Napoli Tops Serie A After an Emphatic 4-0 victory over Cagliari as Inter Milan Stumble
Napoli defeated Cagliari 4-0 on Sunday, securing their place atop the Serie A standings. However, disorderly fan conduct during the first half caused the game to be temporarily stopped.
On the other hand, Inter Milan struggled in a 1-1 tie with Monza, relinquishing first place ahead of their pivotal Champions League matchup with Manchester City.
In a match that was halted in the first half due to crowd unrest, Napoli defeated Cagliari 4-0 on Sunday to take the lead in Serie A. Meanwhile, Inter Milan was held to a 1-1 draw at Monza ahead of their Champions League opening against Manchester City.
Napoli’s three-match winning streak was capped by goals from Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Romelu Lukaku, and Alessandro Buongiorno. They now lead Inter, Torino, and Juventus, who they will play in Turin the following weekend, by one point.
For new manager Antonio Conte, who must already answer questions about whether his squad will contend for the league title, Sunday’s performance was another positive step.
“Teams are still settling in as the transfer window closed late and we are all trying to find our shape,” Conte told DAZN.
“We’ve worked hard over the last two and a half months, we’ve got to keep pushing forward without thinking about anyone else.”
Midway through the first half, unpleasant events interrupted Napoli’s victory as the visiting fans raised a banner that resembled sheep bleating, which provoked item hurling between the two sets of supporters.
That banner was created after photos of Napoli supporters holding another one that said “sheep hunting” while traveling by boat to Sardinia, which is mostly a rural region.
Fans from both the home and visiting teams fired flares and projectiles, halting play for seven minutes.
After Di Lorenzo’s spectacularly deflected first goal in the eighteenth minute put Antonio Conte’s team ahead, Kvaratskhelia and Lukaku showed hints of a developing partnership by setting each other up for the strikes that sealed the three points by the seventieth minute.
In stoppage time, Buongiorno headed in the fourth goal to complete the picture for Napoli and set up an exciting matchup with Juventus.
Three minutes remained, and Inter threw up their lead in the league when Dany Mota’s incredible header in the 81st minute gave Monza hope for their first victory under new manager Alessandro Nesta. However, Denzel Dumfries salvaged the point for the champions.
With the Milan derby coming up the next weekend, Simone Inzaghi’s undefeated team—who would have moved a point above Napoli with a victory—were unimpressive in a generally dull match at the U-Power Stadium. They will need to improve at City on Wednesday.
“We had some opportunities, but we couldn’t seize them. We weren’t as focused and quick as we usually are,” Inzaghi told DAZN.
Lookman return with bang
Ademola Lookman ensured that Atalanta’s 3-2 victory over Fiorentina served as preparation for their Champions League comeback.
Lookman, a forward from Nigeria, agitated for a transfer to Paris Saint-Germain and was not included in Atalanta’s first three league games.
But only seconds after Charles De Ketelaere headed Atalanta level, the 26-year-old scored the game-winning goal during stoppage time at the end of the first half by slyly slipping past the Fiorentina defense and blasting past David de Gea.
In the twenty-first minute, Lookman—the hat-trick hero from the previous season’s Europa League final victory—also floated in a precise cross for Mateo Retegui to head home Atalanta’s first equalizer.
For coach Gian Piero Gasperini, whose team hosts Arsenal on Thursday night and delighted home supporters in the recently finished Gewiss Stadium, his initial influence is excellent news.
“We’re very pleased to be playing in the Champions league this season,” said Lookman.
“We deserve it so we have to demonstrate that again on Thursday with the same drive, the same mentality that we showed today.”
Atalanta, which last participated in the Champions League in 2021, was able to complete the renovations to their remodeled home by playing their first three Serie A games away from Bergamo.
With six points, they are in eighth place, three points ahead of Fiorentina, who are in 14th place. Lucas Martinez Quarta and Moise Kean gave Fiorentina two goals in the first half, but they have yet to win under new coach Raffaele Palladino.
Prior to that, Genoa maintained their winning start to the season by narrowly winning a 1-1 home tie against Roma in the closing seconds.
