Inter top of Serie A after win at Roma and Napoli slip | The Express Tribune

ROME:

Inter Milan moved top of Serie A on goal difference on Saturday after winning 1-0 at Roma, taking advantage of Napoli’s shock 1-0 defeat at Torino.

Ange-Yoan Bonny sprung Roma’s offside trap and forced home the winning goal in the sixth minute at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome as Inter moved level on 15 points with both their opponents and champions Napoli.

Effectively Inter are joint leaders as should teams finish the season on the same points the destination of the league title will be decided by a play-off.

“I’m proud of how they’re working, how they prepare themselves mentally ahead of big matches… I’m proud of them and what they’re trying to do,” said Inter coach Cristian Chivu.

“Playing after the international break is always going into the unknown because a lot of players head off and you need to think about them having some rest, and I’m happy with how they faced this fixture.”

Chivu’s team, who also hit the post in the final five minutes through Henrikh Mkhitaryan, have won their last six matches in all competitions and made clear their intentions of reclaiming the Scudetto after conceding it to Napoli last season.

After facing Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League, Inter travel to Napoli, who fell to a goal from old boy Giovanni Simeone and are in the midst of an injury crisis with both Rasmus Hojlund and Scott McTominay missing in Turin.

Last year’s Champions League finalists Inter did not have it all their own way on Saturday night however, and Roma were unlucky not to level on the hour when Zeki Celik had a great chance deflected into the side netting.

And from the subsequent corner Artem Dovbyk headed over with Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer completed stranded.

“We’re disappointed at losing but there are defeats that can give you something,” said Roma coach Gian Piero Gasperini.

Napoli’s defeat and Inter winning in the Italian capital gives AC Milan, fourth and two points from the summit, the chance to take top spot from their local rivals with a win over Fiorentina on Sunday.

However, Milan have injury problems of their own with coach Massimiliano Allegri saying on Saturday that key players Adrien Rabiot and Christian Pulisic will be out of action until the next international break in mid-November.

Simeone sinks Napoli

Simeone, who helped Napoli win Serie A in 2023 and last season, netted the only goal in the 32nd minute of a tense game in Turin.

The 30-year-old also scored the winner in Torino’s 1-0 home victory over Roma in September and he took his third goal of the season brilliantly, capitalising on a fortunate ricochet to skip past Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Napoli goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and shoot home.

Noa Lang thought he had snatched a point for Napoli in the third minute of stoppage time, wheeling away in delight after tapping home before his strike was ruled out for offside.

“It a was a special night for me, to give Torino three points from such a difficult match makes me very happy,” said Simeone to DAZN.

“They’re a very good team and it was an emotional night for me, but the most important thing is making happy the Torino fans by showing them we’re a team that fights to the end.”

Napoli coach Antonio Conte had to do without in-form striker Hojlund and McTominay who were left out of the squad with respective thigh and ankle injuries suffered in training ahead of Saturday’s defeat.

Both are doubts for Tuesday’s clash at PSV Eindhoven, creating more injury problems for Conte who has already had to deal with a series of physical problems for his squad this season.

Hojlund, who has scored three times for Napoli and netted for Denmark last weekend, was only signed from Manchester United after Romelu Lukaku suffered a thigh injury which could keep the Belgium striker out until the new year.

Alessandro Buongiorno and Matteo Politano were only fit for a place on the bench while Stanislav Lobotka and Amir Rrahmani are still sidelined.