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| Victor James Osimhen of SSC Napoli in action during the Serie A match between ACF Fiorentina and SSC Napoli at Stadio Artemio Franchi on August 28, 2022 in Florence, Italy. |
Three rounds into Serie
A and parity is again the theme of the Italian league.
After last season’s
title was decided on the final day of the season, there are already no longer
any clubs with perfect records in this campaign.
Napoli, the last squad
who remained perfect, were held to a 0-0 draw at Fiorentina on Sunday.
Napoli still remained
atop the standings on goal differential, but are level on seven points with
five other clubs: defending champions AC Milan, Lazio, Atalanta, Torino and
Roma.
After producing five
and then four goals in their first two matches, Napoli were off target against
the Viola.
Irving Lozano missed
wide on a close-range header early in the second half, while center forward
Victor Osimhen had a goal waved off for offside shortly before the break.
Osimhen has been
involved in the speculation over a potential move by Cristiano Ronaldo from
Manchester United to Napoli, with the expectation that the 23-year-old Nigeria
international would replace the five-time world player of the year at the
Premier League club in an expensive transfer.
“If a club offers
you EUR100 million ($A145m) for a player, it’s difficult not to take that into
consideration,” Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti said.
Fiorentina threatened
midway through the second half with a dangerous shot from Antonin Barak and the
hosts’ last significant chance was a long effort from new signing Giacomo
Raspadori that was palmed wide by Fiorentina goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini.
Elsewhere, Atalanta
extended their unbeaten start with a 1-0 win at regional rivals Hellas Verona.
Teun Koopmeiners scored
early in the second half with a long-distance, bouncing shot as Atalanta
followed up their opening-round win at Sampdoria and draw with Milan with
another solid performance.
“We want to get
back into Europe — and preferably into the Champions League,”
Koopmeiners, who has scored three of his five Serie A goals from beyond the
area, said.
Boulaye Dia scored one
goal and assisted on two others in his first start as Salernitana beat up on
visiting Sampdoria 4-0 and Lecce earned their first point by drawing 1-1 with
visiting Empoli.
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