Napoli were held to a 2-2 draw at Lazio on Saturday after Boulaye Dia scored late on as the Italian Serie A leaders thought they were set to move four points clear of Inter Milan. Senegal attacker Dia rolled home a smart low finish in the 87th minute in Rome to deny Napoli victory and give Inter a chance to move top of the pile with a win at Juventus on Sunday. Champions Inter are two points behind Napoli, who have drawn three matches in a row and have failed to beat Lazio in three matches this season, ahead of that clash between fierce rivals in Turin.

“Lazio are our bogey team… we should be proud of what we’re doing and make sure that we always come off the field with our jerseys soaked in sweat,” said Napoli coach Antonio Conte.

Conte had to deal with the absence of three left-sided players with David Neres, Leonardo Spinazzola and Mathias Olivera all injured, and switched Napoli to a three-man defence with Pasquale Mazzocchi coming in as a makeshift wing-back.

And his injury problems got worse when Alessandro Buongiorno, who played for the first time in 2025 after recovering from a back injury, had to be replaced by Matteo Politano near the hour mark and Mazzocchi asked to substituted with five minutes remaining.

“When Mazzocchi asked to be taken off it caused us a big problem because I had to put (central defender) Rafa Marin at full-back,” added Conte.

“But I can’t ask any more from these boys because what they are doing is extraordinary.”

Lazio battle

Napoli looked to be collecting a big three points when Adam Marusic scored a bizarre own goal in the 64th minute, the defender sticking out his left foot to block Giacomo Raspadori’s deflected drive only to somehow chip it past goalkeeper Ivan Provedel and into his own net.

It was Raspadori who drilled Napoli level in the 13th minute following a neat exchange of passes with Romelu Lukaku, cancelling out Gustav Isaksen’s thumping early opener for Lazio.

Hosts Lazio briefly thought they had levelled the scores moments later through a sensational Mattia Zaccani bicycle kick before the Italy international was ruled offside as he flashed in his exceptional finish.

But Dia made sure Lazio got something from a keenly-contested match at the Stadio Olimpico and moved three points ahead of Juve in fourth place.

Marco Baroni’s team are on 46 points but will be knocked out of Italy’s Champions League positions on goal difference if Juve beat Inter.

“It was a great match and we played really well… Honestly I think we were a bit unlucky and probably should have won today,” said Isaksen.

Atalanta slip

Atalanta stay five points behind Napoli after their bid for a first league title was dented by a goalless draw with Cagliari.

Already hit with injuries including that of key attacker Ademola Lookman, Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini dropped first teamers like Marten de Roon, Ederson and Charles De Ketelaere ahead of his team’s return leg of a Champions League play-off with Club Brugge.

Atalanta trail that tie 2-1 after a hugely controversial penalty given against them in stoppage of the first leg in Belgium on Wednesday.

“We’re up for that match, especially after how the first leg ended… We have to try and do everything to get through,” said Gasperini.

Santiago Gimenez marked his full Serie A debut with the decisive goal in AC Milan’s 1-0 win over struggling Verona, his second goal in as many league appearances since signing from Feyenoord earlier this month.

Mexico striker Gimenez was on hand to nod in for seventh-placed Milan 74 minutes into his first San Siro start, after Rafael Leao deftly volleyed a delicate cross into his path.

The 23-year-old will face his former Feyenoord teammates in Milan on Tuesday hoping to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg of their Champions League play-off.

Inter Milan kept up the pressure on Serie A leaders Napoli on Sunday with a convincing 4-0 win at lowly Lecce which moved the defending champions three points from the summit. Goals from Davide Frattesi, Lautaro Martinez, Denzel Dumfries and Mehdi Taremi gave Inter their seventh win in eight league matches in a dominant performance in southern Italy. Simone Inzaghi’s team are also four points ahead of third-placed Atalanta with a game in hand on both their title rivals, their match at Fiorentina which was stopped in December due to Edoardo Bove’s on-pitch collapse.

“We approached the match brilliantly and it wasn’t easy because we got back at dawn after the match in Prague on Wednesday, we had two days and then another trip down here,” said Inzaghi.

“But in two days we managed to plan an aggressive performance, and they did exactly what I asked.”

Inter are motoring at a key part of the season, with Wednesday’s visit of Monaco offering a chance to confirm direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League and the derby with AC Milan coming up next weekend.

Saturday’s win was their eighth in a row away from home in Serie A, and they haven’t even conceded a goal on the road in Italy’s top flight since their first win in that run, at Udinese in late September.

Inter could have won by more as Carlos Augusto and Frattesi had goals ruled out for tight offsides within a minute of each other midway through the first half.

By that point the away side were leading through Frattesi’s sixth-minute tap in which came after some fantastic footwork and a smart pass from Marcus Thuram.

