Atalanta presents the most wonderful gift to the people of Milan..Inter insults Mourinho
Atalanta did a great service to both Milan and its neighbor Inter by defeating Napoli 3-2 in the latter's home, to enter the title struggle in the seventeenth stage of the Italian Football Championship.
Milan had temporarily grabbed first place earlier, with an expected victory over Salernitana 2-0, followed by Inter with a clear and remarkable victory over Roma 3-0 at the latter's stadium, but the former remained in the lead after Atalanta's victory.
Milan has 38 points, compared to 37 for Inter, while Napoli slipped to third place with 36, and Atalanta strengthened its score in fourth place with 34 points.
At the San Siro stadium, Milan defeated Salernitana, who finished last, 2-0.
Milan played the match in the absence of its captain and Danish defender Simon Kjaer, who suffered a serious knee injury and underwent surgery on Friday to stay out of action until the end of the current season.
Veteran Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whose coach Stefano Pioli preferred to rest him for the decisive match against Liverpool in the Champions League in the middle of next week, was also absent, which will determine whether he will book his difficult card in the final price or not. Veteran French striker Olivier Giroud did not participate due to injury.
Milan settled the result in the first twenty minutes, after Ivory Coast midfielder Frank Kessier opened the scoring, taking advantage of a cross pass from the Brazilian Rafael Liao (5), before the Belgian Alexei Salmakers added the second with a ball that he shot with his left (18), and the latter celebrated raising the shirt of his colleague Kair towards supporters His team in the San Siro stands.
"The current moments are not easy for Kier and his family, and it was important for us to dedicate this goal to him," the Belgium international said after the match.
With 38 points from 16 games, Milan, the seven-time European champion, has achieved the best campaign so far since the 2004 season, knowing that its last title in the league dates back to 2011.
At the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Inter taught their host and coach Jose Mourinho a lesson. In the arts of the game by winning it three without a response.
Last season's champion Inter continued his series of positive results, noting that he had not lost in his last 11 matches in various competitions.
Turkish Hakan Calhanoglu opened the scoring for Inter with a direct free kick (15), and quickly passed the decisive ball towards the veteran Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko, who added the second goal without celebrating against his former team, which scored 119 goals in six years.
Dutch right-back Denzel Dumfries dealt the final blow to the capital's team by scoring the third goal (39), opening his tally with Inter, who moved to him earlier this season after his brilliance in the ranks of his country in the last European Cup.
And at the "Diego Maradona" stadium, Napoli failed to regain the first place by falling to Atalanta 2-3 in a match in which the score fluctuated 3 times.
The win is the seventh in a row for Atalanta in the local league.
The southern team suffered several absences in its ranks, most notably the Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, who will be out for a period of three months due to an injury in his cheek, and his colleague in the front line, Lorenzo Insigne, in addition to the injury of its Senegalese defender Kalidou Koulibaly.
The visitors advanced with a Ukrainian goal by Ruslan Malinovsky after 7 minutes, but Napoli saluted twice by equalizing Poland's Peter Zelensky (40), before Belgium international Dries Mertens gave him the lead early in the second half.
But the final word was Atalanta, who added two goals through Turkish defender Merih Demiral (66) and Swiss Remo Froler (71).
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news