Comeback Beats Udinese, Napoli Bayangi Atalanta

Striker Romelu Lukaku scored a goal that opened Napoli's 3-1 win over Udinese in the Italian Serie A match. (X/@SerieA)

Napoli fell behind before rising to beat Udinese 3-1 in the Italian Serie A match at the Bluenergy Stadium, Udine, Sunday, December 15, 2024 in the morning WIB. Napoli also overshadowed the leaders of the Atalanta standings.

Napoli are not willing to fully control the throne of the Italian League standings. They also overshadowed Atalata's points after defeating Udinese.

This is an important victory for Napoli, who is ranked second and competing with Atalanta in the hunt for the champion of the half-season or the winner of the champions. Not only that, Napoli also moved away from the rivals under Inter Milan who occupied the third and other teams.

Now, Napoli are pocketing point 35 and they are only two points adrift of Atalanta who a few hours earlier won 1-0 over Cagliari. Meanwhile, Inter, who have two games, have 31 points. The same as Fiorentina and Lazio, but Inter have the best goal difference.

Udinese himself is still stuck in the middle of the standings. They are in ninth position by pocketing point 20.

Napoli coach Antonio Conte said he was satisfied that the team managed to get back up after losing two consecutive defeats to the same opponent, Lazio. They lost 3-1 ang to make Napoli eliminated in the Coppa Italia. Furthermore, when they returned to meet in Serie A at home at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, Napoli lost 1-0.

"Udinese is a very good team. But I watched the players also show a very good response in this match," Conte was quoted as saying by Football Italia.

Conte was happy with the performance of the players who remained calm and did not lose confidence after falling behind first. Even I Partenopei could only catch up in the second half and then turn things around.

"We are realistic, but we play without fear and understand very well if you want to win, you have to master the game. And that's what we do," Conte said again.

In that match, Napoli met with stiff resistance from Udinese. Even the hosts took the lead when they were awarded a penalty following midfielder Stanislav Lobotka touching the ball in the box.

Only striker Florian Thauvin took the execution from the spot failed to finish it because it could be blocked by goalkeeper Alex Meret. But the ball rebounded and no Napoli player reacted to throwing the ball. Thauvin moved faster to grab the rebound ball so it broke into Napoli's goal.

Left behind 1-0, Napoli tried to play offensively by attacking the opponent's defense. Despite showing dominance over the hosts, they rarely got a good chance to equalize the score.

A good chance was obtained by midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa towards the end of the first half. However, his shot from close range failed to produce results. The score of one goal for Udinese did not change until the first half was over.

Entering the second half, Napoli continued to play at a high tempo. They also control the game that makes Udinese survive more.

It's just that the efforts of the Kosta Runjaic team to strengthen the back row were fruitless. The game has only been running for five minutes, Napoli striker Romelu Lukaku managed to break into Udinese's goal.

The goal started with the action of former Chelsea striker who escaped the control of the opposing defender and ran to welcome Scott McTominay, his Manchester United colleague. Lukaku calmly fired a shot that changed the score to 1-1.

Lukaku's success in scoring goals made Napoli even more enthusiastic about suppressing the Udinese defense. Their efforts could only bear fruit in the 76th minute. Because Lautaro Giannetti defender made an own goal which changed the score to 2-1

Furthermore, Anguissa solidified Napoli's victory. The Cameroon national team midfielder successfully broke into Razvan Salvador's goal in the 81st minute. The score changed to 3-1 for Napoli and lasted until the game was over.