Napoli beat Atalanta to move level with leaders AC Milan

Napoli’s Eljif Elmas (left) celebrates with teammate Hirving Lozano after scoring against Atalanta during the Italian Serie A match at the Atleti Azzurri d’Italia stadium in Bergamo, Italy. (AFP)

Napoli moved level with Serie A leaders AC Milan yesterday thanks to a 3-1 win at Atalanta which put distance between them and Inter Milan ahead of the champions’ last night’s showdown at Juventus. Hunting a first league title since 1990 when Diego Maradona was still strutting his stuff in Naples, Napoli are six points ahead of third-placed Inter after a third straight win which came without suspended star striker Victor Osimhen. They prevailed in Bergamo thanks to Lorenzo Insigne’s early penalty, a sweet Matteo Politano volley eight minutes before half-time and a stunning late breakaway finished by Eljif Elmas just as Atalanta were pushing for a leveller after Marten De Roon pulled one back in the 59th minute. Luciano Spalletti’s side sit side-by-side on 66 points with Milan, who host Bologna on Monday night hoping to re-establish their lead of three and move even further ahead of either Inter or Juve. Napoli were given a huge helping hand by captain Insigne, who was heavily criticised after Italy failed to reach a second World Cup in a row but opened the scoring and also laid on Politano’s strike with a delicate free-kick. “I’m disappointed that Italy aren’t going to the World Cup, I can’t do much apart from ask forgiveness from the fans,” said Insigne, who was positive about his team’s title hopes. We believe, we’ve always believed. There are still seven matches to go and they’re seven big matches so we need to face them in the right way.” Defeat for Atalanta continued their dismal home record this season and leaves the one-time title hopefuls in seventh, eight points behind fourth-placed Juve and with little realistic chance of a place in the Champions League. De Roon’s powerful header looked briefly to have given Atalanta hope of snatching a draw but instead they fell to their fifth loss of the campaign at the Gewiss Stadium, where they have won only four league fixtures. They have Fiorentina just a point behind them following their 1-0 win over Tuscan rivals Empoli in Sunday’s early match. “We’re out of the Champions League race, I think, it’s a pretty big gap now,” De Roon said. “It’s a shame... we created, we pressed, we dominated, but if you don’t score and you concede goals like we did then there’s nothing you can do.” Three points ahead of Atalanta are Roma, in fifth after beating Sampdoria 1-0 in Genoa to extend their unbeaten league run to 10 matches. Jose Mourinho’s side haven’t lost in Serie A since throwing away a 3-1 lead to lose 4-3 to Juve in January and moved to within five of the Turin giants following yesterday’s victory. They claimed the points at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris thanks to a beautifully-worked goal scored by Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who poked home at the end of a move which swept the length of the field. Samp stay in 16th on 29 points, seven from the drop and four ahead of Cagliari, who were thumped 5-1 at Udinese thanks in part to a Beto hat-trick. Udinese are 11 points clear of the relegation zone in 12th after a convincing win in which Rodrigo Becao and Nahuel Molina also netted.Serie A results Atalanta 1 (De Roon 58) Napoli 3 (Insigne 14-pen, Politano 37, Elmas 80); Fiorentina 1 (Gonzalez 58) Empoli 0; Sampdoria 0 Roma 1 (Mkhitaryan 27); Udinese 5 (Becao 38, Beto 45, 49, 73, Molina 59) Cagliari 1 (Joao Pedro 32) Playing today (GMT): Verona v Genoa (1630), AC Milan v Bologna (1845) Played Saturday: Lazio 2 (Lazzari, Milinkovic-Savic 51) Sassuolo 1 (Traore 90+4); Spezia 1 (Gyasi 90+4) Venezia 0 Salernitana 0 Torino 1 (Belotti 18-pen)