AFTER A defeat and two draws, champions Napoli returned to winning ways with Victor Osimhen playing a starring role in Serie A this evening amid a 4-1 win over a Udinese side that featured Irish international Festy Ebosele.
The Nigerian striker scored his fourth goal of the season after 39 minutes with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ending a long goal drought by finding the net in the second half.
Osimhen, top scorer in Serie A last season, had cut a controversial figure at the weekend when he showed his displeasure at being taken off by coach Rudy Garcia in the 0-0 draw with Bologna.
On Tuesday, his agent threatened Napoli with legal action for having published a video on the club’s TikTok account, since deleted, mocking the striker for missing a penalty in that game.
Napoli are now fifth in the table with 11 points, four points behind the two Milan clubs.
“The Napoli from last season may be back,” said Kvaratskhelia.
Meanwhile, Inter Milan crashed to their first defeat of the Serie A season, going down 2-1 at home to Sassuolo.
Inter went into the game with a perfect record of five wins in five and looked in control at 1-0 ahead thanks to a Denzel Dumfries goal on the stroke of half-time at the San Siro.
Sassuolo levelled in the 54th minute when Nedim Bajrami scored with a long-range effort which caught out goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
Domenico Berardi hit the winner 10 minutes later as Sassuolo claimed all three points to follow up last week’s win over Juventus.
Inter remain top of the table on goal difference ahead of AC Milan who earlier defeated Cagliari 3-1.
“After a good first period where we should have scored more than one goal, but we lost our focus especially after the equaliser,” said Inter coach Simone Inzaghi.
“Losing in front of our home crowd hurts us, we have to understand what happened, even if the schedule, with our next match on Saturday, doesn’t really give us time to take a step back.”
- Pioli’s 200th win -
AC Milan fought back from a goal down to defeat Cagliari.
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Milan were without injured goalkeeper Mike Maignan as well as strikers Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao.
Cagliari, searching for a first win of the campaign, grabbed a shock 29th-minute lead through Angolan winger Zito Luvumbo who capitalised on a mix-up in the Milan defence to shoot past Marco Sportiello.
Milan, however, hit back with Noah Okafor levelling in the 40th minute when he beat goalkeeper Boris Radunovic from a cross by Christian Pulisic.
In first-half injury-time, Fikayo Tomori added Milan’s second thanks to the work of Yacine Adli who was starting a game for only the second time since his arrival at the club in July 2022.
Stefano Pioli’s side made sure of the three points on the hour mark when Ruben Loftus-Cheek hit the target.
The win was a fifth in six matches for AC Milan who are level on 15 points with Inter.
“We deserved our victory in a match which was not a formality,” said Pioli who celebrated his 200th win as a coach in Serie A.
However, he admitted there had been “naivety” over the goal Milan conceded.
“We know that it is the matches against our direct rivals for the title which will impact our place in the table, but these matches which, on paper, seem simple will be very important at the end of the season,” he added.
Empoli, who sacked coach Paolo Zanetti last week after a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of Roma, celebrated their first win of the season.
Tommaso Baldanzi scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Salernitana.
In Spain, Real Madrid eased to a 2-0 win over Las Palmas to overtake Barcelona and move second, but Catalan minnows Girona are the surprise La Liga leaders after a 2-1 win at Villarreal.
Barcelona started the week top of the league but a 2-2 draw at Real Mallorca on Tuesday left the door open for their rivals to overtake them.
Madrid produced a comfortable victory with goals from Brahim Diaz and Joselu, while Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior also made his return from injury as a second half substitute, following a month out.
“For the goal I had the calm that I didn’t have before on other chances, I had that patience, and I’m very happy,” said Diaz, who was on loan at AC Milan last season.
“It’s incredible to score at the Bernabeu, it’s something that’s unique. I’m proud and happy with this first goal of the season.”
Real coach Carlo Ancelotti rested Jude Bellingham, who has been Madrid’s best player so far, starting Diaz in attacking midfield in the England international’s stead.
The Italian coach also swapped out both full-backs after the painful derby defeat by Atletico Madrid on Sunday, with Ferland Mendy and Nacho starting in place of Fran Garcia and Lucas Vazquez.
