MILAN (AP) — Victor Osimhen continued his comeback from injury with his second goal in as many matches to help free-scoring Napoli beat Bologna 3-2 and move back to the top of Serie A on Sunday.
Napoli had to come from behind, and goals from Juan Jesus and Hirving Lozano either side of the break appeared to have turned the match around. But Musa Barrow leveled for Bologna before Osimhen scored what was to prove the winner.
Napoli is two points ahead of Atalanta at the top of the Italian league. Defending champion AC Milan moved into third place with a 2-1 win at lowly Hellas Verona. Lazio and Udinese are five points below Napoli after playing out a 0-0 draw.
Napoli was brimming with confidence after it qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League midweek. It had scored 14 goals in its last three matches in all competitions.
But it was Bologna which took the lead four minutes before the interval when Andrea Cambiaso ran onto a through ball and pulled it back for Joshua Zirkzee to drill into the back of the net.
Napoli leveled on the stroke of halftime as a corner hit Bologna defender Gary Medel on the shin and went into the path of Jesus to fire the ball home.
Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti brought on Lozano and Osimhen at the break and they were to have an immediate impact.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia cut inside the area from the left and bamboozled his way past two players before seeing his shot parried by Łukasz Skorupski. Osimhen couldn’t get on the rebound but Lozano did with a shot from a tight angle.
However, Napoli’s lead only lasted two minutes before goalkeeper Alex Meret misjudged Barrow’s shot and allowed it to squirm out of his hands.
Kvaratskhelia set up the winner in the 69th with a through ball for Osimhen to run onto and fire past Skorupski.
LOSING DEBUT
The new coach of Verona, Salvatore Bocchetti, lost his first senior match in charge despite goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipò's heroics.
Bocchetti replaced Gabriele Cioffi last week after four straight losses left Verona in the relegation zone.
He seemed set to earn a point after a number of saves from Montipò but Sandro Tonali scored nine minutes from time, sweeping home a cross from Ante Rebić.
Milan had taken the lead in the ninth minute following a double mistake by the home side as a terrible back pass saw the ball come to Rafael Leão, whose shot was turned in by Verona captain Miguel Veloso for an own-goal.
Milan defender Matteo Gabbia deflected in Koray Günter's attempt at the other end 10 minutes later but it was credited to the Verona defender as it was on target.
Milan moved two points above Udinese and Lazio, which badly missed Ciro Immobile after the forward went off injured against Udinese in the first half.
Both sides failed to find the back of the net, although Udinese did hit the crossbar twice.
Lazio had won its previous four Serie A matches, scoring 14 goals and conceding none, while Udinese had seen its run of six straight wins ended in a 2-2 draw against Atalanta last week.
MARTÍNEZ IS BACK
After ending his goal drought against Barcelona midweek, Lautaro Martínez scored again to help Inter Milan beat Salernitana 2-0.
Martínez hadn’t scored for eight matches prior to the 3-3 draw at Barcelona that put Inter on the verge of qualifying for the last 16 of the Champions League.
The Inter forward netted again in the 14th minute on Sunday. Nicolò Barella had provided the assist and got himself on the scoresheet in the 58th to help secure the result that saw the Nerazzurri move up to seventh.
Also, Spezia drew 2-2 against Cremonese in a relegation fight.
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