Napoli 3-2 Milan
Title hopefuls Napoli came from two goals behind to win a five-goal thriller in San Paolo in the best game of Serie A so far.
Midfielder Piotr Zielinski scored twice and sharpshooter Dries Mertens bagged a late winner after Davide Calabria and Giacomo Bonaventura had put the visitors in charge.
The big Serie A 2018 news for this game concerned two high-profile new arrivals. Former Napoli hero Gonzalo Higuain was making his Milan debut after his loan move from Juventus. He’s a sensitive soul, saying he didn’t go to Chelsea to try his luck in the Premier League as only Maurizio Sarri wanted him at Stamford Bridge.
And the hosts’ new head coach Carlo Ancelotti chose Napoli in favour of a return to the Premier League. Is Serie A becoming sexier than the English league? Well, Cristiano Ronaldo might have something to do with it! But Ancelotti has a talented squad in Naples, and I seriously doubt he’ll regret his decision.
Highlights of the game
SBOBET Serie A fans are well aware that these are two teams with a chance to loosen Juventus’ grip on the Scudetto. This game was Milan’s opener after last week’s match was called off in the Genoa bridge tragedy’s aftermath. Gennaro Gattuso’s team responded well by weathering an early Napoli onslaught, keeping out two efforts from Lorenzo Insigne and one from Jose Callejon. They then stunned the home fans with their first real attempt on goal.
Former Liverpool striker Fabio Borini headed down to Giacomo Bonaventura in the centre of the penalty area, and the midfielder fired home. If that surprised Napoli, the hosts almost went into shock a minute later after Higuain won a free kick. Bonaventura delivered the ball into the danger area and Mateo Mussachio missed from point-blank range.
Milan’s 19-year-old keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is being coveted by top clubs around Europe, and he was sure to be in for a busy night. Marek Hamsik, Piotr Zielinski and Callejon all shot for goal, but the keeper was getting good protection from his defence. The visitors held on to lead at half-time, but not before Donnarumma made two great saves: the first in the bottom corner from Kalidou Koulibaly and the second in the top corner from Arkadiusz Milik.
So it was 0-1 at the break and, almost unbelievably, it became 0-2 just after half-time. As the crowd expected Napoli to continue their assault, Milan struck again. Suso found Davide Calabria on the right side of the box and he shot smartly, low into the opposite corner.
Napoli halved the deficit on 53 minutes when Callejon fed Zielinski and the Polish World Cup star shot low into the corner. Game on!
Insigne missed with one shot and then had another blocked as the hosts pressed for the equaliser, and Zielinski came close just after the hour. Ancelotti decided to go for it by bringing on Dries Mertens, and Napoli was level with a quarter of the game remaining.
Fabio Borini conceded a corner which was delivered to Zielinski just outside the box, and his shot was low and true into the bottom-right hand corner.
Both sides went for the win: Milan substitute Tiemoue Bakayoko thought he’d scored with a header but it was tipped around the post. But as the time ticked by, it was Napoli’s super sub Mertens who grabbed the winner with just ten minutes left, converting a ball from Allan from close range and the San Paolo crowd erupted.
The comeback was complete.
Higuain did his best to spoil his ex-team-mates’ night, but he couldn’t hit the target, first shooting high and wide and then seeing his 88th-minute effort blocked.
Mertens put Inisgne in as injury time was underway, but Donnarumma kept him out and that was that.
Phew!
Key Statistics
Napoli were so close to winning the Scudetto last season, and on this form, they’ll come pretty near again. Milan gave them a great game and had plenty of the ball, with 49 per cent possession to Napoli’s 51 per cent.
Both teams used the ball well with Napoli’s pass accuracy slightly better at 90 per cent to 87 per cent, but the difference was in the hosts’ cutting edge. They had 24 shots to Milan’s eight, with eight on target, forcing Donnarumma to make five good saves and beating him three times.
What’s next?
Gattuso can feel proud of his team’s effort, and he’ll dust them off for another tough test when Roma visit Milan.
Napoli head to Sampdoria aiming to make it three wins from three.
The Serie A 2018 odds say it will take a special team to wrestle the Scudetto from the grip of the Bianconeri, but Napoli might just be the one.
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