MILAN: Serie A leaders Napoli continued their impressive unbeaten run with a victory at AC Milan on Tuesday and, while manager Antonio Conte can no longer brush off talk of a Scudetto title triumph, a return to European football is still the main objective.

A 2-0 win at San Siro — after Romelu Lukaku and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia struck first-half goals — means Napoli have gone nine league games without defeat and has seen them open a provisional seven-point lead at the top ahead of Inter Milan.

After their dismal title defence last season left Napoli without any European action in this campaign, Conte continues to try to balance the expectations at the club.

“Scudetto? No one is hiding. We see realistically what we are doing this year,” he told DAZN.

“After 10 games it has something of the incredible and unexpected, not even the craziest would have predicted it. But we remain with our feet on the ground.”

“We know what our goal is, which is to return to Europe. But there are five or six teams that have the same idea. Winning in Naples would be something incredible. We have given ourselves three years. We are rebuilding something and it takes time.”

After such an impressive start, Conte knows it will be hard to stop the Napoli supporters thinking of another title success.

“We try to feed the dreams of the fans, but we need to have balance,” Conte added.

“Our fans followed us with passion even today, it is right that they dream. We have to be prepared when there is some setback. We want to make the Neapolitan fans proud of this team.”

Milan were rocked by Lukaku’s fourth goal of the season in the fifth minute before Napoli found a second two minutes before the interval with a stunning strike from Kvaratskhelia and Milan were unable to force their way back into the game.

A third defeat of the campaign leaves Milan in eighth place, 11 points behind the leaders with a game in hand, but manager Paulo Fonseca believes winning the title is still a possibility.

Fonseca was asked if the Scudetto remained the objective and the Portuguese was clearly not giving up at this stage of the season, with Milan hampered by the absence of several players including the suspended Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders.

“I can’t say the opposite. Especially seeing how we played, how the team responded to a difficult moment and how it showed unity even without important players,” Fonseca told DAZN.

“No team has won the league after nine games and none has lost it after nine games, for this reason we must continue on the path of growth. Clearly we will need results to enter this fight.”

Milan came into the game the fresher side, after their game on Saturday at Bologna was postponed due to safety concerns over flooding, but it was Napoli who got off to a flying start.

The visitors made the early breakthrough after an Andre Anguissa pass found Lukaku between two defenders and the striker easily brushed aside Strahinja Pavlovic before taking the ball into the area and drilling a low shot into the far bottom corner.

Milan battled hard for an equaliser and in a five-minute spell they had three chances, with Yunus Musah and Emerson Royal both putting their efforts wide while Napoli keeper Alex Meret got down to parry away Samuel Chukwueze’s shot from a distance.

For all their efforts, Milan found themselves a further goal down at halftime when Kvaratskhelia cut inside from the left and found space before letting fly from outside the area with a beautiful bending shot which went under the dive of Mike Maignan.

Alvaro Morata thought he had pulled one back early in the second half, rising high to send a glancing header past Meret but the Spanish striker was offside at the time of Chukwueze’s cross.

The hosts continued to search for a way back into the encounter and only a fine reflex save by Meret to deny Rafael Leao in the 83rd minute kept Napoli’s two-goal cushion intact.

Earlier, goals in either half by Riccardo Orsolini and Jens Odgaard sent Bologna up to 10th in the table with a 2-0 win at Cagliari.

Lecce climbed off the foot of the table by beating nine-men Verona 1-0 thanks to a Patrick Dorgu goal on 51 minutes.

The away side lost Jackson Tchatchoua to a red card five minutes before half-time, then Reda Belahyane was given his marching orders inside the final 10 minutes for a second bookable offence.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2024