Napoli beat Atalanta after first half scare
●Suso majestic freekick lifts Milan ●Belotti great goal paves way for Toro win
Napoli feared the Atalanta taboo would bite them again, but they fought back for a 3-1 victory including Piotr Zielinski’s missile.
The hosts moved the ball around well, but struggled to break down Atalanta’s defence in the final third. When Jose Callejon did come sliding in at the back post to meet Lorenzo Insigne’s pass, Gosens stuck to him like glue for a decisive block.
Moments later, Josip Ilicic’s screamer bounced off Pepe Reina’s gloves and straight up into the air. Napoli kept pushing forward and were very open on the counter, as Reina beat away a Hans Hateboer header at the back post from Papu’s cross-field pass and Andrea Masiello blocked off Callejon again.
Napoli kept pushing and got their equaliser with a moment of magic, as a corner came out to Piotr Zielinski, he controlled and unleashed an atomic missile into the top corner from the edge of the box. It was simply unstoppable.
Moments later, Napoli turned the game around completely, as Allan chipped up a pass, Insigne nodded it across the face of goal for Mertens to volley in at full stretch.
Jasmin Kurtic fired just wide of the upright on a Papu pullback, but Napoli made the result safe in the final minutes with a well-worked team move. Callejon rolled it across for Mertens, who touched the ball just enough into the path of Marko Rog to turn in at the far post from 10 yards.
Patrick Cutrone and a Suso free kick eventually got the better of Cagliari, but Milan found it their most difficult game so far.
The Rossoneri had won all five competitive matches this season between Serie A and Europa League, scoring 13 goals and not conceding any.
Cutrone can’t seem to stop scoring at the moment and he broke the deadlock at San Siro, though much of the credit goes to the sensational Suso cross whipped in from the right, as he just had to tap in at the back post. It was his fourth goal of the season in all competition.
Cagliari were unfortunate not to equalise when Marco Sau got the shot away while slipping and it bounced off the base of the near post.
Franck Kessie lost the ball in midfield, the impressive Barella rolled across for Diego Farias, who did the same for Joao Pedro to place a low drive past Donnarumma with the Milan defence completely at sea. It was the first goal Milan had conceded in competitive play this season.
Lucas Biglia made his Rossoneri debut, replacing an unusually ineffective Hakan Calhanoglu.
Suso took matters into his own hands, as he earned a free kick just outside the box and curled it into the near top corner with a wonderful finish.
Marco Sau had penalty appeals, but his shot ricocheted off Biglia and on to Bonucci’s torso, while Nikola Kalinic also got his first outing for Milan.
Fiorentina could not recover from a truly disastrous first half performance, as Sampdoria got their first win here in 13 years.
The Blucerchiati took a deserved lead when Gaston Ramirez cut in from the right and his fierce shot was beaten into the path of Gianluca Caprari.
Moments later, Nenad Tomovic’s entirely obvious handling offence – literally slapping the ball away from his opponent – allowed Quagliarella to convert a powerful penalty.
However, Fiorentina did get one back with Bruno Gaspar just on for the awful Tomovic, pulling back from the by-line for Milan Badelj to side-foot home from 12 yards.
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic grabbed a last-gasp winner for Lazio at the Stadio Bentegodi, their first victory here since 2014.
Lazio secured only one win in their previous six Serie A fixtures against Chievo, home and away, losing two and drawing three. Their most recent victory at the Bentegodi was 2-0 in February 2014.
Luis Alberto whipped in a corner for the opening goal and Stefano Sorrentino flapped aimlessly at it, allowing Ciro Immobile to nod in at the back post.
The hosts did draw level after a chaotic move, as the loose ball fell to Manuel Pucciarelli to blast home.
Strakosha fingertipped a Valter Birsa dipping missile round the post from midfield, while Immobile hit the side-netting with a volley after an inspired Sergej Milinkovic-Savic chipped pass.
Lazio won it at the death with another magnificent moment from Milinkovic-Savic. This time he went for it himself, unleashing a right-foot missile into the top corner from distance.