Real Madrid were on the front foot from the start against their promoted visitors from the Canary Islands, but lacked the killer finishing touch that Karim Benzema brought in recent years, and Bellingham has in recent weeks.
Striker Joselu, on loan from Espanyol, had various chances to break the deadlock but was repeatedly denied by excellent Las Palmas goalkeeper Alvaro Valles.
The stopper thwarted Diaz as he ran through on goal but took a heavy touch, while Rodrygo’s effort was deflected narrowly wide.
Vazquez replaced the injured David Alaba, with Nacho moving inside to centre-back and the substitute played a part in the opening goal.
Valles stopped another Joselu drive before Diaz broke the deadlock, taking a touch to control Vazquez’s cross and then firing into the top corner with the aid of a slight deflection.
Joselu made amends for his first-half profligacy to pounce early in the second with a well-placed header from Rodrygo’s cross that this time left Valles no chance.
Vinicius made his return with over half an hour remaining as Ancelotti reverted to a 4-3-3 system, having begun with the midfield diamond he has favoured this season.
Aurelien Tchouameni came close with a long-range effort and Madrid saw out the game without incident to move one point ahead of Barcelona.
“I think that with the team we have we could have played more competitively than we did today,” said Las Palmas coach Garcia Pimienta, previously in charge of Barcelona’s reserve team.
“We wanted the ball but they pressed us well, they played a complete game and we didn’t have possession because Madrid didn’t want us to.”
Michel’s Girona came from behind to beat Villarreal, with on-loan Barcelona defender Eric Garcia netting the winner — they are a point ahead of Madrid.
Dani Parejo sent Pacheta’s struggling Villarreal ahead from the penalty spot, before Ukrainian striker Artem Dovbyk levelled for Girona and Garcia headed home after an hour.
Real Madrid visit Montilivi on Saturday in a mouthwatering clash between the top two, while Barcelona host Sevilla on Friday.
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Hours after threatening to sue club, Victor Osimhen stars for Napoli
Updated at 22.50
AFTER A defeat and two draws, champions Napoli returned to winning ways with Victor Osimhen playing a starring role in Serie A this evening amid a 4-1 win over a Udinese side that featured Irish international Festy Ebosele.
The Nigerian striker scored his fourth goal of the season after 39 minutes with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ending a long goal drought by finding the net in the second half.
Osimhen, top scorer in Serie A last season, had cut a controversial figure at the weekend when he showed his displeasure at being taken off by coach Rudy Garcia in the 0-0 draw with Bologna.
On Tuesday, his agent threatened Napoli with legal action for having published a video on the club’s TikTok account, since deleted, mocking the striker for missing a penalty in that game.
Napoli are now fifth in the table with 11 points, four points behind the two Milan clubs.
“The Napoli from last season may be back,” said Kvaratskhelia.
Meanwhile, Inter Milan crashed to their first defeat of the Serie A season, going down 2-1 at home to Sassuolo.
Inter went into the game with a perfect record of five wins in five and looked in control at 1-0 ahead thanks to a Denzel Dumfries goal on the stroke of half-time at the San Siro.
Sassuolo levelled in the 54th minute when Nedim Bajrami scored with a long-range effort which caught out goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
Domenico Berardi hit the winner 10 minutes later as Sassuolo claimed all three points to follow up last week’s win over Juventus.
Inter remain top of the table on goal difference ahead of AC Milan who earlier defeated Cagliari 3-1.
“After a good first period where we should have scored more than one goal, but we lost our focus especially after the equaliser,” said Inter coach Simone Inzaghi.
“Losing in front of our home crowd hurts us, we have to understand what happened, even if the schedule, with our next match on Saturday, doesn’t really give us time to take a step back.”
- Pioli’s 200th win -
AC Milan fought back from a goal down to defeat Cagliari.
Milan were without injured goalkeeper Mike Maignan as well as strikers Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao.
Cagliari, searching for a first win of the campaign, grabbed a shock 29th-minute lead through Angolan winger Zito Luvumbo who capitalised on a mix-up in the Milan defence to shoot past Marco Sportiello.
