Napoli up to third with win against Atalanta on Mazzarri's debut

BERGAMO, Italy :Napoli won 2-1 away at Atalanta on Saturday, with goals from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Eljif Elmas in each half, propelling them to provisional third place in Serie A.

Napoli secured the win in the 79th minute when Victor Osimhen provided a pass across the box, giving Elmas the time and space to slot the ball home from close range.

It was the perfect start for new Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri, who returned to the club for his second spell earlier this month, replacing Rudi Garcia.

Napoli moved third in the standings with 24 points from 13 games. They are seven points behind leaders Inter Milan and one ahead of fourth-placed AC Milan, who host Fiorentina later on Saturday.

Atalanta are sixth with 20 points.

A minute before halftime, Kvaratskhelia evaded his marker and headed the ball into the net from inside the box to break the deadlock.

The match was halted for several minutes when Napoli defender Mathias Olivera slipped and injured his leg just before halftime. The Uruguayan was taken off on a stretcher and was replaced by Juan Jesus.

Ademola Lookman equalised for Atalanta eight minutes into the second half with a strong header into the bottom left corner, meeting a cross from the right.

Napoli's key striker Osimhen made his comeback after an injury around the hour mark when he came on in place of Giacomo Raspadori and for the first time since the beginning of 2022, he played without a protective mask.

Amir Rrahmani thought he had opened the scoring for Napoli with a header shortly after the half-hour mark, but it was ruled offside, while Mario Pasalic found the net for Atalanta in the second half but it was disallowed due to an earlier offside.

Lazio lost 2-1 at bottom-club Salernitana, who earned their first