You have to be one to score three goals and not concede any on the road to the Diego Maradona stadium. Unhappy Napoli fans quickly saw Ademola Lookman deceive Alex Meret twice. Then Mateo Retegui added to their penalty during added time. Enough to give a big smile to De Ketelaere, who assisted him for the Nigerian’s first two goals.
“Not the Lukaku we expected”, “He will start scoring again”: Romelu Lukaku divides Italy again before returning to Milan
The former Bruges player and the hero of the last Europa League final found himself with his eyes closed. Unlike Lukaku and his usual “partner in crime” Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. “We have fantastic attacking elements and they are clearly playing at a higher level than the others at the momentanalyzed Gasperini. We can’t always align all three (Editor’s note: he includes Retegui in the trio) given the busy schedule, so they make the difference coming off the bench.”
Something that Cyril Ngonge was unable to do, on the Neapolitan side. Neither did Giovanni Simeone, even if a large part of the public felt they had to wait too long to see Diego’s son. Or rather: some supporters would have liked to see Lukaku replaced sooner. The few whistles – probably unfair given his four goals and four assists in the league – heard as the striker left are proof of this.
gullOur offensive elements are evolving at a higher level.
Big Rom lost the physical fight
He was not served in the best conditions, but Lukaku was made a scapegoat for Napoli’s poor performance. Almost in individual marking, Isak Hein dominated him in the physical fight, anticipating rather well the timid and clumsy movements of the Belgian who always seems far from his best form. Against Atalanta, Big Rom would have been transparent, only targeting this header at the start of the match and signing one of his worst performances of the season (with that against Empoli).
Fortunately, the meeting against Inter Milan by Simone Inzaghi, whom he guided to the title in 2021, will arrive next Sunday. For Antonio Conte, it will also be a “beautiful” reunion. “We faced, this Sunday, a team which for me is stronger than us at the momentconfided, lucidly, the Naples coach. When it comes to individual duels, Atalanta excels. I think we developed some good situations, but we missed the last pass.”
That is to say the most difficult.
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