Perfect Napoli reclaim top spot after Osimhen’s goal
MILAN: Napoli returned to the top of Serie A on Sunday after Nigerian international Victor Osimhen scored the only goal in a hard-fought 1-0 win against Torino.
AC Milan had moved to the top of the table after battling back from two goals down to beat Verona 3-2 at the San Siro on Saturday.
But Napoli moved back to the summit after Osimhen, who had scored for his country in a 2-0 win against the Central African Republic in World Cup qualifying last week, headed the 81stminute winner.
Lorenzo Insigne’s weak first-half penalty was saved and Mexico international Hirving Lozano hit the post before Osimhen made the most of an attempted clearance that ricocheted off teammate Eljif Elmas.
“It was the most important goal of my career. I’m so pleased,” said Osimhen.
Napoli have 24 points, two more than AC Milan, after equalling the best start in club history, having also won their first eight games in 2017-18.
Reigning champions Inter Milan are on 17 points in third place.
Juventus continued their climb following a disastrous start as Moise Kean’s first-half goal clinched a 1-0 win over Jose Mourinho’s Roma.
Roma have 15 points, one ahead of Juventus, Atalanta and Lazio.
RESULTS
Empoli 1 (Di Francesco 30) Atalanta 4 (Ilicic 10, 26, Viti 49-og, Zapata 89); Cagliari 3 (Joao Pedro 4, 90+4, Caceres 74) Sampdoria 1 (Thorsby 82); Udinese 1 (Beto 82) Bologna 1 (Barrow 67); Genoa 2 (Destro 27, Vazquez 90) Sassuolo 2 (Scamacca 18, 21); Napoli 1 (Osimhen 81) Torino 0; Juventus 1 (Kean 16) Roma 0
BAYERN CRUSH LEVERKUSEN
Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry both scored twice as Bayern Munich rampaged to a 5-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen to return to the top of the Bundesliga on Sunday.
After suffering a shock defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt two weeks ago and losing top spot to Dortmund overnight, Bayern bounced back in style.
Level on points in first and second before the weekend, the gulf in class between the two teams became apparent as Bayern put their hosts to the sword with a brutal and brilliant firsthalf performance.
The 31-time German champions smashed in four goals in the space of seven minutes in the first half to go a point clear of Dortmund at the top.
RESULTS
Leverkusen 1 (Schick 55) Bayern Munich 5 (Lewandowski 4, 30, Mueller 34, Gnabry 35, 37); Augsburg 1 (Oxford 19) Bielefeld 1 (Laursen 77)