Napoli beats AC Milan: Milan hosted Napoli at the San Siro stadium in Milan to try to maintain a “safe” advantage over Juventus in second place in the Italian league. With Ibrahimovic on the bench again, the team was packed with good performance in the draw with Manchester United, in England, in the middle of the week.
The first half was very disputed, with a lot of intensity, but the teams had difficulties in creating dangerous moves. While Napoli bet on possession of the ball and creation of plays on the sides of the field with Lorenzo Insigne on the left and Matteo Politano on the right, the home team was looking for counterattacks by the great midfielder Franck Kessié. Both came up against the last pass, which did not arrive with quality in the opposing areas.
After the first half without great chances, the teams returned to the second stage with different postures. Milan dominating the stocks more and Napoli more reactive. And, soon it worked for the Neapolitan team. After four minutes, in a counterattack on the left side of the field, the team spun the ball quickly until Zielinski found Politano on the right side, at the entrance of the opponent’s area. The player dominated and beat chewed with his right foot, which is not the strong one, crossed, killing goalkeeper Donnarumma, who was unable to do anything. The visiting team opened the scoring in a beautiful move.
The game was much more open, and Milan was even more exposed, however, Napoli continued to be more dangerous in the counterattacks. A few minutes later, Fabián hit the goal, forcing Donnarumma to make a beautiful save, and Insigne had a chance on the left, but hit over the goal.
After that, Milan missed their first great opportunity with Rafael Leão, who received a beautiful pass from the left by Ante Rebic – who had entered Rade Krunic’s place five minutes before – on the back of defender Koulibaly. The number 17 tried to hit first, but almost missed the play, and the ball ended up in the hands of goalkeeper Ospina.
Milan started pressure more on the basis of the will than in the organization and almost equalized in the 24 ‘, when Sandro Tonali took a free kick from the left and Rebic headed his back to the goal, forcing Ospina to spread the ball. After that, Napoli closed down for good and put the 11 players to defend themselves in the last third of the field, making it difficult for Milan to penetrate the area.
At 40 minutes, Napoli escaped on the left with Victor Osimhen, and Theo Hernández gave the Neapolitan athlete a criminal cart. The weather heated up, but the referee did not expel the Milan player. At 46 ‘, Rebic fouled in the attack and said something to the referee, who immediately expelled the Milan player, who did not even make a complaint about the exclusion.
With one less, Milan no longer had the strength to threaten Napoli, who won away from home and left the runner-up in the league just one point ahead of Juventus after the “Old Lady” beat Cagliari on Sunday. The game has one less game. The Neapolitan team touched the G4 and threatens Atalanta’s fourth place, as they have one game less and, if they win, they surpass the Bergamo team.
Game over : Milan 0 x 1 Napoli
Other results of the round:
Lazio 3 x 2 Crotone
Atalanta 3 x 1 Spezia
Sassuolo 3 x 2 Verona
Benevento 1 x 4 Fiorentina
Genoa 1 x 1 Udinese
Bologna 3 x 1 Sampdoria
Torino 1 x 2 Inter
Parma 2 x 0 Roma
Cagliari 1 x 3 Juventus
