Romelu Lukaku fired Napoli six points clear at the top of Serie A with the decisive goal in Saturday’s thrilling 3-2 win at title rivals Atalanta, as Juventus beat AC Milan 2-0 to move into the Champions League spots.
Belgium striker Lukaku nodded home his eighth Napoli goal from Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s perfect cross in the 78th minute to give Antonio Conte’s team a statement win in Bergamo.
Matteo Politano and Scott McTominay also scored for Napoli who have 50 points and have made it clear that they are now the team to beat in this year’s title race.
Napoli are gunning for a second Scudetto in three seasons and await the response from champions and closest challengers Inter Milan — who also have a game in hand — against struggling Empoli on Sunday.
Lukaku also dealt a blow to Atalanta’s unprecedented title bid, as the provincial upstarts fell to their first defeat in Italy’s top flight since late September.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s team took the lead through Serie A’s leading scorer Mateo Retegui and looked on the way to a huge win once Ademola Lookman levelled the scores nine minutes after half-time.
But Atalanta are now seven points off the title pace in third after failing to win in four matches, with their previous three all drawn.
Atalanta also have Champions League football to contend with and face Sturm Graz and Barcelona in the next 10 days, while Napoli have no European distractions due to their disastrous title defence last season.
– Juve sink sorry Milan –
Goals in five second-half minutes from Samuel Mbangula and Timothy Weah gave Juventus a deserved win in Turin which pushed Thiago Motta’s side up to fourth, a point ahead of Lazio who are at Verona on Sunday.
Unbeaten Juve snapped a run of three straight draws which had taken their tally of league stalemates to 13, with Saturday’s win just their eighth in 21 fixtures in Italy’s top flight.
Substitute Weah emulated his father in the 64th minute by netting in a Juventus match with Milan 25 years after Ballon d’Or-winner George Weah did the same — for Milan against Juve.
“The boys are growing, match after match, and getting to the point that they can put in a performance like the one they did tonight,” said Motta.
“That’s because they all work really hard every day… today’s win is the reward.”
Milan stay eighth and are now six points from the top four, albeit with a game in hand at Bologna which was postponed due to flooding in October and is yet to be rescheduled.
Sergio Conceicao’s team had chances to open the scoring through Tijjani Reijnders and Rafael Leao in an entertaining first half but didn’t show up for the second period of a match full of incident.
The Portuguese called Milan’s collapse after the break “unjustifiable” and said that “when there’s no desire it’s very difficult for me”.
“I’m the one that has to turn this situation around,” added Conceicao.
The away side could have easily been ahead in the 19th minute when Tijjani Reijnders met Theo Hernandez’s smart low corner with a goal-bound volley which pinballed out for a goal kick.
Bologna continued their resurgence with a straightforward 3-1 win over Monza, who remain bottom of the table after six defeats in seven matches.
Vincenzo Italiano’s side bounced back from Daniel Maldini’s fourth-minute opener for the away side with strikes from Santiago Castro, Jens Odgaard and Riccardo Orsolini, goals which moved Bologna up to sixth on 33 points, four points behind Juve.
(AFP)
