Napoli win six-goal thriller against nine-man AC Milan
ROME: Napoli squandered a two-goal halftime lead, then scored two late goals to beat nine-man AC Milan 4-2 in a stormy Serie A match which saw eight other players booked on Saturday.
Earlier, champions Juventus won 1-0 at Lazio for their second straight win of the new season.
Poland striker Arkadiusz Milik, signed to replace Gonzalo Higuain after last season’s Serie A top scorer moved to Juventus in a €90 million move, scored twice in the first half to put Napoli in control.
M’baye Niang and Suso hit back in a four-minute spell early in the second half to pull Milan level but Jose Callejon put Napoli back in front in the 74th minute.
Juraj Kucka was sent off after he was booked for a push on Dries Mertens and immediately given another yellow card for swearing at the referee.
It went from bad to worse for Vincenzo Montella’s men as Niang was given a second yellow card for pushing Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina before Alessio Romagnoli turned Lorenzo Insigne’s shot into his own goal to complete Milan’s misery.
Despite proclaiming his “satisfaction” with the result, Montella admitted no new reinforcements are likely to join Milan, the subject of a takeover by a Chinese consortium, after club CEO Adriano Galliani told Gazzetta dello Sport the market was “over”.
“When I saw the papers this morning I thought for a minute the Chinese had forgot to make a payment,” he told Sky Sport.
“But our spending power was pretty limited and I knew that at the start. I’m happy to coach the players I have.”
Lazio continued an unhappy run against Juventus in the earlier game at the stifling Stadio Olimpico.
Sami Khedira settled the game in the 66th minute to extend Juve’s 13-year unbeaten run against Lazio.
It was enough to see Juve go provisional top ahead of yesterday’s remaining fixtures, but after a busy summer transfer period Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri was quick to calm fans’ expectations.
“Given the heat in Rome and the fact Lazio are a well organised side we were never going to dominate this game, although we were the better side by the end of the opening period,” said Allegri.
“But we had a much better second half: let’s say we’ve started better than we did last year.”