ROME ( Associated Press) – Jose Mourinho’s Roma squad has come the closest to keeping Napoli clean.
In the end, however, Napoli’s vast array of talented forwards proved too difficult to stop once again.
Viktor Osimhen scored with 10 minutes remaining as Serie A leaders Napoli scored a 1-0 win at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday to equal the team’s record with 11 consecutive wins in all competitions.
And what is the goal?
Osimhen received the ball, acted ahead of Roma’s imposing central defender Chris Smalling, and sent a low shot from an impossible angle down the right flank.
“Roma gave us a tough time, but we showed that it is difficult to beat Napoli,” Osimhen said.
Napoli moved three points ahead of defending champions Milan, who beat Silvio Berlusconi’s Monza on Saturday. Fifth-placed Roma did not score a single shot on goal.
“I feel a sense of injustice and I applaud our players, because they did their best and I think they did enough to avoid defeat,” Mourinho said. “We knew whoever scored the goal would win, and it was Napoli.”
The only time Napoli has won 11 games in a row was in 1986, when Argentine star Diego Armando Maradona was playing for the club. Maradona, who died in 2020, guided Napoli to their only two Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990.
Napoli have won seven in a row in Serie A, with four wins in the Champions League, qualifying for the knockout stage, with two games to play, with comfortable victories over Liverpool, Rangers and Ajax.
Napoli beat Liverpool 4–1 and scored more than 10 goals in two matches against Ajax.
Atlanta and Udinese fall at home
Atalanta and Udinese, the two provincial clubs that were affected at the start of the Italian Serie A season, lost at home on Sunday.
Atalanta’s unbeaten start ended in a 2–0 loss to Lazio, while Udinese were bowled out 2–1 by Torino to register their first loss of the campaign since match day.
Mattia Zaccagni and Felipe Anderson rocked the nets for Lazio at the start of each half respectively, while the Roman club missed injured striker Ciro Immobile.
It was Lazio’s sixth shutout and the win moved them above Atalanta to third in the standings, although they have the same number of points as the Bergamo club.
Atalanta striker Luis Muriel received his second yellow card after 90 minutes.
Meanwhile, goals from Ola Aina and Piero Pellegri helped Torino beat Udinese 2–1, giving the team their first league win in more than a month.
It was Udinese’s first defeat in the league since losing 4–2 to defending champions Milan on 13 August. They have won six in a row but drew their last two Serie A games, although they were against Atalanta and Lazio.
Udinese was also kicked out of the Coppa Italia by Monza in the middle of the week.
Udinese remain sixth in the standings, but could lose more ground to those teams, with league leaders Napoli facing Jose Mourinho-led Roma later in the day and Atalanta hosting a fifth Lazio site. Was doing.
For its part, Torino was ranked ninth.
Aina put Torino ahead after 14 minutes. Nikola Vlasik forced entry from the left side of the box and cut for Alexei Miranchuk, who passed it for Aina to shoot in the bottom left corner.
Torino gave Udinese an equalizer 12 minutes later, after a defensive error allowed Destiny Udogi to intercept a pass and touch for Gerard Deulofeu to tap into a blank goal.
However, Pellegri restored Torino’s lead in the 69th after a volley assist from Nemanja Radonjic, who broke his mark and fired a shot into the top corner.
In another duel of the day, Thiago Motta claimed his first victory as coach of Bologna in Serie A, when his team defeated Lecce 2–0.
Bologna lost three of Motta’s four matches, drawing the other.
