With a 1-0 victory over AC Milan on Sunday, Napoli moved into second place in Serie A. Eljif Elmas’ first-half goal was the difference.
Luciano Spalletti’s team had lost their last two league games to Atalanta and Empoli, but Elmas’ header gave them the lead after just four minutes at San Siro, his first goal in the top level since August.
Stefano Pioli’s side pushed forward in the second half but were unable to build a comeback, continuing their winless home league streak against Napoli, which runs back to December 2014. Only a VAR intervention prevented Franck Kessie from netting a late equaliser.
Napoli passes Milan for second place, four points behind incumbent champions Inter coming into the final matchday of 2021 on Wednesday.
The visitors were soon ahead when Elmas nodded in Piotr Zielinski’s corner at the near post, Napoli scoring their fastest Serie A goal against Milan since November 2012.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic responded by flicking a header wide, while Alessandro Florenzi blasted a speculative long-range half-volley just off target as Milan failed to test David Ospina before the interval.
Ospina, though, was required immediately after the break to palm over from Ibrahimovic, with the Colombia international denying Junior Messias moments later.
Napoli had conceded six of their past seven league goals in the final 30 minutes, while Milan had scored the joint-most in that period (15), and Messias almost furthered that record but curled just wide.
Kessie thought he had netted a late leveller as he swept into the bottom-left corner, only for VAR to judge the prone substitute Olivier Giroud to be offside as the visitors managed to hang on to an important victory.
What does it mean? Napoli end poor run to edge past Milan
Milan have won just one of their past 14 top-flight games against Napoli, who arrested a poor run of form following their impressive unbeaten start with a battling performance.
Pioli’s side once again lacked a cutting edge and, on this occasion, could not be saved by late Ibrahimovic heroics, leaving them in third and just two points ahead of fourth-placed Atalanta after the Rossoneri’s three-game unbeaten league run tamely ended.
Almost perfect from Piotr
Zielinski oozed class and experience in an almost perfect outing from the attacking midfielder in behind Andrea Petagna.
The Poland international created a game-high four chances, one of those the assist for Elmas’ opener, in a dominant creative display from the Napoli captain.
Poor Pioli struggles against Spalletti again
Pioli has not tasted victory in his past nine meetings with Spalletti in the Italian top flight, with the latter winning seven and drawing two of those fixtures.
The Napoli head coach is also unbeaten in his most recent 14 league meetings with Milan, winning on 11 occasions, with his last loss coming way back in May 2006 in a 2-1 reverse when in charge of Roma.
Key Opta Facts
– Napoli have kept a clean sheet in two Serie A meetings in a row against Milan for the first time since 2015.
– Milan have failed to score for the first time in Serie A this season: they last failed to find the net in a league game last May against Cagliari (0-0).
– In 24 appearances in 2021-22, Elmas has scored six goals for Napoli in all competitions, twice as many as he had in 44 games played in the whole of last term.
– Milan have lost a Serie A game at San Siro when failing to score for the first time since March 2021, also against Napoli (0-1).
What’s next?
Milan travel to Empoli on Wednesday, when Napoli host Spezia, in Serie A’s final matchday of 2021.
