A dominant first-half display with David Neres in electric form saw Napoli cruise to a comfortable 3-1 win over Atalanta at the Stadio Maradona on Saturday night.
Neres opened the scoring when he hit the turbos to latch onto Rasmus Hojlund's clever through ball, leaving his opponent for dust before coolly finishing past Marco Carnesecchi.
The Portuguese added a second with a precise angled finish into the bottom corner following some fine work from Scott McTominay.
Napoli's third came on the stroke of half time as Noa Lang opened his Napoli account, heading in Giovanni Di Lorenzo's floated delivery at the back post.
Gianluca Scamacca pulled one back for the visitors early in the second half but the Azzurri remained in control and saw out the match.
After the final whistle, Antonio Conte offered his take on the win:
“We're happy with the win and especially with the way we earned it. We beat a top-quality team and we're pleased with how we played.
“The team played with lots of energy and deserved the three points. I have a very sincere relationship with the players. We know what we're capable of and now we must recuperate our energy for our next Champions League game and continue on the path we've set ourselves with confidence.”
Two-goal hero David Neres also had his say:
“It's an important win for us and we must take strength from it and give our all in Serie A and the Champions League.
“We have to look forward and keep showing what we can do. It was a really good performance this evening and we need to maintain this mentality.”
Noa Lang meanwhile was over the moon after breaking his Napoli duck:
“I've waited a long time for this moment. I'm delighted for myself and because the team won.
“We've been through a rough patch but we came up with the best response today. Now we want to continue in this vein.”
Napoli 3-1 Atalanta (HT 3-0)
Scorers: Neres 17, 38, Hojlund 45, Scamacca 52.
NAPOLI: Milinkovic-Savic; Beukema, Rrahmani (Juan Jesus 64), Buongiorno, Di Lorenzo, Lobotka, McTominay, Gutierrez (Mazzocchi 69), Neres (Politano 68), Noa Lang (Elmas 69), Hojlund (Lucca 74).
Coach: Antonio Conte.
ATALANTA: Carnesecchi; Djimsiti, Hien, Ahanor (Kossonour 46) Bellanova, Ederson, De Roon, Zappacosta (Zalewski 62), Pasalic (Scamacca 46) De Ketelaere (Samardzic 77), Lookman (Maldini 82).
Coach: Palladino.
Referee: Di Bello (Brindisi).
Booked: Zappacosta, De Roon.
