Napoli suffered a defeat in Bergamo. Sam Beukema gave the Azzurri the lead in the 18th minute after receiving a floated cross from Miguel Gutierrez. Then came the penalty incident. Rasmus Hojlund fell to the ground inside the box; the referee Daniele Chiffi initially awarded the penalty but then overturned his decision after the VAR check. Mario Pasalic then scored the equaliser for Atalanta around the 60-minute mark. Gutierrez scored a second goal for Napoli, but another controversial decision led to the goal being disallowed due to an alleged foul by Hojlund. Toward the end of the game, Lazar Samardzic headed it in, sealing the win. The match ended 2-1.
Giovanni Manna had this to say about the game and its key moments: “I think there are no words to describe this game because there’s no reason why Gutierrez’s goal should’ve been disallowed. I can’t understand why a referee would call a foul or why the VAR did nothing, unlike with the previous penalty. Why didn’t Chiffi rewatch the play? We’ve been patient enough… we should’ve been awarded a penalty in Turin; we had some problems with Verona, but now the Champions League is on the line. It’s time to think about what has happened because we’re not fools.”
Miguel Gutierrez said: “Unfortunately the result was influenced by a mistake by the referee on my goal. Hojlund did not commit a foul and it would’ve been 2-0 for us. Apart from that, it was a good performance. The first goal came with a formation we’d prepared with my inswinging cross. It’s a shame we didn’t secure a positive result because we deserved it.”
Match result: Atalanta 2-1 Napoli (HT: 0-1)
Scorers: Beukema 18, Pasalic 61, Samardzic 81
ATALANTA: Carnesecchi, Scalvini (Djimsiti), Hien, Kolasinac (Ahanor 84) Bellanova (Bernasconi 57), Pasalic, De Roon, Zappacosta, Sulemana (Samardzic 46), Zalewski; Krstovic (Scamacca 57).
Coach: Palladino
NAPOLI: Milinkovic-Savic; Beukema, Buongiorno, Juan Jesus (Olivera 70) Mazzocchi (Spinazzola 62), Lobotka, Elmas, Gutierrez (Politano 62) Vergara (Giovane 70), Alisson (Lukaku 85), Hojlund.
Coach: Conte.
Referee: Chiffi
Booked: Juan Jesus, Zalewski.
