MILAN – Napoli bounced back from its first loss of the season to maintain its perfect start to the Serie A campaign.
Luciano Spalletti’s side rallied to win 2-1 at Fiorentina on Sunday, with Hirving Lozano and Amir Rrahmani scoring after Lucas Martinez Quarta had given the home side the lead.
Napoli has won its first seven league matches of the season and tops the Serie A table. It is two points above AC Milan, which won 3-2 at Atalanta.
Despite its domestic form, Napoli has struggled in Europe. It drew at Leicester in their Europa League opener and lost 3-2 at home to Spartak Moscow on Thursday.
Napoli was looking to recover from that defeat but went behind in the 28th minute as a corner was knocked back across goal by Dusan Vlahovi’c and Martínez Quarta acrobatically volleyed it into the back of the net.
Martínez Quarta swiftly went from hero to villain as he bundled over Victor Osimhen as the Napoli forward ran into the area.
Fiorentina goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski did brilliantly to parry Lorenzo Insigne´s penalty and then get up and push the rebound away from the onrushing Napoli captain but Lozano fired in the loose ball.
Osimhen almost gave Napoli the lead in stunning fashion on the stroke of halftime but his overhead kick flew narrowly past the left post.
Napoli did go in front five minutes into the second half when Rrahmani headed a free kick into the bottom right corner.
Milan got off to the best possible start at the home of one of its main rivals as it took the lead after 28 seconds.
Davide Calabria ran onto Theo Hernandez’s through ball and, although Atalanta goalkeeper Juan Musso managed to parry his first attempt, the Milan defender slotted home the rebound.
Both sides had a number of chances in an entertaining match, which was played at a frantic pace.
Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan pulled off several good saves before Sandro Tonali doubled the visitors’ lead two minutes from halftime after robbing the ball off Atalanta midfielder Remo Freuler.
Milan all but secured a valuable win when Rafael Leao added a third with 12 minutes remaining, following another assist by Hernandez, although it turned out to be a nervy finale for the Rossoneri.
Duvan Zapata converted a penalty four minutes from time after a handball by substitute Junior Messias, shortly after coming on for his Milan debut. And Mario Pasali’c netted in stoppage time as Atalanta threatened an incredible comeback.
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