Napoli took the next step towards the Serie A title on Saturday evening. The team of trainer Luciano Spalletti was too strong for Atalanta in-house. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia opened the scoring in a great way by tricking three opponents, after which Amir Rrahmani
set the final score at 2-0. Napoli has a lead of no less than eighteen points over first attacker Internazionale with twelve matches to go.
After last weekend’s surprising 0-1 home defeat against Lazio – the second in this Serie A season – Spalletti saw no reason to change. First goalkeeper Alex Meret, however, was injured during the warm-up with a wrist injury, so that Pierluigi Gollini started under the crossbar. At the ailing Atalanta, Gian Piero Gasperini decided to make quite a few changes. Ederson replaced the injured Teun Koopmeiners, while Giorgio Scalvini and Mario Pasalic also entered the starting eleven. Finally, Duván Zapata was surprisingly preferred to club top scorer Ademola Lookman.
???????? ???????? ????????! ?? Kvaratschelia shows us his extraordinary class and makes a phenomenally beautiful hit! ?? Watch and enjoy…??#ZiggoSport #SerieA #NapoliAtalanta pic.twitter.com/Pl66hAdQ9o
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) March 11, 2023
Napoli started the game strongly in its own Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. For example, Matteo Politano created immediate danger after a combination with Piotr Zielinski. The wing attacker thought to find the bottom right corner, but saw goalkeeper Alessandro Russo make a good save. Victor Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia struggled to distinguish themselves in the first act. The Georgian tried with a solo, but he also encountered Atalanta’s closing post in the short corner. The biggest chance was for Politano, who got the ball pushed into his feet by Marten de Roon. Once again, however, Russo proved to be an obstacle.
The home side started the second half much more convincingly. Osimhen showed himself with a spectacular half bicycle kick. With one hour on the clock, he showed himself even more emphatically, when his header went narrowly past the left post. The lead for Napoli was almost inevitable and in the attack the spell was finally broken in a phenomenal way. Kvaratskhelia sent three opponents into the forest with a felling movement, then turned again and convincingly shot the ball into the roof of the goal: 1-0. The game was closed fifteen minutes before the end by Rrahmani, who nodded a corner kick from Eljif Elmas against the ropes: 2-0.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | v | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naples | 26 | 22 | 2 | 2 | 44 | 68 |
| 2 | Internazionale | 26 | 16 | 2 | 8 | 17 | 50 |
| 3 | Lazio | 25 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 22 | 48 |
| 4 | AS Roma | 25 | 14 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 47 |
| 5 | AC Milan | 25 | 14 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 47 |
| 6 | Atlanta | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 42 |
| 7 | Juventus | 25 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 20 | 35 |
| 8 | bologna | 25 | 10 | 5 | 10 | -3 | 35 |
| 9 | Udinese | 26 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 35 |
| 10 | Torino | 25 | 9 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 34 |
| 11 | Monza | 25 | 9 | 5 | 11 | -5 | 32 |
| 12 | Florence | 25 | 8 | 7 | 10 | -2 | 31 |
| 13 | Sassuolo | 25 | 8 | 6 | 11 | -7 | 30 |
| 14 | Empoli | 26 | 6 | 10 | 10 | -11 | 28 |
| 15 | Lecce | 25 | 6 | 9 | 10 | -5 | 27 |
| 16 | Salernitana | 25 | 6 | 7 | 12 | -16 | 25 |
| 17 | Spezia | 26 | 5 | 9 | 12 | -19 | 24 |
| 18 | Hellas Verona | 25 | 4 | 6 | 15 | -17 | 18 |
| 19 | Cremonese | 25 | 1 | 9 | 15 | -25 | 12 |
| 20 | Sampdoria | 25 | 2 | 6 | 17 | -28 | 12 |