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Napoli meets Atalanta in the 12.30 Sunday lunchtime match, a high-ranking challenge that can reveal a lot about the seasonal goals of both teams.

Napoli meets Atalanta in the lunchtime match at 12.30 on Sunday, a high-ranking challenge that can reveal a lot about the seasonal goals of both teams.
The blue team, coached by Antonio Conte, has the opportunity to achieve a sixth consecutive victory in Serie A: something that hasn’t happened since the 2022/23 season (11 consecutive wins in that case). This season, the blues have won all the games played at the Maradona, with a score of 16 goals scored and only 2 conceded. The match features the best defense in the league, Napoli with 5 goals conceded, against the best attack in the league, Atalanta with 26 goals scored. Kvara celebrates his 100 appearances in the blue shirt.

Coaches’ Choices

Antonio Conte confirms the same eleven as against Milan, including Olivera (preferred over Spinazzola) and Gilmour, in light of Lobotka’s absence. Politano and Kvaratskhelia are also confirmed upfront alongside Lukaku.

On the other side, Gian Piero Gasperini sets up his Atalanta in the usual 3-4-2-1 formation, but adds an extra midfielder: Pasalic for Retegui, surprisingly leaving out the league’s top scorer. Upfront, De Ketelaere partners with Lookman, supported by the Croatian player.

Here are the choices of the two coaches:

NAPOLI (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Buongiorno, Olivera; Anguissa, Gilmour, McTominay; Politano, Lukaku, Kvaratskhelia. Substitutes: Contini, Caprile, Juan Jesus, Neres, Marin, Simeone, Zerbin, Ngonge, Mazzocchi, Spinazzola, Raspadori. Coach: Conte

ATALANTA (3-4-1-2): Carnesecchi; Djimsiti, Hien, Kolasinac; Zappacosta, De Roon, Ederson, Ruggeri; Pasalic; De Ketelaere, Lookman. Substitutes: Rui Patricio, Rossi, Toloi, Kossounou, Godfrey, Sulemana, Cuadrado, Zaniolo, Bellanova, Samardzic, Palestra, Retegui, Brescianini. Coach: Gasperini

The Match

Just 4 minutes into the game, Napoli gets the first chance: Kvara starts a counterattack and puts a soft left-footed cross in the middle. Lukaku almost finds the deflection into the net. Just 4 minutes later, Napoli laments hitting the post (squarely) with a shot from McTominay: the Scotsman receives at the edge of the area and shoots powerfully with his right foot, hitting the woodwork to the left of Carnesecchi.

In the 10th minute, Atalanta unexpectedly takes the lead: on Ruggeri’s cross, Olivera clears centrally, De Roon heads it back into the middle, De Ketelaere flicks it on, and Lookman volleys it with his left foot past Meret. Two minutes later, Napoli laments hitting the post (squarely) with a shot from McTominay: the Scotsman receives at the edge of the area and shoots powerfully with his right foot, hitting the woodwork to the left of Carnesecchi.

Napoli increases the pace and forces Atalanta into their own half. The Bergamasques struggle to build from the back. Olivera finds Kvara who is fouled by Pasalic. Then Di Lorenzo plays a great through ball for Anguissa who times his run well. But Carnesecchi is quick off his line to close down the goal. In the 21st minute, Zappacosta handles the ball to stop a Napoli counterattack. But the referee strangely lets play continue.

Atalanta comes alive in the 24th minute when Lookman dribbles past two players and sets up Pasalic, who shoots well wide with his left foot from a good position. Napoli pushes forward again: Kvaratskhelia tries to find Lukaku with a long ball. But the pass is too long and goes out of play.

On the counterattack, in the 27th minute, Atalanta tries a similar move: De Roon’s through ball looks for De Ketelaere, but the pass goes out of play. At the half-hour mark, Politano tries to spark some action but only earns a corner kick.

At the 31st minute, Atalanta doubles their lead. And they do it again through Ademola Lookman: on the break, the Atalanta forward takes on Di Lorenzo in a 1-on-1, then cuts inside from the left and unleashes a powerful curling shot into the top corner.

