Napoli Beat AC Milan To Stay On Heels Of Serie A Leaders Inter

MILAN: First-half goals from Matteo Politano and Romelu Lukaku earned Napoli a 2-1 victory over visitor AC Milan on Sunday to move three points behind Serie A leader Inter Milan.

Napoli, which came into the contest with only one win in its last seven league matches, has 64 points, six clear of third-placed Atalanta, which lost at Fiorentina earlier on Sunday. Defending champion Inter beat Udinese 2-1 at home.

Politano opened the scoring 63 seconds into the match, pouncing on some sloppy Milan defending to power a long-range effort into the bottom corner.

Lukaku doubled the lead in the 19th minute, scoring his 400th professional goal with a scuffed shot past goalkeeper Mike Maignan following a great interception and pass by Billy Gilmour.

“400 goals is a lot, today’s win was very important. We prepared for the match in one way, but this morning, the coach changed the plans,“ Lukaku said after also netting his 11th Serie A goal this season.

“We suffered a little too much in the second half, but we got the win, and that’s good. Ours was a good response, we have to fight until the end.”

The visitors, who barely managed a shot on target until the second half, wasted a golden chance to pull one back in the 69th minute when Santiago Gimenez’s poor penalty was saved by Alex Meret after Philip Billing had been penalised for a foul on Theo Hernandez. Agencies

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