On matchday 16 of the 2021-2022 Serie A TIM, Atalanta claimed a huge victory at the stadium Diego Armando Maradona in Naples against the team who had been leading the table so far.
It was end-to-end stuff in the first half, as both teams started pressing high and the first efforts arrived within minutes. The Nerazzurri broke the deadlock in the 7th minute through Malinovskyi, who hit a rocket into the underside of the bar from Zapata’s assist. Napoli almost equalized on 12 minutes through Lozano, who came sliding in but his effort was wide. It was a lively match, as Pessina fired wide and Zappacosta’s effort was beaten away by Ospina. Finally, Napoli equalized through Zielinski on 41 minutes after he turned the rebound in.
The second half opened up with Napoli taking the lead through Mertens, who made the game uphill. The Nerazzurri promptly reacted to it, as Zapata’s header bounced off the post on 52 minutes, and Demiral acted as a forward and made it all square by hitting a great shot into the roof of the net from Toloi’s through ball on 66 minutes. Five minutes later, Zapata rolled across for Freuler, who steered it into the net in the 71st minute to turn the game around permanently.
NAPOLI 2-3 ATALANTA
Scorers: Malinovskyi 7 (A), Zielinski 41 (N), Mertens 47 (N), Demiral 66 (A), Freuler 71 (A).
Napoli: Ospina, Malcuit (Politano 85), Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus, Mario Rui, Zielinski, Lobotka (Demme 56), Elmas, Lozano (Ounas 67), Mertens (Petagna 67). Unused bench: Meret, Marfella, Ghoulam, Mane. Coach: Luciano Spalletti (on the bench Marco Domenichini).
Atalanta: Musso, Toloi, Demiral, Palomino, Zappacosta (Hateboer 46), de Roon, Freuler, Mæhle (Djimsiti 83), Pessina (Iličić 56), Malinovskyi (Pašalić 74), Zapata (Muriel 83). Unused bench: Rossi, Sportiello, Koopmeiners, Pezzella, Scalvini, Miranchuk, Piccoli. Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.
Referee: Maurizio Mariani from Aprilia.
Assistants: Salvatore Longo from Paola and Antonio Vono from Soverato.
Fourth official: Francesco Fourneau from Roma 1.
V.A.R.: Luca Banti from Livorno.
A.V.A.R.: Matteo Passeri from Gubbio.
Notes: Rrahmani (N), Malcuit (N), Malinovskyi (A), Pašalić (A), Djimsiti (A) booked.