A few minutes pass, and the blues try to regroup. Then Napoli attempts to respond, but Atalanta stands firm in defense. In the 37th minute, Buongiorno puts the ball behind Hien, looking for Lukaku who gets ahead of the defender. But Carnesecchi is vigilant and anticipates him. Another duel between the Belgian and Hien sees the Napoli attacker fall to the ground, but referee Doveri allows play to continue.

In the 40th minute, Napoli fails to capitalize on a defensive error by Atalanta. De Roon’s clearance hits Kvara, the ball reaches Lukaku who attempts to beat Carnesecchi, but once again, Hien blocks his shot with his body.

Two minutes later, Napoli pushes forward again. Another excellent move by Napoli switching from left to right: Di Lorenzo’s low cross for Politano is intercepted by Kolasinac. Doveri grants two minutes of added time, during the second of which De Ketelaere finds Pasalic with a precise cross, but the Croatian heads wide from close range. Then Doveri signals the end of the first half.

Second Half

The same eleven players who finished the first half return to the field. The coaches choose not to make substitutions at halftime. Kvara tries immediately, but his shot doesn’t trouble Carnesecchi.

Atalanta shows that they are in form and more in the game than Napoli: Pasalic sends Lookman through, Meret mistimes his run and is chipped by the Nigerian’s lob. Rrahmani clears, but there was still an offside position for the Atalanta player.

A few minutes later, Napoli responds: in the 50th minute, Olivera finds Politano in the area who heads weakly. However, the goal is disallowed for an offside by the number 21 in blue. Atalanta counterattacks, and De Ketelaere looks for Lookman at the far post. But Politano is attentive and cleverly defends to earn a corner kick.

Napoli relies on long balls to Lukaku, but Hien stands firm. The Blues make some mistakes: Anguissa loses a crucial ball, Pasalic aims for the goal, then lays it off for Zappacosta who shoots with his right foot. The ball goes wide, but there was a deflection off Olivera.

From the resulting corner kick, Kolasinac finds the potential 0-3 goal, which would effectively seal the game. However, the goal is disallowed for an offside by the Bosnian player.

At the hour mark, Napoli’s first threat in the second half arrives: from a corner kick, Politano finds the Kosovar at the far post, who heads from close range but misses the target.

A minute later, Conte makes the first substitutions to try to change the momentum of the game: Raspadori and Ngonge come on for Gilmour and Politano. Di Lorenzo tries to combine with Lukaku, but the ball bounces back to Atalanta.

In the 65th minute, Rrahmani plays a long ball to Ngonge who dribbles past Kolasinac: the Bosnian defender’s rough challenge earns him a yellow card. A minute later, Buongiorno heads the ball on goal from a free-kick, but Carnesecchi denies him the joy of scoring. In the 70th minute, De Keteleaere pushes Buongiorno with two hands, causing him to fall and the ball to go out for a corner. Doveri doesn’t call the foul and awards Atalanta the corner kick.

Gasperini takes precautions and substitutes the cautioned Kolasinac to make way for Kossonou. Conte responds by bringing on David Neres for Kvara.
In the 75th minute, another swift counterattack by Atalanta: Kossonou holds off Olivera and sets Lookman one-on-one with Meret. The Nigerian misses the goal that would seal the match. A minute later, Gasperini also makes a double substitution: Retegui and Samardzic come on for Lookman and De Ketelaere. On the other side, Conte plays his final cards: Spinazzola and Simeone enter, replacing Olivera and Lukaku.

Spinazzola tries to exploit the wing to deliver a cross, but only earns a corner kick. Then Ngonge receives the ball in the box, but he is at a tight angle: he still tries because he doesn’t see Simeone arriving in a better position. In the 82nd minute, Gasperini makes his final substitutions: Brescianini and Bellanova come on, replacing Pasalic and Zappacosta.

In the 85th minute, Spinazzola manages to deliver a cross, but Ngonge’s header goes over the crossbar.

Doveri adds 4 minutes of stoppage time. In the third of the 4 minutes of added time, substitute Retegui puts the exclamation point on the game. The referee doesn’t call a clear foul, this time by Kossonou on Neres. On the counterattack, Bellanova crosses for Retegui’s volley that beats Meret. The former Genoa forward is booked for taking off his shirt after the goal, while Djimsiti and Mazzocchi from the bench are cautioned for a scuffle after the goal. Before the game can restart, Doveri blows the final whistle.