Spal fumbled a 2-0 lead against Udinese, eventually winning this 3-2 thriller with a stoppage-time Luca Rizzo curler.
Marco Borriello got his first start in a SPAL jersey and immediately made his mark. A loose ball came to him, the first shot was charged down and he drilled in the rebound. This was the 12th different Serie A club that Borriello had found the net with.
Spal doubled their lead in chaotic circumstances. Pasquale Schiattarella went on a slalom through the Udinese defence and the ball fell to Andrea Lazzari to tap in. The referee disallowed it, but after viewing VAR in a process that took several minutes, the official realised Danilo got the last touch and therefore Lazzari was not offside.
The Friulani finally got into the game on 72 minutes, as a Jakub Jankto corner from the left found the head of summer signing Nuytinck.
VAR was called into action once more, awarding a penalty for Vaisanen’s challenge on Kevin Lasagna, but again it took a very long time to go through the process. Cyril Thereau kept his cool to fire the penalty past Gomis.
However, deep into stoppages, Spal snatched the victory with Luca Rizzo’s wonderful solo effort. He dribbled into the box down the right and curled a right-foot finish into the far bottom corner.
Andrea Belotti scored a contender for goal of the season, his acrobatic scissor-kick volley the highlight as Torino beat Sassuolo 3-0.
ChievoVerona-Lazio ...................... 1-2 Immobile (L_ 11, Pucciarelli (C) 34, Milinkovic-Savic (L) 89 Crotone-Hellas Verona .................. 0-0 Fiorentina-Sampdoria ................... 1-2 Caprari (S) 32, Quagliarella (S) 35, Badelj (F) 50 SPAL 2013-Udinese ....................... 3-2 Borriello (S) 25, Lazzari (S) 54, Nuytinck (U) 72, Thereau (U) 87 pen, Rizzo (S) 94 Napoli-Atalanta ............................ 3-1 Cristante (A) 15, Zielinski (N) 56, Mertens (N) 61, Rog (N) 87
Standings
Juventus Inter Napoli AC Milan Sampdoria Torino Spal Bologna Lazio Chievo AS Roma Genoa Verona Sassuolo Crotone Udinese Benevento Atalanta Fiorentina Cagliari
Serie B P 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 W 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 D 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 L 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 F 7 6 6 5 4 4 3 2 2 3 2 2 1 0 0 3 1 1 1 1 A Pts 2 6 1 6 2 6 1 6 2 6 1 4 2 4 1 4 1 4 3 3 3 3 4 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 5 0 3 0 4 0 5 0 5 0
Friday Parma-Cremonese .......................... 1-0 Saturday Avellino-Brescia .............................. 2-1 Carpi-Novara ................................... 1-0 Cittadella-Ascoli .............................. 3-2 Entella-Perugia ................................ 1-5 Palermo-Spezia ............................... 2-0 Pro Vercelli-Frosinone ..................... 0-2 Ternana-Empoli ............................... 1-1 Venezia-Salernitana ........................ 0-0 Yesterday Pescara-Foggia ................................ 5-1 Today Bari-Cesena ..........................................
Lega Pro A
Yesterday Arezzo-Arzachena ........................... 2-3 Cuneo-Carrarese ............................. 0-1 Monza-Piacenza .............................. 2-0 Pro Piacenza-Giana Erminio ............ 3-1 Viterbese-Prato ............................... 3-1 Livorno-US Gavorrano ..................... 2-1 Pontedera-Alessandria .................... 1-1 Robur Siena-Lucchese ..................... 1-0 Today Olbia-Pisa .............................................
Lega Pro B
Yesterday Fano-Bassano Virtus ....................... 1-0 Mestre-Teramo ............................... 1-1 Santarcangelo-Pordenone .............. 0-1 Sudtirol-AlbinoLeffe ........................ 1-0 Vicenza-Gubbio ............................... 3-0 Ravenna-Fermana ........................... 1-0 Reggiana-FeralpiSalo ....................... 1-2 Renate-Padova ................................ 3-0 Sambenedettese-Modena .............. 2-0