Napoli 3-0 Cremonese
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia treated himself on Sunday. The Napoli attacker celebrated his 22nd birthday by scoring the opening goal against Cremonese in the 22nd minute. With that, Kvaratskhelia initiated an easy victory for the leader.
The visitors had to do without Cyriel Dessers in Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, who had to drop out injured. Without the former Feyenoord player, Cremonese attacked brutally in the opening phase. Halfway through the first half it was Napoli that took the lead. Kvaratskhelia cut in and shot through an opponent’s legs (1-0).
From that moment on, Napoli actually played a won game. Victor Osimhen doubled the score after more than an hour. The Serie A top scorer took advantage of Kim Min-Jae’s preparatory work and worked from close range (2-0). For Osimhen it was already his seventeenth league goal of the season.
Ten minutes before the end, Eljif Elmas aggravated Cremonese’s suffering. The substitute lashed out hard and passed Marco Carnesecchi (3-0). That was the last achievement of Napoli, which sees the title getting closer. The lead over closest pursuer Inter, which will play against Sampdoria on Monday, is sixteen points. Cremonese is still waiting for the first victory after 22 games and is desolately last.
Lazio 0-2 Atalanta
Atalanta has done excellent business in the Italian league. The team of Gian Piero Gasperini defeated competitor Lazio Roma and thus skips over that team.
Lazio had a point more than Atalanta and both teams were eager to take advantage of AS Roma’s loss of points, which drew 1-1 against Lecce earlier on Saturday.
While Atalanta often left possession to the opponent, it clearly created the most and greatest opportunities. That resulted in the 0-1 halfway through the first half. A falling ball ended up at Davide Zappacosta’s feet and the back curled the ball beautifully into the far top corner without any hesitation.
Atalanta then had chance after chance, one a bit bigger than the other, but of the 21 goal attempts, a second goal eventually also went in. Striker Rasmus Højlund received the ball from Ademola Lookman and slid into the 0-2. Hateboer was injured after an hour and had to leave the field. His compatriots completed the ninety minutes.
With three points in their pocket, Atalanta climbed to third place in Serie A. Under leader Napoli, Internazionale, Atalanta, AS Roma, AC Milan and Lazio competed for the other three Champions League places. Virtually, Atalanta now has one and Lazio has to settle for sixth place with a ticket for the Conference League preliminary round.
