Kevin De Bruyne’s goal could cost Napoli dearly despite setting the defending champions on their way to a 3-1 win over Inter Milan and back to the top of Serie A on Saturday.
De Bruyne appeared to pull a muscle as he converted a first-half penalty, immediately clutching the back of his right thigh. The former Manchester City player appeared desperate and had to be helped off the field by two medical staff.
Scott McTominay and Frank Anguissa also scored for Napoli after half-time, either side of an Inter penalty converted by Hakan Calhanoglu.
The result put Napoli back in front – after last weekend’s defeat at Torino and Tuesday’s crushing 6-2 defeat at PSV in the Champions League – and moved them one point above second-placed AC Milan, who drew against Pisa on Friday.
“I live the game with my players, for better or for worse,” said Napoli coach Antonio Conte, who also guided Inter to the title in 2021. «We won despite the difficulties, we lost important players and now De Bruyne is also injured. Let’s say it is not a happy year, maybe someone has cursed us.»
Inter, which had won seven games, remained in fourth place.
“Inter had come to kill us, they had a great moment while we were in trouble,” Conte added. «But we have no intention of dying and we played a tough and powerful match in which we performed excellently despite the difficulties.»
Napoli were already struggling with injuries and the problems were made worse when De Bruyne was forced off after firing his penalty powerfully into the bottom corner.
The penalty was awarded after Inter midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan fouled Giovanni Di Lorenzo. Mkhitaryan also left injured.
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Inter came close to an equalizer in the final seconds of the first half when Alessandro Bastoni hit the crossbar and Denzel Dumfries hit the post.
The visitors continued to surge forward after the break but McTominay doubled Napoli’s lead in the 54th minute after a quick counter-attack. He triggered the offside trap to run onto Leonardo Spinazzola’s lovely pass and drive it into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area.
It was McTominay’s third goal this week after his brace against PSV.
Calhanoglu reduced the deficit five minutes later with a penalty after Napoli defender Alessandro Buongiorno powered home Lautaro Martínez’s header.
However, Anguissa restored Napoli’s two-goal advantage in the 67th when he completed another clinical counter-attack.
Cremonese draws against Atalanta
Jamie Vardy celebrated in emphatic style after scoring his first goal for Cremonese. | Photo credit: AP
Jamie Vardy celebrated in emphatic style after scoring his first goal for Cremonese. | Photo credit: AP
Former Leicester striker Jamie Vardy celebrated his first goal in emphatic style for Cremonese, who drew 1-1 with Atalanta.
Vardy struck in the 78th minute, firing home the rebound after the Atalanta goalkeeper made an extraordinary save with his foot to parry Alessio Zerbin’s effort.
The 38-year-old former England international celebrated acrobaticly with a cartwheel and a backflip.
It was Vardy’s fourth game for Cremonese, but only his second start. He signed for the Italian team in the off-season after a 13-year career at Leicester.
Marco Brescianini scored the equalizer for Atalanta.
Udinese defeated Lecce 3-2 for their first home win since March 1.
Jesper Karlström, Keinan Davis and Adam Buksa scored for Udinese, which had only taken two points in the previous four games.
Udinese moved to within three points of the top four. Como finished sixth after being held to a 0-0 draw at Parma.
Published on October 26, 2025
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