Napoli extended their lead at the top of the table after disposing of Atalanta at the Stadio Maradona with a stunning Kvicha Kvaratskhelia solo effort and Amir Rrahmani header.
The Partenopei were fresh off their second defeat of the season, 1-0 at home to Lazio, with Mario Rui suspended, Giacomo Raspadori and Hirving Lozano injured. La Dea scraped one point from their last three games, missing Teun Koopmeiners and Hans Hateboer, but Giorgio Scalvini and Davide Zappacosta recovered.
Alex Meret pulled out in the warm-up with a wrist issue, so Pierluigi Gollini started against his parent club.
Matteo Politano’s low strike was palmed round the base of the upright after a give and go with Piotr Zielinski, then Kvicha Kvaratskhelia put two defenders to ground with a shimmy before seeing the finish deflected onto the side-netting from the tightest of angles.
Musso got his glove to a Victor Osimhen pull-back and parried the Politano strike that followed, but Atalanta lost Berat Djimsiti to a knee injury.
The goalkeeper became increasingly irritated with his teammates, as Osimhen twice almost intercepted a dangerous back-pass.
After the restart, Osimhen concluded a long period of possession with an acrobatic bicycle-kick smothered by Musso, then the Nigerian’s glancing header wide on a short corner.
Napoli got their opener when Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa won it back in midfield and Osimhen laid off for Kvaratskhelia, who went on a slalom to twist and turn, leaving defenders dizzy until he could blast it into the roof of the net with his right boot from 12 yards.
Atalanta finally forced Gollini into saves on a Luis Muriel low drive at the near post and Duvan Zapata’s central header on the resulting corner.
Kim Min-jae went off with a right calf issue, but moments later Napoli doubled their lead with Amir Rrahmani’s looping header on an Eljif Elmas corner, though Musso perhaps mistimed the jump.
Matteo Ruggeri stung Gollini’s gloves at the near post with a ferocious strike.
Napoli 2-0 Atalanta
Kvaratskhelia 60 (N), Rrahmani 77 (N)
Player statistic
| 16' |  |
Matteo Ruggeri | ||
| Victor Osimhen | |
18' | ||
| 30' | |
Giorgio Scalvini |
| Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Assist: Victor Osimhen) |
 |
60' | ||
| Amir Rrahmani (Assist: Eljif Elmas) |
|
77' |
Match statistic
