Atalanta defeats Napoli amid controversial refereeing

Atalanta recorded a 2-1 win over defending champion Napoli in a Serie A tie that had two very controversial refereeing decisions.

The Partenopei had gone ahead before La Dea came from behind to secure maximum points at the Gewiss Stadium on Sunday.

The decision also left Napoli boss Antonio Conte frustrated as both managers gave their opinion on the performance of the referee.

Goals from Mario Pasalic and Lazar Samardzic were enough to secure the maximum points for Raffaele Palladino’s men.

La Dea had gone into the tie on the back of a 2-0 Champions League play-off defeat to Borussia Dortmund midweek. 

This win is expected to give them as they prepare for the second leg encounter against the Bundesliga side on Wednesday.

Napoli had gone into the game on the back of a four-goal thriller that saw them fight back twice to hold Roma 2-2 despite the absence of Scott McTominay, David Neres, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani, Kevin De Bruyne and Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa. 

Napoli got in front from a free kick earned by Rasmus Hojlund against his former club.  Miguel Gutierrez floated the ball for an unmarked Sam Beukema to nod in from six yards. Remarkably.

Alisson Santos, who had opened his Napoli account on his start against Roma, dribbled around Marco Carnesecchi to deposit into an empty net, which didn’t count because he had wandered offside.

After Mario Pasalic rode an Antonio Vergara challenge, he couldn’t on the second from Juan Jesus.

Vanja Milinkovic-Savic made a double save to keep Napoli’s lead. He first acrobatically clawed a Kamaldeen Sulemana cross-shot out from under the bar, and then made a tougher save to palm his powerful strike round the post, and smothered his finish that went through a defender’s legs.

Napoli was awarded a spotkick just before half-time when Hojlund ran into Isak Hien’s leg and went over it. 

But the referee, Daniele Chiffi, changed the decision after VAR intervened following the On-Field Review.

Alisson Santos called Carnesecchi into action after shrugging off Nikola Krstovic, testing the goalie at the near post. The goalkeeper was also alert on the follow-up Vergara header.

There was another controversial decision made just a minute after the restart, as Hojlund shrugged off Hien at the touchline and pulled back for the Miguel Gutierrez finish into the net. 

However, the referee disallowed the goal for a soft Hojlund tug on the Atalanta defender’s arm.

Alisson Santos and Vergara were really threatening Atalanta, but most of their efforts were off target.

The hosts then restored parity through Pasalic, who rose for the glancing header from six yards on a Nicola Zalewski corner.

The game then became wide open as Gianluca Scamacca released a powerful right-foot strike, which was palmed away at the base of the near post. 

La Dea eventually turned it around completely within 20 minutes through substitute Samardzic, whose looping header from Lorenzo Bernasconi’s cross went into the far bottom corner from 10 yards beyond Milinkovic-Savic’s fingertips.

Napoli searched for an equaliser as they poured forward to the end, but were unable to get a goal that would have brought them back into the game.