Napoli run riot at 10-man Inter
Reuters - Saturday 01 October 2011, 21:45
ROME - Napoli shot to the top of Serie A
with a controversial 3-0 win at 10-man Inter Milan on Saturday
as Claudio Ranieri suffered his first defeat in charge and was
sent off at half-time.
Earlier, Bojan, Pablo Osvaldo and Simplicio were on target
as fourth-placed AS Roma beat Atalanta 3-1.
After an end-to-end start at Inter the game turned
dramatically on an incident four minutes before the break when
Joel Obi was handed a second yellow card for bundling over
Christian Maggio on the edge of the box.
Julio Cesar saved Marek Hamsik's resulting penalty but
defender Hugo Campagnaro followed up to give Napoli the lead.
Ranieri was sent off for remonstrating with the referee as
the teams trooped off at half-time.
"He ruined a beautiful game," the Inter coach told Sky
Sports. "He was not on his game. What he could get wrong, he did
get wrong.
"The boys gave their all and should not have been punished
in this way. I don't normally complain about these things but
today was an exceptional occasion."
In a more subdued second period wing back Maggio added a
second goal on 57 minutes, lifting the ball over Julio Cesar,
before Hamsik slotted home the third with a quarter of an hour
to go to seal Napoli's first victory at the San Siro in 17
years.
The hosts, without Wesley Sneijder and Diego Milito, edged
the opening exchanges at the San Siro with Diego Forlan going
closest to scoring after fizzing a low 25-metre drive just wide
on 13 minutes.
Despite missing striker Edinson Cavani through injury,
Napoli enjoyed plenty of possession in a refreshingly open start
and Colombian left-back Juan Zuniga headed weakly wide with a
back-post header after 19 minutes.
The home crowd then started to jeer when Campagnaro put
Napoli in front.
The visitors made it 2-0 when Giuseppe Mascara played an
innocuous ball over the top of the Inter defence for the
energetic Maggio to outpace substitute Yuto Nagatomo and beat
Julio Cesar.
DISJOINTED INTER
With a disjointed Inter leaving huge gaps at the back,
Hamsik ran on to Ezequiel Lavezzi's slide-rule pass to ensure
Napoli ended a run of eight straight defeats at Inter.
Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri, who turned 50 on Saturday,
thanked his players.
"It's a beautiful present the boys have given me," he said.
"For the penalty I don't know if it was a mistake or not, I have
to see the replay.
"But I do know Napoli played a great game and deserved to
win. We've had decisions go against us so I hope there won't be
too much said about it."
At the Stadio Olimpico, Roma resisted a second-half
fightback from promoted Atalanta to earn Luis Enrique's side
their second successive win.
Spanish striker Bojan opened the scoring on 20 minutes,
grabbing his first goal in the Giallorossi shirt with a
left-foot shot.
Argentine forward Pablo Osvaldo doubled the lead with a cool
finish just after the half-hour as Roma dominated the opening
period.
The second half was a different story after Argentine
forward German Denis halved the deficit with a back-post header
from a well-worked corner on 48 minutes.
The home side were then made to defend for long stretches
until midfielder Simplicio played a delightful one-two with
Miralem Pjanic before finishing neatly on 81 minutes.
"It was a difficult game against the in-form side in the
league," Luis Enrique told Sky Sports after Roma's first home
win of the season.
"The Denis goal meant we had some difficult moments but we
were able to survive. We're improving but we need more patience
to be able to dominate possession throughout the match."
Atalanta, docked six points for match-fixing, stayed on four
points after suffering their first defeat of the season.