MILAN (Italy): Napoli moved top of Serie A on Sunday after comfortably winning 4-0 at Cagliari in a match which was stopped for seven minutes in the first half for fan disorder.
Goals from Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Romelu Lukaku and Alessandro Buongiorno gave Napoli their third straight win and a one-point lead over Juventus, who they face in Turin next weekend.
Inter Milan have the chance to reclaim their league lead from Napoli in Sunday’s late match at Monza ahead of their Champions League opener at Manchester City on Wednesday.
“Teams are still settling in as the transfer window closed late and we are all trying to find our shape,” said coach Antonio Conte when asked if his team could challenge for the title.
“We’ve worked hard over the last two and a half months, we’ve got to keep pushing forward without thinking about anyone else.”
Napoli’s win was marred by ugly scenes midway through the opening period when the away fans unveiled a banner which mimicked sheep bleating and sparked the throwing of objects between the two sets of supporters.
That banner came after Napoli’s fans were pictured with another one on their ferry trip to largely rural Sardinia which read “sheep hunting”.
Napoli supporters threw flares at home fans while at the other end of the ground Cagliari’s hardcore ultras, who had only just come into the Unipol Domus after staying outside for the first 20 minutes in protest at stadium bans dished out to some of their members, pelted the pitch with firecrackers.
Antonio Conte’s side were already leading at that point through Di Lorenzo’s wildly deflected 18th-minute opener, and goalkeeper Alex Meret kept it that way early in the second half with two sensational stops from Sebastiano Luperto and Razvan Marin.
Kvaratskhelia then doubled Napoli’s lead in the 66th minute with a neat low finish after being set through by Lukaku, and the Georgian repaid the favour to his new strike partner moments later.
The 23-year-old pounced on a loose pass from Cagliari goalkeeper Simone Scuffet and rolled across for Lukaku to stroke home his second goal is as many Napoli matches, sealing the three points before Buongiorno nodded home the fourth in stoppage time.
LOOKMAN BACK WITH BANG
Ademola Lookman made sure that Atalanta warmed up for their return to the Champions League with the winner in a 3-2 victory over Fiorentina.
Nigeria forward Lookman did not feature in Atalanta’s first three league matches after agitating for a transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.
But the 26-year-old netted the decisive strike in stoppage time at the end of the first half, jinking through the Fiorentina defence before shooting past David de Gea, seconds after Charles De Ketelaere headed Atalanta level.
Lookman, the hat-trick hero from last season’s Europa League final triumph, also floated in a pinpoint cross for Mateo Retegui to head in Atalanta’s first equaliser in the 21st minute.
His immediate impact is great news for coach Gian Piero Gasperini, whose side host Arsenal on Thursday night and entertained their home fans in the newly-completed Gewiss Stadium.
“We’re very pleased to be playing in the Champions league this season,” added Lookman.
“We deserve it so we have to demonstrate that again on Thursday with the same drive, the same mentality that we showed today.”
Atalanta, whose most recent appearance in the Champions League was in 2021, played their first three Serie A fixtures away from Bergamo to allow the club to put the finishing touches to their redeveloped home.
They are eighth on six points, three ahead of 14th-placed Fiorentina who twice went ahead in the first half through Lucas Martinez Quarta and Moise Kean but are yet to win under new coach Raffaele Palladino.
Earlier Genoa snatched a 1-1 home draw with Roma in the final seconds to continue their positive start to the season. Genoa are 10th on five points, level with AC Milan and two points ahead of Roma who sit in 15th.
