Inter inflicted Napoli’s first defeat of the season in Italian Serie A football, beating them 1-0 on Wednesday in the sixteenth stage, after a seven-week break due to the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
The leg also saw last season’s champions Milan win at Salernitana 2-1, and Juventus followed suit with a difficult last-gasp 1-0 victory over Cremonese.
At the “San Siro” stadium, Napoli entered the match with hosts Inter with 11 consecutive victories, and wasted only 4 points (out of two draws) in 15 games, but came out losing for the first time in this season with a goal scored by veteran Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko with a header in the 56th minute.
With this result the conflict was opened, given that Napoli remained ahead by only 5 points from Milan, 7 points from Juventus and 8 from Inter, after the former had tweeted out of the flock before the stop.
The southern team is gasping for its first title since 1990, led by late Argentine star Diego Maradona.
Inter had their first chance off their back, Matteo Darmian, after receiving a ball from Dzeko midway through the first half, but he tipped it over the bar.
Inter made the lead in the second half with Dzeko’s header in the 11th minute.
Napoli tried to strike back, and their best attempt was a shot from Jacoco Raspadori, but Inter’s Cameroonian goalkeeper Andre Onana looked on after the match.
Milan returns with a valuable victory over Salernitana 2-1.
The Portuguese Rossoneri’s goals were scored by Rafael Leao (10) and Sandro Tonali (15), while substitute Federico Bonazoli scored the hosts’ goal (83).
Salernitana’s new goalkeeper, the experienced Mexican Guillermo Ochoa, who was added to the squad at the end of last year, after having participated with his national team in the World Cup in Qatar, shone, preventing Milan from exiting with a higher score .
Liao opened the scoring after receiving a ball from Tonali Bennett between two defenders on the edge of the box and ducked Ochoa, who came out the wrong way and shot from a tight angle on the outskirts of the box down the left side, slotting into the goal empty.
And Tonali doubled up when he hit the start of a powerful ball from outside the box, Ochoa blocked it, then Dias grabbed it and passed it back to the Italian, who this time shot from inside to the right of the goalkeeper .
In the second half, the referee disallowed a goal scored by Dias for offside, after a prolonged return to the video assistant referee “VAR” (60).
Salernitana nearly completed the game with ten men in the last quarter of an hour when the referee raised the red card in Croatian Domagoy Bradarić’s face, to interfere with Frenchman Pierre Calulu, before he reversed his decision and settled yellow paper after returning to the “VAR”.
Ochoa Jiro was denied his own goal after he countered a left footed bird strike from the Frenchman (82).
And the hosts punished the visitors for the opportunity they won seconds later, when Malian Lassana Coulibaly lifted a cross from the outskirts of the area towards the far post, followed by a beautiful Bonazoli on the bird, left footed (83 ).
Ochoa shined again when American substitute, Serginho Dest, was denied the addition of a third after a ball reached the goal, followed by a backhand with his right foot (90).
7 out of 7 for Juventus
Juventus achieved their seventh consecutive victory, with a difficult victory over the hosts Cremonese, with a goal scored by their Polish striker, Arkadiusz Milik, in the first minute of stoppage time, with a direct left-footed free kick that hit the post and rebounded Network.
After a shaky start to the start of the season, the Old Lady regained her balance before the World Cup stop, and then continued in the same way, going away with a seventh consecutive victory without conceding a goal, in compensation for having scored 13 goals during this period.
Juventus increased their score in third place to 34 points, two points behind Milan II.
The referee didn’t count a goal for Cremonese, who finished in penultimate position, in the 19th minute, due to offside, before the Nigerian Cyril Desires hit the post (69′).
Juventus, on the other hand, played the game in the absence of more than one key player due to injury, in particular Argentinean Angel Di Maria, winner of the World Cup with his national team, Leonardo Bonucci and Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic.
Atalanta, who are trying to occupy one of the first four places for Champions League qualification, overturned the tie behind host Spezia with two clear goals in a last-gasp equaliser.
Spezia advanced with two first-half goals from Ghanaian Emmanuel Gyazi (8) and Angolan Mbala (31) and held the lead until the 77th minute when Denmark’s Rasmus Hollund reduced the deficit before Croatia’s Mario Pasalic equalized in the third minute of added time.
Atalanta, whose Colombian striker Duvan Zapata lost during the game to injury, remained sixth on 28 points, two points behind Lazio, who then meet Lecce.
Sampdoria obtained only their second success of the season against hosts Sassuolo 2-1, with a fine acrobatic goal from Manolo Gabbiadini (25′), while Tommaso Aguilo added the second (28′), while Domenico Berardi he scored the only goal for the hosts from a penalty kick (64).
Lazio fell to their hosts Lecce despite leading with a goal from their top scorer, Ciro Immobile, after 14 minutes, taking their tally to 7 goals this season, before the home side responded with two goals in the second half, scored by Gabriel Strivetsa (57) and Lorenzo Colombo (71).
Lazio remained with 30 points in fifth place.
His neighbors in the Italian capital Roma joined him, with a difficult victory over Bologna, with an early goal scored by Lorenzo Pellegrini from a penalty kick after 6 minutes.
Roma rises to 30 points in sixth place.
