Atalanta And Inter Milan Busy At Supercopa Italiana, Napoli Rebut Puncak Klasemen

JAKARTA - Napoli, who missed the Italiana Supercopa, took advantage of opportunities when their competitors, Atalanta and Napoli, did not appear in the Italian Serie A competition. Napoli managed to win the top spot in the standings after beating Fiorentina 3-0.

Napoli maximized opportunities when Atalanta and Inter competed in the Italiana Supercopa or the Italian Super Cup. Even Inter, who are defending champions, have not been able to leave Saudi Arabia because they advanced to the final against AC Mi Myola.

In a match in the domestic competition, Napoli, who visited Fiorentina's headquarters at the Artemio Franchi Stadium, Sunday, January 5, 2025 in the morning, won three points. The victory made Napoli take control of the standings after pocketing 44 points.

They are three points ahead with Atalanta dropping to second place. Only, Atalanta still has one game left. Meanwhile, Inter, who are ranked third, have points 40. However, the Nerazzurri have the chance to reclaim the top position for keeping two games postponed.

On the other hand, Fiorentina for the third time again failed to get full points. In the previous match, Fiorentina were forced to surrender 2-1 at home to Udinese. Next, they drew 2-2 in the match against Juventus.

When returning to acting as host, La Viola lost for the second time in a row. The result made David de Gea et al fail to improve the rankings. Fiorentina are still stuck in sixth place with 32 points. Same as Juve but they lost on goal difference.

"We are happy with this win, but we also received bad news that hit us," Napoli assistant coach Cristian Stellini who represented coach Antonio Conte attended the press conference after the match.

Stellini explained that Conte could not attend a meeting with the media for mourning the loss of a child who is a big fan and very close to Napoli. Daniele, the club's little supporter, was sick and finally breathed his last when Napoli competed away.

"Kai has lost a person that we really love and love us. A figure who is very close to Napoli. The child is suffering from illness and we shared joy with him. We also support him," said Stellini again.

"The coach feels heartless to speak after this match. We are deeply saddened by our small fans and their bereaved families. We convey this message to all children who suffer from illness who are difficult to recover," he said.

"Goodbye little Daniele," said Stellini further.

Responding to the match, Stellini said that the victory would mean a lot to Napoli. Moreover, Partenopei lost the best player. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Matteo Politano and Alessandro Buongiorno, who were injured.

"This is the best result and we deserved to win. But we really had difficulties because we faced strong opponents. In addition, we lost a lot of players. We do have a lot of players, but they rarely play. This makes it difficult for us to rotate the players," he said.

"Therefore, we appreciate Juan Jesus, Giacomo Raspadori and Rafael Marin. They are playing well and growing," he said again.

In that match, Napoli, who played offensively, were able to pressure the opponent. Even the hosts had to work hard to deal with Napoli's attacks.

Mathias defender Olivera had put Napoli ahead in the early minutes of the match. Only the goal was disallowed because he was in an offside position. Furthermore, Napoli got a chance of a goal through Leonardo Spinazzola which De Gea failed.

After many failures, Napoli finally broke the deadlock. Winger David Neres managed to score a goal that opened Napoli's victory in the 29th minute. The goal came after Neres showed action past three Fiorentina players before releasing a hard kick that broke into the home goal.

Left 1-0, Fiorentina tried to get up. Raffaele Palladino's team got a good chance through striker Moise Kean who finished it as a goal. Only after being reviewed through VAR, Kean had time to touch the ball with his hand so that his goal was disallowed. The score of one goal for Napoli lasted until the first half was over.

In the second half, Napoli did not lower the tempo of the game. They played attacking and managed to increase their lead after Romelu Lukaku scored from the penalty spot in the 54th minute.

Napoli were awarded a penalty after Matias Moreno's defender who debuted in Serie A made a foul by dropping Andre Anguissa in a restricted area. The referee pointed to the spot and Lukaku managed to outwit his former colleague, De Dea, at Manchester United.

Furthermore, midfielder Scott McTominay who is also former MU confirmed Napoli's advantage. The goal was also due to the error of defender Pietro Commuzzo who could not throw the ball perfectly in anticipation of Anguissa's cross. The ball fell at the foot of McTominay which then fired a shot into the Fiorentina goal.

The captain's fourth goal for the Scotland national team, which was created in the 68th minute, changed the score to 3-0. No more goals were scored and Napoli closed the game with a three-goal win.