Napoli lose at Verona as Juve move into top four, Atlanta stun Milan
MILAN: Hirving Lozano scored ater just nine seconds but Napoli lost 3-1 at Hellas Verona on Sunday,allowing Juventus to climb into the Serie A top four ater beating Bologna.
Juventus, chasing a 10th straight Scudeto, won 2-0 earlier on Sunday to move seven points behind leaders AC Milan with a game in hand.
AC Milan held onto top spot on Saturday despite falling to a 3-0 home defeat by Atalanta, while second-placed Inter setled for a goalless draw at Udinese.
Napoli missed the chance to move ahead of Juventus and sit sixth, two points adrit of the Champions League berths.
Gennaro Gatuso’s side got off to a perfect start in Verona as, almost straight from kick-off, Mexican forward Lozano fired home ater Verona defender Federico Dimarco missed Diego Demme’s long ball.
But Dimarco made up for his mistake by volleying in the equaliser on 34 minutes.
Antonin Barak put Verona ahead ater the hour mark with a low finish into the far corner from a tight angle, before Matia Zaccagni headed in the third with 11 minutes to go.
Napoli’s record scorer Dries Mertens and Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, who returned ater recovering from a shoulder injury and coronavirus, came off the bench in the second half but failed to inspire a comeback. Verona are ninth, four points off the European berths.
Juventus bounced back from last weekend’s 2-0 league defeat by Inter Milan, edging past 13th-placed Bologna in Turin to keep their title defence alive. Arthur broke through ater quarter of an hour with a long-range shot that took a big deflection off Bologna defender Jerdy Schouten.
It was a first goal for the ex-barcelona player in 19 appearances since joining Juventus last summer from the La Liga side in a transfer worth up to 82 million euros ($99 million).
American midfielder Weston Mckennie scored the second on 71 minutes by nodding in a corner, for his fourth goal in 21 games since moving from Bundesliga side Schalke.
“Mckennie is always in the right place, he has great vision,” said Pirlo, hailing an “important” win ater last weekend’s loss, which was followed by an Italian Super Cup victory over Napoli.
“We are a strong team, it all depends on us. As we demonstrated in the Super Cup we are not the team seen at the San Siro.
“We did well in the first half but if you don’t manage to close it out, the games always remain in the balance.”
Bologna could have conceded more late on but for goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski who denied Adrien Rabiot and Cristiano Ronaldo in the final four minutes.
“Both Milan teams dropped points yesterday (Saturday) so it was important for us to win today and get some ground back, because it’ll be a race right up until the end,” said Mckennie.