April 03, (THEWILL) – Napoli beat Atalanta 3-1 to go joint top of Serie A with AC Milan, in the absence of leading striker Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen, thanks to Lorenzo Insigne’s heroics.
The hosts, who are the only Italian team left in European competition, dominated possession but lacked a cutting edge and were two goals down at halftime.
After a VAR review, Luciano Spalletti’s side was awarded a penalty after Dries Mertens was tripped by goalkeeper Juan Musso against the flow of play.
Insigne, who will join Toronto FC next season, took the penalty and converted it. And the veteran Italian striker set up the second goal with a deftly executed free-kick that allowed Matteo Politano to volley the ball home from close range.
Atalanta brought on Aleksei Miranchuk and former Chelsea player Jeremie Boga at halftime, with Duvan Zapata on the bench for the first time since early February. Around the hour mark, their possession paid off as Marten de Roon headed in a cross from Miranchuk to cut the lead in half.
In the dying moments, Atalanta continued to dominate possession but were undone by a counter attack that allowed substitute Hirving Lozano to set up Elif Elmas to seal the triumph.
This will be one of the games that Napoli will remember if they win the Scudetto. They scraped together three points with their backs to the wall in front of a hostile crowd in Bergamo, where they have a dismal record, to put the pressure back on AC Milan.
Yet, Spalletti’s team has a solid run in front of them, with their hardest match coming on April 18th against Jose Mourinho’s Roma, where hopefully Osimhen can continue his goal-scoring form for the I Partenopei.
Napoli finished the tie temporarily level on points with AC Milan, who play Bologna on Monday night, while Atalanta remains in sixth place.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
