Atalanta capitalized on a series of defensive lapses by Napoli to crush the Azzurri 3-0 at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri D’Italia in Serie A this afternoon.
German Denis bagged a brace and Maxmiliano Moralez tallied to record Atalanta’s third straight home victory and secure their mid table position.
The game started sluggishly with neither side threatening the opposing goal until the 20-minute mark when Goran Pandev and Dries Mertens played a one-two ball at the top of the Atalanta box and Mertens hit a low cross across the face of goal but no Napoli player was at the far post to get the final touch.
The Orobici responded immediately when Moralez drove a cross to the top of the six-yard area but Giacomo Bonaventura’s header went over the bar.
A few minutes later Mertens looped in a free kick looking again for a touch from a team mate but a brutal collision of heads at the top of the box occured between goalkeeper Andrea Consigli and center back Mario Yepes which stopped play for a few minutes.
Jose Callejon made a slicing 60-yard run through the Atalanta midfield but his through ball was just a stride ahead of surprise starter Duvan Zapata making only his second Serie A start in place of Gonzalo Higuian.
Stefano Lucchini substituted Yepes after a few minutes when the Colombian couldn’t shake off the effects of his clash with Consigli.
Save for the rare nervous moment, the Partenopei grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck consistently controlling play in the last 25 minutes of the first half but were unable to mount a significant threat on Consigli’s goal.
The second half began with neither side making a change and Atalanta opened the scoring when former Napoli striker Denis scored as Atalanta took advantage of a Blerim Dzemaili miscue in midfield and Denis latched onto a pass driving a shot past Pepe Reina who got a glove to the ball but the Argentine striker’s shot had too much pace to stop.
A response came from Napoli shortly after Zapata was replaced by Higuain when Pandev played a ball to an open Mertens on the back post but the Belgian winger couldn’t hit it cleanly and sent his shot yards wide of goal.
Denis scored his second goal of the game, and fifth in total against his former team, 14 minutes into the second half when Gokhan Inler badly mishit a clearance which fell kindly in the box to the Argentine who didn’t miss in a simple one-on-one with Reina.
The game was put away a mere four minutes later when Federico Fernandez inexplicably fell in the box chasing after a seemingly easy lob into the box from Guglielmo Stendardo and Moralez had an easy finish to make it 3-0 to the hosts.
The Vesuvian guests attempted to salvage something from the game as Pandev tried getting Napoli on the scoresheet by rifling a shot past Consigli who parried away the shot rather than playing a simple ball across to an open Higuain.
