Giovanni Di Lorenzo made sure Napoli will stay top of Serie A this weekend after firing the winner in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Lecce to move his team five points clear.
Captain Di Lorenzo bundled home the only goal of a scrappy game in Naples after Scott McTominay’s header from a corner was saved by Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone, giving Napoli their fourth win in as many matches.
The Italy full-back’s third goal of the season for Napoli came after he was denied in the first half when his close-range finish was rightly ruled out for offside.
Napoli are comfortably ahead of second-placed Inter Milan, who host Juventus on Sunday in the biggest match to date of their league title defence.
“It was a really important match for us, we tried in every way possible to score and in the end we managed to do it,” said Di Lorenzo to DAZN.
Antonio Conte’s side created little else against spirited Lecce, who remain second from bottom on five points after a fourth straight defeat, as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Matteo Politano started on the bench.
Romelu Lukaku fluffed Napoli’s best chance of the match when he skied over from inside the six-yard box nine minutes after half-time, and the hosts were panicky in the final minutes as Lecce pushed for a leveller.
Lecce came into the match on the back of last weekend’s 6-0 home hammering at the hands of Fiorentina which put coach Luca Gotti’s job at risk but went toe-to-toe with Napoli and on another day could have easily left with a point.
“I don’t like to lose, even with our heads held high,” said Gotti.
“But I’ll take the attitude of our players today, let’s hope we can take it into the coming matches.”
Gasperini’s 400th match
On Tuesday, Napoli travel to the San Siro to face AC Milan, who sit sixth and will not play this weekend after Saturday’s match at Bologna was postponed due to torrential rain and flooding.
Bologna and its surrounding areas are still reeling from a massive downpour over last weekend which claimed the life of a 20-year-old man.
On Friday Serie A president Lorenzo Casini said the match would likely be played in February due to the two clubs’ Champions League commitments and Milan’s involvement in the four-team Italian Super Cup which will be played in Saudi Arabia in early January.
Atalanta celebrated Gian Piero Gasperini’s 400th match as coach by destroying Verona 6-1 with a stunning display in which they raced into a five-goal lead in just over half an hour.
Marten de Roon, Charles De Ketelaere and doubles from Serie A top scorer Mateo Retegui and Ademola Lookman fired Atalanta up to fourth, level on 16 points with Juventus, and made up for Wednesday’s frustrating goalless draw with Celtic in the Champions League.
“We were disappointed with the Celtic game as we created loads. Today we scored plenty of goals,” said Retegui who has scored 10 times in his first nine league matches with Atalanta.
“It’s down to the faith shown in me by the lads and the fans. I’ve got a lot of teammates with a lot of experience who have helped me integrate well in the team.”
The hosts went ahead in the sixth minute when De Roon thumped home Lookman’s cross, and the match was effectively over by the 14th minute after Retegui and De Ketelaere both curled in fine left-footed strikes.
Verona got the treatment Celtic should have suffered and coach Paolo Zanetti looked shellshocked on the sidelines as Lookman first skipped past three players and drilled home at the near post before tapping in Ederson’s low cross in the 34th minute.
Amin Sarr scored a consolation goal in the 42nd minute and Atalanta took their foot off the gas after the break, only adding to their score once through a Retegui tap-in.