Defending champions Napoli climbed provisionally top of the Serie A standings after a 3-1 home win over Atalanta on Saturday, with David Neres scoring a first-half double to send the home side on their way to a largely comfortable win.
Antonio Conte’s Napoli is on 25 points, one ahead of Inter Milan, AS Roma and Bologna. Inter face neighbors AC Milan on Sunday, with Roma at Cremonese, while Bologna won 3-0 at Udinese on Saturday.
Atalanta remains 13th in the standings with 13 points.
Conte’s side had lost top spot after gaining one point in their last two games but proved too strong for Atalanta, who were in charge for the first time since replacing Ivan Juric with Raffaele Palladino, who was sacked after a seven-match winless streak in the league.
Napoli looked full of energy from the start and took the lead in the 17th minute. Rasmus Hojlund’s perfectly weighted pass sent Neres racing towards goal, and he kept his cool to send his shot past keeper Marco Carnesecchi.
Neres doubled Napoli’s lead seven minutes before half-time. This time Scott McTominay provided the assist, and the Brazilian’s first shot found the far bottom corner of the net.
Napoli led 3-0 and looked out of sight at half-time when Noa Lang headed in a header on the stroke of half-time before Palladino sent Gianluca Scamacca into the second half, with the striker pulling one goal back in the 52nd minute.
Raoul Bellanova sent a cross into the penalty area, which Scamacca whipped home to keep the visitors in the match, and the pressure continued to build as Napoli sat back happily to take the three points.
Published on November 23, 2025