Milan, however, hit back with Noah Okafor levelling in the 40th minute when he beat goalkeeper Boris Radunovic from a cross by Christian Pulisic.
In first-half injury-time, Fikayo Tomori added Milan’s second thanks to the work of Yacine Adli who was starting a game for only the second time since his arrival at the club in July 2022.
Stefano Pioli’s side made sure of the three points on the hour mark when Ruben Loftus-Cheek hit the target.
The win was a fifth in six matches for AC Milan who are level on 15 points with Inter.
“We deserved our victory in a match which was not a formality,” said Pioli who celebrated his 200th win as a coach in Serie A.
However, he admitted there had been “naivety” over the goal Milan conceded.
“We know that it is the matches against our direct rivals for the title which will impact our place in the table, but these matches which, on paper, seem simple will be very important at the end of the season,” he added.
Empoli, who sacked coach Paolo Zanetti last week after a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of Roma, celebrated their first win of the season.
Tommaso Baldanzi scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Salernitana.
In Spain, Real Madrid eased to a 2-0 win over Las Palmas to overtake Barcelona and move second, but Catalan minnows Girona are the surprise La Liga leaders after a 2-1 win at Villarreal.
Barcelona started the week top of the league but a 2-2 draw at Real Mallorca on Tuesday left the door open for their rivals to overtake them.
Madrid produced a comfortable victory with goals from Brahim Diaz and Joselu, while Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior also made his return from injury as a second half substitute, following a month out.
“For the goal I had the calm that I didn’t have before on other chances, I had that patience, and I’m very happy,” said Diaz, who was on loan at AC Milan last season.
“It’s incredible to score at the Bernabeu, it’s something that’s unique. I’m proud and happy with this first goal of the season.”
Real coach Carlo Ancelotti rested Jude Bellingham, who has been Madrid’s best player so far, starting Diaz in attacking midfield in the England international’s stead.
The Italian coach also swapped out both full-backs after the painful derby defeat by Atletico Madrid on Sunday, with Ferland Mendy and Nacho starting in place of Fran Garcia and Lucas Vazquez.
Real Madrid were on the front foot from the start against their promoted visitors from the Canary Islands, but lacked the killer finishing touch that Karim Benzema brought in recent years, and Bellingham has in recent weeks.
Striker Joselu, on loan from Espanyol, had various chances to break the deadlock but was repeatedly denied by excellent Las Palmas goalkeeper Alvaro Valles.
The stopper thwarted Diaz as he ran through on goal but took a heavy touch, while Rodrygo’s effort was deflected narrowly wide.
Vazquez replaced the injured David Alaba, with Nacho moving inside to centre-back and the substitute played a part in the opening goal.
Valles stopped another Joselu drive before Diaz broke the deadlock, taking a touch to control Vazquez’s cross and then firing into the top corner with the aid of a slight deflection.
Joselu made amends for his first-half profligacy to pounce early in the second with a well-placed header from Rodrygo’s cross that this time left Valles no chance.
Vinicius made his return with over half an hour remaining as Ancelotti reverted to a 4-3-3 system, having begun with the midfield diamond he has favoured this season.
Aurelien Tchouameni came close with a long-range effort and Madrid saw out the game without incident to move one point ahead of Barcelona.
“I think that with the team we have we could have played more competitively than we did today,” said Las Palmas coach Garcia Pimienta, previously in charge of Barcelona’s reserve team.
“We wanted the ball but they pressed us well, they played a complete game and we didn’t have possession because Madrid didn’t want us to.”
Michel’s Girona came from behind to beat Villarreal, with on-loan Barcelona defender Eric Garcia netting the winner — they are a point ahead of Madrid.
Dani Parejo sent Pacheta’s struggling Villarreal ahead from the penalty spot, before Ukrainian striker Artem Dovbyk levelled for Girona and Garcia headed home after an hour.
Real Madrid visit Montilivi on Saturday in a mouthwatering clash between the top two, while Barcelona host Sevilla on Friday.
– © AFP 2023
Additional reporting by Paul Fennessy
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Serie A main man Inter Milan Napoli Udinese Victor Osimhen