This weekend's marquee match in Serie A saw fourth-place Napoli travel to the San Siro to play second-place AC Milan on Sunday with both teams trying to keep pace with Inter at the top of the table.
After Atalanta was hammered 4-1 by Roma on Saturday, a Napoli victory would see Gli Azzurri leapfrog both La Dea and Milan into second, while a win for the Rossoneri would keep them within one point of Inter at the top.
However, it was the visitors that took full advantage of the opportunity by recording a 1-0 win thanks to a fifth-minute goal from Elif Elmas off Piotr Zieliński's corner kick in a match that produced few clear cut chances at either end.
Less than 5 minutes played and Napoli make themselves at home at the San Siro pic.twitter.com/zlIZM1uz2I
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) December 19, 2021
Zlatan Ibrahimović, Alessandro Florenzi and Junior Messias all missed potential equalizers for Milan, while Olivier Giroud spent the final 27 minutes paired up front with Ibrahimović but to not avail for Stefano Pioli's side.
Milan thought it had a 90th-minute equalizer after a ball lifted into the box in the general direction of Giroud caused enough bedlam to eventually lead to a Franck Kessié finish, but the VAR intervened to rule it out. The CBS broadcast said handball, but the official reason was for offside. Either way, Milan was left feeling hard done by the decision.
THE DRAMA.
FRANCK KESSIE’S BIRTHDAY GOAL IS WIPED OFF BY VAR ❌ pic.twitter.com/mM6RY481Ip— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) December 19, 2021
It's a huge win that puts Napoli right back in the title race. They haven't won the Scudetto since 1990, when Diego Maradona scored 16 goals to help his side edge out Milan by two points.
Chucky Lozano lasted 77 minutes for Napoli before making way for Matteo Politano.
