Not the worst result for Napoli, but certainly not the one they were hoping for, especially against the 17th place team.
Both teams were dangerous throughout the match, but Napoli had the upper-hand in possession and shots. Atalanta’s keeper, Marco Sportiello, had much work to do and handled each situation well, saving a few shots from Gonzalo Higuain that could have gone in.
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Atalanta went down to ten men as Alejandro Daro Gomez was awarded a red-card for two unsafe tackles. But that would not stop them as in the 71st minute Mauricio Pinilla stripped the ball from Henrique Buss and evaded the keeper before slotting it into a free net.
Henrique was almost able to make up for his mistake on a corner, but his effort was blocked by the defender at the second post.
Napoli were finally able to equalize in the 89th minute. Marek Hamsik put a cross in the box and Duvan Zapata rose high above the rest to smash home the header.
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Rafael Benitez was sent off just before the end of the match for arguing with the referee’s. It was his first ever red-card as a coach.
With Sampdoria’s win over Inter, Napoli are knocked out of the top four in the league. They are just one point behind Sampdoria, but five points behind Lazio who sit in sixth. Napoli will need to fight harder for the remainder of the games if they want to see European league next season.
Featured Photo Credit: Pavel Golovkin/AP