Captain Martinez rifled in his sixth goal in eight matches in all competitions six minutes before the break and the Argentina striker was key to Dumfries sealing the points with a brilliant backheeled assist just as Lecce were getting a foothold in the game.

Taremi capped a near-perfect evening for Inter with his first goal in Serie A, slotted home from the penalty spot after Frattesi was tripped by Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone.

Milan’s late drama

AC Milan turned jeers to cheers as two goals in stoppage time led to a stunning 3-2 win of a chaotic lunchtime clash with Parma.

Trailing to what looked like being Enrico Delprato’s winner for Parma heading into added time, Milan triumphed thanks to late strikes from Tijjani Reijnders and Samuel Chukwueze, sending previously frustrated fans delirious with joy.

Nigeria forward Chukwueze’s bundled finish gave Sergio Conceicao’s seventh-placed team a huge boost ahead of a massive week, with Wednesday’s match at Dinamo Zagreb a chance to secure a top eight spot in the Champions League before the Milan derby.

However all is not well at Milan and fiery Conceicao almost came to blows with deposed captain Davide Calabria on the pitch, the pair being held back by coaching staff while the rest of the team celebrated with fans.

Calabria, who was replaced as captain by Mike Maignan earlier this month, brushed over the incident as being a “dressing room matter” while Conceicao cryptically said “if your kids are behaving badly, you have to act”.

Conceicao also substituted star players Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez after a dismal display from his team in the first half which brought a chorus of boos from fans, whose long-standing discontent with American owners RedBird had threatened to bubble over in the 80th minute when Delprato forced home on the rebound.

Defeat was especially harsh for Parma who were left with nothing from an excellent performance and stay a point above the relegation zone, level with Lecce.

Fiorentina got their bid for Champions League football back up and running by winning a tetchy contest at Lazio 2-1 and snapping a six-match winless streak.

Raffaele Palladino‘s side are sixth, three points behind fourth-placed Lazio thanks to early strikes from Yacine Adli and Lucas Beltran.

The Tuscans escaped with three points from a match which finished with both Palladino and Lazio coach Marco Baroni sent off and Pedro hitting the post in the final seconds after Adam Marusic pulled a goal back in stoppage time.

Inter Milan kept in touch with Napoli after seeing off struggling Empoli 3-1 on Sunday and going three points behind the Serie A leaders. Goals in the second half from Lautaro Martinez, Denzel Dumfries and Marcus Thuram ensured a hard-fought win for champions Inter at the San Siro. Napoli have become the team to beat thanks to their thrilling 3-2 win at Atalanta, who are seven points off the pace in third, on Saturday but Inter also have a game in hand.

However Inter have a packed schedule due to their Champions League commitments while Napoli have no European football after their disastrous title defence last season.

As well as their final two league phase fixtures in the Champions League — against Sparta Prague and Monaco in consecutive weeks — Simone Inzaghi’s team have the Milan derby and trips to Juventus, Napoli and Atalanta between now and mid-March.

Captain Martinez’s distance effort in the 55th minute took his league total to eight goals from 18 appearances, some way off the 24 he racked up on the way to guiding Inter to their 20th league title last term.

The Argentina striker hadn’t scored at home since early November before Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Bologna but his goal against Empoli was his second in as many matches at the San Siro.

Dumfries’ thumping header, from Kristjan Asllani’s 79th-minute corner, was key as Inter were far from their best and once Inter loanee Sebastiano Esposito halved the deficit for 14th-placed Empoli in the 79th minute a wave of worry swept the stadium.

Fans breathed a collective sign of relief 10 minutes later when Thuram swept in his 13th league goal of the campaign to seal the points and keep Inter’s title defence rolling on.

Lazio stay fourth

Earlier Lazio stayed in Serie A’s Champions League places after thumping struggling Verona 3-0.

Marco Baroni’s Lazio went ahead with just a minute on the clock through Samuel Gigot in Verona, and further strikes from Boulaye Dia and captain Mattia Zaccagni put them fourth, two points above Juventus who beat AC Milan on Saturday.

Sunday’s success ended a three-match winless streak for Lazio, which included derby defeat to rivals Roma, and left Verona in the relegation zone.

Verona slumped to their 14th defeat in 21 league fixtures in front of new chairman Italo Zanzi following the club’s acquisition by American private equity firm Presidio Investors on Wednesday.

The new owners have a job on their hands at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi as Verona are deep in the fight against the drop, sitting in 18th place and separated by goal difference from Como who are just outside the bottom three and host Udinese on Monday.

Verona are in the drop zone due to Cagliari’s 4-1 thumping of fellow strugglers Lecce which moved the Sardinian outfit up to 13th.

Just two points separate Cagliari and Verona, with Lecce, Parma — who drew 1-1 with second-from-bottom Venezia — and Empoli all on 20 points.

