Milan 0-1 Napoli: Elmas header sees Spalletti’s men leapfrog Rossoneri into second

Luciano
Spalletti’s
side
lost
consecutive
league
games
against
Atalanta
and
Empoli
but
struck
first
after
just
four
minutes
at
San
Siro
through
Elmas’ header
–
his
first
top-flight
goal
since
August.

Stefano
Pioli’s
team
pressed
on
in
the
second
half
but
were
unable
to
mount
a
comeback
as
their
winless
home
league
run
against
Napoli
–
which
dates
back
to
December
2014
–
continued,
although
only
a
VAR
intervention
denied
Franck
Kessie
a
late
equaliser.

Results
|

Points
Table
|

Fixtures

Napoli
overtake
Milan
to
move
into
second,
with
the
pair
four
points
back
from
reigning
champions
Inter
heading
into
the
final
matchday
of
2021
on
Wednesday.

The
visitors
were
soon
ahead
when
Elmas
nodded
in
Piotr
Zielinski’s
corner
at
the
near
post,
Napoli
scoring
their
fastest
Serie
A
goal
against
Milan
since
November
2012.

Zlatan
Ibrahimovic
responded
by
flicking
a
header
wide,
while
Alessandro
Florenzi
blasted
a
speculative
long-range
half-volley
just
off
target
as
Milan
failed
to
test
David
Ospina
before
the
interval.

Ospina,
though,
was
required
immediately
after
the
break
to
palm
over
from
Ibrahimovic,
with
the
Colombia
international
denying
Junior
Messias
moments
later.

Napoli
had
conceded
six
of
their
past
seven
league
goals
in
the
final
30
minutes,
while
Milan
had
scored
the
joint-most
in
that
period
(15),
and
Messias
almost
furthered
that
record
but
curled
just
wide.

Kessie
thought
he
had
netted
a
late
leveller
as
he
swept
into
the
bottom-left
corner,
only
for
VAR
to
judge
the
prone
substitute
Olivier
Giroud
to
be
offside
as
the
visitors
managed
to
hang
on
to
an
important
victory.

What
does
it
mean?
Napoli
end
poor
run
to
edge
past
Milan

Milan
have
won
just
one
of
their
past
14
top-flight
games
against
Napoli,
who
arrested
a
poor
run
of
form
following
their
impressive
unbeaten
start
with
a
battling
performance.

Pioli’s
side
once
again
lacked
a
cutting
edge
and,
on
this
occasion,
could
not
be
saved
by
late
Ibrahimovic
heroics,
leaving
them
in
third
and
just
two
points
ahead
of
fourth-placed
Atalanta
after
the
Rossoneri’s
three-game
unbeaten
league
run
tamely
ended.

Almost
perfect
from
Piotr

Zielinski
oozed
class
and
experience
in
an
almost
perfect
outing
from
the
attacking
midfielder
in
behind
Andrea
Petagna.

The
Poland
international
created
a
game-high
four
chances,
one
of
those
the
assist
for
Elmas’ opener,
in
a
dominant
creative
display
from
the
Napoli
captain.

Poor
Pioli
struggles
against
Spalletti
again

Pioli
has
not
tasted
victory
in
his
past
nine
meetings
with
Spalletti
in
the
Italian
top
flight,
with
the
latter
winning
seven
and
drawing
two
of
those
fixtures.

The
Napoli
head
coach
is
also
unbeaten
in
his
most
recent
14
league
meetings
with
Milan,
winning
on
11
occasions,
with
his
last
loss
coming
way
back
in
May
2006
in
a
2-1
reverse
when
in
charge
of
Roma.

Key
Opta
Facts

–
Napoli
have
kept
a
clean
sheet
in
two
Serie
A
meetings
in
a
row
against
Milan
for
the
first
time
since
2015.

–
Milan
have
failed
to
score
for
the
first
time
in
Serie
A
this
season:
they
last
failed
to
find
the
net
in
a
league
game
last
May
against
Cagliari
(0-0).

–
In
24
appearances
in
2021-22,
Elmas
has
scored
six
goals
for
Napoli
in
all
competitions,
twice
as
many
as
he
had
in
44
games
played
in
the
whole
of
last
term.

–
Milan
have
lost
a
Serie
A
game
at
San
Siro
when
failing
to
score
for
the
first
time
since
March
2021,
also
against
Napoli
(0-1).

What’s
next?

Milan
travel
to
Empoli
on
Wednesday
(December
22),
when
Napoli
host
Spezia,
in
Serie
A’s
final
matchday
of
2021.