Napoli conceded top spot in Serie A to Inter Milan ahead of next weekend’s title showdown in Naples after falling to a shock 2-1 defeat at promoted Como on Sunday. Antonio Conte’s team are a point behind reigning champions Inter, who narrowly beat Genoa on Saturday, due to Assane Diao’s drilled winner in the 77th minute for Como. Inter visit next in a match which could well be crucial to the destination of the Scudetto, while Atalanta lurk a further two points back after smashing Empoli 5-0 with Ademola Lookman netting a brace after his penalty row with coach Gian Piero Gasperini.
And Napoli head into that fixture in their worst form of the season, with no wins and just three points from their four matches in February.
“What we need to think about is our performance in the second half. We left our desire in the dressing room,” said Conte to DAZN.
“In the second half it was like there was another team on the pitch. We were passive… There are mental steps that we have to make and we also need time. But the second half wasn’t good enough, neither the approach nor the mentality.
“They had more hunger than us, and when that’s the case there’s not a lot you can do.”
Napoli shot themselves in the foot in the seventh minute when Amir Rrahmani passed the ball into his own net from miles out, but the away side looked to be on the way to a win when Giacomo Raspadori slotted home the leveller 10 minutes later.
But Diao’s third goal in as many games decided an entertaining match at Como’s lakeside Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia and put Cesc Fabregas’ team seven points above the relegation zone in 13th place.
The under-21 Spanish international has scored five times since signing from Real Betis in January, one of a host of winter signings for wealthy Como.
‘Having fun’
Backed by tobacco giant Djarum, ambitious Como have Serie A’s richest owners and spent heavily in the winter transfer window in the hope that their first top flight season in over two decades does not end in relegation.
“I’m having fun every day with my teammates and I think you can see that on the pitch. I can only thank everyone, the coach, the team, the club, for everything they’re doing,” said Diao.
“I can really feel the confidence Fabregas gives me, and that allows me to have fun on the pitch.”
Lookman scored two classy goals as Atalanta shot themselves right back into the title race, but the Nigeria forward seemed unconvinced about suggestions his spat with Gasperini was over.
Gasperini angered Lookman after Tuesday’s Champions League elimination by Club Brugge by calling his star attacker the worst penalty taker he had ever seen.
Asked by Sky Sport if the row was behind him, Lookman shrugged his shoulders and said “finished?”, fuelling rumours of an exit in the summer.
Lookman leaving would be a huge blow for Atalanta as he showed all his class in a victory in which Mateo Retegui and Davide Zappacosta also scored, with Emmanuel Gyasi inadvertantly opening the scoring in the 27th minute.
Moise Kean is undergoing tests in hospital after suffering a head trauma in a challenge for the ball midway through the second half of Fiorentina’s 1-0 defeat at Verona.
Kean was stretchered off after collapsing in a worrying repeat of what happened to teammate Edoardo Bove who had an on-pitch heart attack earlier this season.
Juventus reclaimed their place in the Champions League positions from Lazio with a 1-0 win over Cagliari in Sardinia.
Dusan Vlahovic, who has been out of favour since the arrival of Randal Kolo Muani from Paris Saint-Germain, scored just his second goal since the turn of year in the 12th minute as Juve moved fourth and two points ahead of Lazio.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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