Napoli see off Verona to move four clear of champions Inter

Napoli extended their lead at the
top of Serie A to four points on Sunday after beating lowly Verona 2-0 as
champions Inter Milan moved second with a 1-0 success at Venezia.

An early own goal from Verona goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipo and Andre-Frank
Zambo Anguissa’s second-half rocket ensured that Napoli took advantage of
Atalanta being held to a goalless draw at Udinese on Saturday and
strengthened their bid for a second league title in three seasons.

Napoli’s lead isn’t as imposing as it looks, however, as Inter have two games
in hand, the first of which is against Bologna at the San Siro on Wednesday.

Atalanta, who are a further point back in third, also have an extra fixture
to play due to their participation in the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia
and host Juventus on Tuesday before Napoli travel to Bergamo for a huge clash
next weekend.

“There’s been a big change in the team since the summer… I can see the
machinery starting to work better and better and that’s a point of pride for
me and the boys,” said Napoli coach Antonio Conte.

Montipo could do nothing about either Napoli goal as Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s
fifth-minute shot crashed out off the post, hit his back and then crept over
the line.

And he barely saw Anguissa’s screamer whizz past him at his near post in the
62nd minute after the Cameroon midfielder exchanged passes with Romelu
Lukaku.

But it was partly down to Montipo that Napoli didn’t win by more, as the 28-
year-old made a couple of fine stops on Scott McTominay and David Neres in a
attacking barrage from the hosts at the start of the second half, while
defender Amir Rrahmani also had a header cleared off the line.

Napoli are a different team to the one hammered 3-0 by Verona on the opening
day of the season, even without star winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who has
asked the club to be sold amid reports of a 80-million-euro ($82 million)
transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.

Neres is usually Matteo Politano’s replacement on the right wing but proved
to be a decent substitute for the Georgian on the other flank, helping Napoli
stay on the front foot and ahead of the chasing pack.

– Inter on a roll –

Matteo Darmian shot injury-hit Inter to victory on the Venetian Lagoon with
the only goal of the game in the 16th minute.

Italy defender Darmian tapped home his second goal of the season on the
rebound after Lautaro Martinez’s shot was kept out by Venezia goalkeeper and
Inter loanee Filip Stankovic.

“We work on getting up the pitch and it doesn’t matter who gets there. I
found myself in front of goal and thankfully I managed to score and help the
team win,” said Darmian.

Inter have had problems closing out matches this season and Sunday’s narrow
win, their sixth on the bounce in Serie A, came after Simone Inzaghi’s side
threw away a two-goal lead in the Italian Super Cup final against AC Milan.

The away side dominated and should have won by more despite having Italy
defender Francesco Acerbi and key midfielders Hakan Calhanoglu and Henrikh
Mkhitaryan out injured, with Marcus Thuram, Benjamin Pavard and Federico
Dimarco all starting on the bench.

But Stankovic, the son of Inter legend Dejan, was excellent between the
sticks and his brilliant save from Davide Frattesi in the 67th minute almost
paid off moments later when the post denied USA midfielder Gianluca Busio and
allowed Inter to escape with all three points.

“It wasn’t easy after losing the final the way we did, but the boys were
brilliant because we came here tired with a host of players out and we played
really well,” said Inzaghi.

Earlier Genoa continued their revival under Patrick Vieira with their first
home win of the season, 1-0 over relegation rivals Parma, in front of new
majority shareholder Dan Sucu.

Genoa are up to 11th on 23 points, a point behind Roma who snatched a last-
gasp 2-2 draw at Bologna thanks to a controversial Artem Dovbyk penalty in
the eighth minute of stoppage time. (BSS/AFP)