Napoli concede Serie A lead to Inter after losing at Como
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Napoli's Danish midfielder #15 Philip Billing goes for a header next to Como’s Spanish defender #41 Alex Valle during the Italian Serie A football match between Como and Napoli at the Giuseppe-Sinigaglia Stadium in Como, on February 23, 2025. (Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP)
Napoli
conceded top spot in Serie A to Inter Milan ahead of next weekend's title
showdown in Naples after falling to a shock 2-1 defeat at promoted Como on
Sunday.
Antonio
Conte's team are a point behind reigning champions Inter, who narrowly beat
Genoa on Saturday, due to Assane Diao's drilled winner in the 77th minute for
Como.
Inter
visit next in a match which could well be crucial to the destination of the
Scudetto, while Atalanta lurk a further two points back after smashing Empoli
5-0 with Ademola Lookman netting a brace after his penalty row with coach Gian
Piero Gasperini.
And
Napoli head into that fixture in their worst form of the season, with no wins
and just three points from their four matches in February.
"What
we need to think about is our performance in the second half. We left our
desire in the dressing room," said Conte to DAZN.
"In
the second half it was like there was another team on the pitch. We were
passive... There are mental steps that we have to make and we also need time.
But the second half wasn't good enough, neither the approach nor the mentality.
"They
had more hunger than us, and when that's the case there's not a lot you can
do."
Napoli
shot themselves in the foot in the seventh minute when Amir Rrahmani passed the
ball into his own net from miles out, but the away side looked to be on the way
to a win when Giacomo Raspadori slotted home the leveller 10 minutes later.
But
Diao's third goal in as many games decided an entertaining match at Como's
lakeside Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia and put Cesc Fabregas' team seven points
above the relegation zone in 13th place.
The
under-21 Spanish international has scored five times since signing from Real
Betis in January, one of a host of winter signings for wealthy Como.
Backed
by tobacco giant Djarum, ambitious Como have Serie A's richest owners and spent
heavily in the winter transfer window in the hope that their first top flight
season in over two decades does not end in relegation.
"I'm
having fun every day with my teammates and I think you can see that on the
pitch. I can only thank everyone, the coach, the team, the club, for everything
they're doing," said Diao.
"I
can really feel the confidence Fabregas gives me, and that allows me to have
fun on the pitch."
Lookman
scored two classy goals as Atalanta shot themselves right back into the title
race, but the Nigeria forward seemed unconvinced about suggestions his spat
with Gasperini was over.
Gasperini
angered Lookman after Tuesday's Champions League elimination by Club Brugge by
calling his star attacker the worst penalty taker he had ever seen.
Asked by
Sky Sport if the row was behind him, Lookman shrugged his shoulders and said
"finished?", fuelling rumours of an exit in the summer.
Lookman
leaving would be a huge blow for Atalanta as he showed all his class in a
victory in which Mateo Retegui and Davide Zappacosta also scored, with Emmanuel
Gyasi inadvertantly opening the scoring in the 27th minute.
Moise
Kean is undergoing tests in hospital after suffering a head trauma in a
challenge for the ball midway through the second half of Fiorentina's 1-0
defeat at Verona.
Kean was
stretchered off after collapsing in a worrying repeat of what happened to
teammate Edoardo Bove who had an on-pitch heart attack earlier this season.
Juventus
reclaimed their place in the Champions League positions from Lazio with a 1-0 win over Cagliari in Sardinia.
Dusan Vlahovic,
who has been out of favour since the arrival of Randal Kolo Muani from Paris
Saint-Germain, scored just his second goal since the turn of year in the 12th
minute as Juve moved fourth and two points ahead of Lazio.
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