Matteo Politano converted his second penalty kick in as many matches and Giovanni Simeone responded to Olivier Giroud’s equalizer with yet another important goal in Napoli’s 1-2 victory over AC Milan.
Milan were on the offensive for the majority of the first half, while Napoli struggled to play out of the Rossoneri’s high press. However, the home side were foiled on a couple of occasions by Alex Meret. The Napoli shot-stopper made impressive reaction saves on Giroud and Rade Krunic to maintain the clean sheet heading into the break.
Napoli’s play improved in the second half, beginning with a penalty kick about five minutes after the restart. A VAR review confirmed that Sergiño Dest kicked the outside of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s right foot after the Georgian made a quick drop of the shoulder inside the area. Dest made his Milan debut at the start of the second half, replacing Davide Calabria, who was cautioned for a foul on Kvara just before the break.
Matteo Politano stepped and, for the second consecutive match, converted the penalty, despite the goalkeeper guessing correctly. Politano played 66 minutes, before exiting the match with an ankle injury.
His replacement, Alessio Zerbin, was largely at fault for Milan’s equalizer. The young winger turned the ball over before being outpaced by Theo Hernandez, who cut the ball back to an open Olivier Giroud in front of the goal. The Frenchman, who always shows up in big matches, scored to make the score 1-1.
Though Milan looked the more likely to score a second, another substitute, Giovanni Simeone, put Napoli back ahead in the 78th minute. The Argentinian, who replaced Giacomo Raspadori, flicked a header perfectly into the bottom corner after an excellent delivery from Mario Rui.
Milan pressed for the equalizer but were unable to get past the wall of Napoli defenders, led by Amir Rrahmani and Kim Min-jae.
With the win, Napoli remained at the top of the table, tied with Atalanta on 14 points. The Partenopei head into the international break having won three consecutive matches in Serie A and five consecutive matches in all competitions.
