zapata was sent into the depths and then put the ball back on the edge of the box, where Ruslan Malinovskyi controlled and shot in hard from the bottom of the bar: 0-1.
??????? ??????? ?? Ruslan Malinovsky shoots Atalanta ahead at Napoli ??#ZiggoSport #SeriesA #NapoliAtalanta pic.twitter.com/ixGoydYpEQ
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Dec 4, 2021
Napoli didn’t seem to take long to process the early blow, as Hirving Lozano was given an excellent opportunity to put the home side back next to Atalanta. However, the Mexican attacker did not manage to slide in a tight cross at the far post. Atalanta handed out a few pinpricks via Davide Zappacosta and Zapata, but the goal then fell on the other side. Kévin Malcuit crossed from the right wing, after which Mertens cleverly put the ball back to Piotr Zielinski. The midfielder shot from close range against José Luis Palomino, but in the rebound it was hit: 1-1.
Lidse Dries ?? Who else but Dries Mertens shoots himself on the scoreboard again: 2-1 ??#ZiggoSport #SeriesA #NapoliAtalanta pic.twitter.com/3PyzSzqRdS
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Dec 4, 2021
Cold out of the dressing room, it was Napoli that took the lead. Malcuit sent Mertens nicely into the depths with the outside foot. The attacker remained extremely cool eye to eye with goalkeeper David Ospina: 2-1. Atalanta wanted to straighten up as soon as possible and got a good chance to do so. Joakim Maehle found Zapata, who headed uncovered on the outside of the post. At that point, it remained with a warning, but halfway through the second half, the equalizer was still a fact. Overlooked by Napoli’s defense, Demiral did not hesitate and fired hard: 2-2.
Atalanta just continues?? Remo Freuler with the 3-2 for the visitors ??#ZiggoSport #SeriesA #NapoliAtalanta pic.twitter.com/9J8DbDwdXB
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Dec 4, 2021
The score was again tied for five minutes when Atalanta took the lead for the second time this evening. Josip Ilicic kept the overview, gave a wide to Freuler, who passed Ospina with a low slider: 2-3. Napoli then turned out to be unable to pull out another point in the final phase.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AC Milan | 16 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 38 |
| 2 | Internazionale | 16 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 24 | 37 |
| 3 | Napoli | 16 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 36 |
| 4 | Atalanta | 16 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 34 |
| 5 | AS Roma | 16 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 25 |
| 6 | Fiorentina | 15 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 24 |
| 7 | Juventus | 15 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 24 |
| 8 | Bologna | 15 | 7 | 3 | 5 | -3 | 24 |
| 9 | Lazio | 15 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 22 |
| 10 | Hellas Verona | 15 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 20 |
| 11 | empoli | 15 | 6 | 2 | 7 | -5 | 20 |
| 12 | Sassuolo | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 19 |
| 13 | Torino | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 18 |
| 14 | Udinese | 15 | 3 | 7 | 5 | -4 | 16 |
| 15 | sampdoria | 15 | 4 | 3 | 8 | -8 | 15 |
| 16 | Venice | 15 | 4 | 3 | 8 | -13 | 15 |
| 17 | special | 15 | 3 | 2 | 10 | -19 | 11 |
| 18 | Genoa | 15 | 1 | 7 | 7 | -12 | 10 |
| 19 | Cagliari | 15 | 1 | 6 | 8 | -13 | 9 |
| 20 | Salernitana | 16 | 2 | 2 | 12 | -22 | 8 |