Verona, who finished the match with 10 men following Ondrej Duda‘s late sending off, make the short trip to regional rivals Venezia next week.

Napoli extended their lead at the top of Serie A to four points on Sunday after beating lowly Verona 2-0 as champions Inter Milan moved second with a 1-0 success at Venezia. An early own goal from Verona goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipo and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s second-half rocket ensured that Napoli took advantage of Atalanta being held to a goalless draw at Udinese on Saturday and strengthened their bid for a second league title in three seasons. Napoli’s lead isn’t as imposing as it looks, however, as Inter have two games in hand, the first of which is against Bologna at the San Siro on Wednesday.

Atalanta, who are a further point back in third, also have an extra fixture to play due to their participation in the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia and host Juventus on Tuesday before Napoli travel to Bergamo for a huge clash next weekend.

“There’s been a big change in the team since the summer… I can see the machinery starting to work better and better and that’s a point of pride for me and the boys,” said Napoli coach Antonio Conte. 

Montipo could do nothing about either Napoli goal as Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s fifth-minute shot crashed out off the post, hit his back and then crept over the line. 

And he barely saw Anguissa’s screamer whizz past him at his near post in the 62nd minute after the Cameroon midfielder exchanged passes with Romelu Lukaku.

But it was partly down to Montipo that Napoli didn’t win by more, as the 28-year-old made a couple of fine stops on Scott McTominay and David Neres in a attacking barrage from the hosts at the start of the second half, while defender Amir Rrahmani also had a header cleared off the line.

Napoli are a different team to the one hammered 3-0 by Verona on the opening day of the season, even without star winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who has asked the club to be sold amid reports of a 80-million-euro ($82 million) transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.

Neres is usually Matteo Politano’s replacement on the right wing but proved to be a decent substitute for the Georgian on the other flank, helping Napoli stay on the front foot and ahead of the chasing pack.

Inter on a roll

Matteo Darmian shot injury-hit Inter to victory on the Venetian Lagoon with the only goal of the game in the 16th minute.

Italy defender Darmian tapped home his second goal of the season on the rebound after Lautaro Martinez‘s shot was kept out by Venezia goalkeeper and Inter loanee Filip Stankovic.

“We work on getting up the pitch and it doesn’t matter who gets there. I found myself in front of goal and thankfully I managed to score and help the team win,” said Darmian.

Inter have had problems closing out matches this season and Sunday’s narrow win, their sixth on the bounce in Serie A, came after Simone Inzaghi’s side threw away a two-goal lead in the Italian Super Cup final against AC Milan.

The away side dominated and should have won by more despite having Italy defender Francesco Acerbi and key midfielders Hakan Calhanoglu and Henrikh Mkhitaryan out injured, with Marcus Thuram, Benjamin Pavard and Federico Dimarco all starting on the bench.

But Stankovic, the son of Inter legend Dejan, was excellent between the sticks and his brilliant save from Davide Frattesi in the 67th minute almost paid off moments later when the post denied USA midfielder Gianluca Busio and allowed Inter to escape with all three points.

“It wasn’t easy after losing the final the way we did, but the boys were brilliant because we came here tired with a host of players out and we played really well,” said Inzaghi.

Earlier Genoa continued their revival under Patrick Vieira with their first home win of the season, 1-0 over relegation rivals Parma, in front of new majority shareholder Dan Sucu.

Genoa are up to 11th on 23 points, a point behind Roma who snatched a last-gasp 2-2 draw at Bologna thanks to a controversial Artem Dovbyk penalty in the eighth minute of stoppage time.

Team Napoli in action© AFP

Napoli conceded top spot in Serie A to red-hot Atalanta on Sunday after falling to a 1-0 home defeat to Lazio and dropping to two points from the summit. Fiorentina earlier remained on Napoli’s heels after their 1-0 home win over Cagliari in their first league match since midfielder Edoardo Bove’s sudden collapse last weekend. In soaking wet Naples, Gustav Isaksen stunned the home fans with a brilliant strike, which rifled past Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret and kept Lazio right in a crowded league title race.

Marco Baroni’s Lazio are fifth but only three points behind new leaders Atalanta, who sit top of the pile thanks to a club record-equalling ninth straight league win over AC Milan on Friday.

“The boys showed how fired up they were and their work ethic,” Baroni told DAZN. 

“We’re facing teams built to win, and the only way we can get there (to their level) is with good football. That’s the only way we can play.”

Napoli now have three teams just a point behind them, including Inter Milan and Lazio who also dumped Antonio Conte’s team out of the Italian Cup on Thursday.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa both struck the woodwork for Napoli, who are hunting a fourth league title after being crowned champions in 2023.

But the hosts were frustrated by dogged Lazio, who were largely on the back foot but came close on a couple of occasions before Isaksen smashed in his second Serie A goal of the season. 

