Napoli 1-0 AC Milan: Politano scores only goal as Rossoneri surrender second place

AC Milan’s Scudetto hopes were dealt a final blow on Easter Monday as they lost 1-0 to Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

The only goal of the game came inside the final 15 minutes as Matteo Politano arrived at the far post to fire in a cross that had been flicked on. Try as they might, Milan just couldn’t find their way past a resolute Napoli defence, and so fell to a fourth defeat of the season.

It means that the Partenopei have jumped above the Rossoneri with seven games to go, moving two points ahead in second. Inter meanwhile are now seven points clear of the current champions, so the title race might be over too.

Massimiliano Allegri chose to make one change to the starting line-up that beat Torino before the break, with Christopher Nkunku partnering Niclas Füllkrug up front in an unprecedented attacking tandem, meaning Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao were on the bench initially.

First half: Trading chances
The first shot took until the sixth minute to arrive, but it was at least on target and it came from Milan. Adrien Rabiot crossed one off-balance from the left and it was flicked up to Youssouf Fofana, whose volley was heading for the far post. However, it was hit without much power and was easily grabbed by Milinkovic-Savic.

In the 12th minute, Buongiorno became the first man to go into the book as Luka Modric burst past several opponents down the right before being brought down just outside the box. A big chance came from the free-kick as Strahinja Pavlovic rose highest to meet Davide Bartesaghi’s ball with Milinkovic-Savic coming to punch but missing, yet the header landed wide.

Five minutes later, Pavlovic was again on the end of service inside the box, this time a flick after a darting run by Nkunku. The Serbian centre-back found himself bearing down on goal, though he couldn’t really get the ball out of his feet, and in the end his attempted feed to Alexis Saelemaekers came to nothing.

Napoli nearly took the lead in very bizarre circumstances, as Spinazzola was allowed to ghost inside from the left entirely unopposed, even getting around the referee Doveri who seemed in the way. He got off a shot on his right foot that thankfully curled just wide of the upright, with Mike Maignan rooted.

Nkunku squandered a notable opportunity to put Milan into the lead ten minutes before the break. Fofana intercepted a pass, broke a line and rolled it to his compatriot out on the left, but the forward lashed it over at the near post after he got a shot off from a good position on his left foot.

At the other end a minute later, Pavlovic made a brilliant block to stop Giovane from a dangerous position after he looked to have been played in behind. It was a superb recovery and challenge from the centre-back, who had to time the desperate intervention perfectly.

The final chance of the half fell to Füllkrug, whose run off the shoulder of the last defender was found with a clipped ball over the top. He brought it down but fired over the crossbar after letting it bounce, and even though the offside flag went up the replays showed he was in fact being played on.

Second half: Sucker punched
The end-to-end nature of the game continued early in the second half. It looked like Milan had worked an opening with a give-and-go between Bartesaghi and Nkunku but nobody dare pull the trigger, then Napoli countered and Maignan pulled off an outstanding diving save to deny Giovane, who had burst past Pavlovic.

Napoli took the ascendancy before the hour mark, with a shot ending up over the bar after a pinball inside the box, followed by Anguissa heading wide of the far post following a cross from the left.

Allegri had seen enough of the XI that started and made a couple of changes in the 62nd minute, bringing off Saelemaekers and Füllkrug for Zachary Athekame and Santiago Gimenez, therefore sticking with the 3-5-2.

Ten minutes later, Christian Pulisic came on for Nkunku, not long after Maignan had worryingly gone down holding his foot after catching a ball on the goal line. Thankfully, he was ok to continue.

With 11 minutes left in the game, the sucker punch came as Napoli took the lead through Politano. A cross was chipped from the left side of the box and De Winter could only flick it backwards with his jumping header, where Politano was waiting having made a late run into the box, finishing on the volley from a tight angle past Maignan.

The final two changes came in the 82nd minute, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Rafael Leao coming on in place of Fofana and Tomori, which meant a change to using a three-man attack.

Conte and co. seemed happy to sit on the lead they had allowing Milan to build some pressure. A first-time cross by Athekame was glanced towards goal by Gimenez, thought it looped onto the roof of the net.

The night was summed up in the final minute of the 90, when a delivery into the box wasn’t properly cleared by Napoli and eventually sat up for Leao to strike, yet Pulisic got in the way as he went to hit it and the attempt was nowhere near.