Serie A: Inter Milan stay top after beating Atalanta

MILAN: Inter Milan stayed at the Serie A summit on Sunday after beating Atalanta 1-0 to maintain its slender lead over local rival AC Milan.

Lautaro Martinez netted the only goal of the game in Bergamo for Inter, which leads Milan by a single point at the top of the division.

The Argentina striker’s league-leading ninth goal of the campaign decided an engaging match, which could have gone either way, with both teams having chances to break the deadlock before Martinez pounced.

Marcus Thuram and Charles De Ketelaere had goals ruled out for offside for each side, while Nicolo Barella wasted a great chance to score for Inter just after Luis Henrique was denied by Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi.

But once Martinez rifled home with his left, after Berat Djimsiti sloppily gave away possession just outside his own penalty area, Atalanta had an uphill task to stop a second home defeat of the season.

It was an encouraging performance from Atalanta, which has been a different team since Raffaele Palladino replaced Ivan Juric last month, but sits 10th, five points away from the European positions.

Atalanta would have come away with a point had Lazar Samardzic not fallen over his own feet when presented with a glorious opportunity to level by De Ketelaere with three minutes remaining.

Rasmus Hojlund took his all-competitions goal tally for Napoli to nine as the champion cruised to a 2-0 win at Cremonese and stayed two points behind Inter in third.

Fresh from winning the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, Napoli was the better team from the first whistle and was deservedly ahead in the 13th minute when Hojlund pounced on a deflection to net from close range.

And Hojlund was again in the right place at the right time seconds before the break when Alessio Zerbin could only divert Matteo Politano’s cross straight to the Denmark striker, who calmly poked home.

Hojlund has scored six times in 12 Serie A appearances, two more than he managed in an entire Premier League campaign with Manchester United last season. Agencies

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