Napoli kept their Serie A title hopes alive on Saturday by coming from behind to beat rivals Juventus 2-1, moving six points ahead at the top of the table. Antonio Conte’s team recovered after Randal Kolo Muani scored for Juventus just before halftime in his debut.
Napoli won their seventh consecutive match with a header from Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and a penalty from Romelu Lukaku in the 69th minute. Napoli is aiming for a second Scudetto in three seasons, and their strong second-half performance against Juventus shows that they are the team to watch, not Inter Milan.
Inter Milan is six points behind Napoli after their matches with Atalanta and Juventus in consecutive weeks. The current champions will face low-ranked Lecce on Sunday, hoping to cut the gap between them and Napoli.
The loud cheers from the crowd when Napoli scored and at the final whistle showed the fans’ renewed confidence in the team after Napoli’s disappointing title defense last season.
“We wanted to win, we did and we’re all very happy. There’s not much else to say,” said Anguissa to DAZN.
“We know that we’re a good team but all we can do is take it one game at a time, with the self-confidence of knowing that we’re a team with character that’s difficult to beat.”
Juventus is now 16 points behind Napoli in fifth place after their first league loss of the season, which was not expected after Thiago Motta replaced Massimiliano Allegri as coach in the summer.
“I’m disappointed with the defeat because we played well in the first half, against a team which isn’t top by chance,” said Motta, whose team has won only once since the start of the year.
Kolo Muani gave Juventus the lead just before halftime, after completing his loan move from Paris Saint-Germain. He scored his third club goal of the season in the 43rd minute, taking advantage of a loose ball from Anguissa.
However, Napoli came out stronger in the second half. After Michele Di Gregorio managed to stop Lukaku’s close-range header, he couldn’t stop Anguissa’s powerful header from Matteo Politano’s cross that leveled the score.
There was no stopping Napoli after that. Lukaku scored his ninth goal for Napoli with a calm penalty after Scott McTominay was fouled by Manuel Locatelli.
Atalanta remained seven points behind in third place despite Mateo Retegui scoring twice to help them win 2-1 at Como earlier on Saturday.
Retegui scored in the 56th and 70th minutes, bringing his total to 16 goals in the league, and helped Atalanta get their first win of 2025. He has been in great form since recovering from a hamstring injury earlier this month, and his performance is good news for Atalanta as they prepare for a Champions League match in Barcelona.
Atalanta had to fight hard for the win against Como, who led at halftime after Nico Paz’s stunning strike. Como is still three points above the relegation zone in 13th place.
“It’s not easy to play so many matches so close together… we were slow in the first half but we were much better after halftime,” said Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini to DAZN.
Como’s next five matches are against Bologna, Juventus, Fiorentina, Napoli, and Roma, making it difficult for them to pick up points in the coming weeks.
The away team also had goals from Ademola Lookman and Charles De Ketelaere ruled out for offside and handball, which made for a tense final few minutes as Como tried but failed to score.