Isaksen had stung Meret’s fingers with a similar effort midway through the first half, while Fisayo Dele-Bashiru crashed a rocket of a shot onto the bar six minutes after the break.

Kvaratskhelia skimmed the crossbar with a free-kick in first-half stoppage time, while Anguissa glanced a header onto the post moments before Isaksen struck his winner.

“I think tonight showed that the direction we’re heading in is the right one,” insisted Conte to DAZN.

“We need to improve, especially when it comes to creating chances because too often the final pass is missing and tonight was not the first time.”

Fiorentina in the hunt

Fiorentina are, alongside third-placed Inter, level on 31 points with Lazio after they edged past Cagliari earlier on Sunday.

Danilo Cataldi fired in the only goal of the game in the 24th minute to give Fiorentina an eighth straight win in Italy’s top flight, not counting their interrupted match with Inter Milan which was goalless when Bove collapsed.

Promising midfielder Bove, 22, has been in Florence’s Careggi hospital for a week as he undergoes tests, with reports in Italian media saying that his career in Italy is effectively over.

Before kick-off, Fiorentina captain Luca Ranieri expressed anger at reports that Bove was set to have a defibrillator fitted, which would force him to look for a club abroad due to stringent health regulations in Italian sport.

“I ask for a bit of respect for both him and for his privacy because a series of untrue things have been written and said about him,” said Ranieri.

Raffaele Palladino also insisted that he and his players were “waiting to welcome him back on the pitch soon”.

Cataldi dedicated his superb opener to his good friend and fellow Roman Bove, with the pair on loan at Fiorentina from capital city clubs Lazio and Roma.

The 30-year-old ran to a pitchside camera to make the number four — Bove’s shirt number — and a heart with his fingers after rifling Lucas Beltran’s lay-off into the top corner.

Cataldi’s goal left spirited Cagliari 15th, two points above Verona who dropped into the relegation zone on goal difference after being flattened 4-1 by Empoli. 

Verona dropped behind Como following a heavy home defeat — their seventh loss in eight league matches — and an entertaining 2-2 draw for Cesc Fabregas’ side at bottom club Venezia.

Team Napoli in action© AFP

Atalanta take on AC Milan on Friday night with Serie A’s top spot in their sights and a growing belief that this could be their year for unprecedented Scudetto glory. A point behind current leaders Napoli, Atalanta are gunning for a club record-equalling ninth straight win in Italy’s top flight and are, for the first time in their history, genuine title challengers. Atalanta have never finished higher than third in Serie A, which they did three seasons in a row between 2019 and 2021 with a thrilling team featuring an all-action attack of Josip Ilicic, Duvan Zapata and Papu Gomez.

However the current line-up, still on a high from last year’s historic Europa League triumph and the division’s top scorers with 36 goals, looks capable of going even further in Gian Piero Gasperini’s ninth season as coach.

Atalanta have won 11 of 12 matches in all competitions — drawing the other — since the start of October and after Monday night’s 2-0 success at Roma, Claudio Ranieri said they were “ready, really ready” to fight for the league crown.

“Winning the Europa League really helped those who took part in it grow as players, and a lot of new faces have arrived who are also developing. That’s the reason for these results,” said Gasperini after his team hit Young Boys for six last month.

A win over Milan would put Atalanta top at least for two days as Napoli host Lazio on Sunday night, and equal a Serie A wins record established in 2020 when Bergamo was the European epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic.

That year Atalanta stunned Europe by reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League, where two late goals denied them a win over mega-rich Paris Saint-Germain and a spot in the last four.

Since then, Atalanta have kept building on and off the pitch, with the latest iteration of “Gaspball” being played out in the now fully refurbished Gewiss Stadium, one of the few grounds in Serie A owned by the club and not a public body.

Atalanta, a traditionally small, provincial club with fanatical support, host Real Madrid on Tuesday and have come so far under Gasperini and the guidance of the local Percassi family that few would be surprised by a win.

First up, however, are Milan, who are 10 points behind Napoli with a game in hand but have won their last three matches against the modest opposition of Slovan Bratislava, Empoli and Sassuolo, netting 12 times in the process.

Champions Inter Milan kick off the weekend’s action on Friday against Parma at the San Siro, Simone Inzaghi’s side set to play for the first time since last weekend’s match at Fiorentina was called off following Edoardo Bove’s harrowing collapse.

Both Inter and Fiorentina, who host Cagliari on Sunday, are three points behind Atalanta with a game in hand following a traumatic evening which reminded fans of former captain Davide Astori‘s sudden death in 2018. 

The Viola await an official diagnoses of what caused midfielder Bove, who is still in intensive care at Florence’s Careggi hospital, to lose consciousness.

Player to watch: Tijjani Reijnders

If Milan are to get anything from Bergamo, Tijjani Reijnders will be key as the Netherlands midfielder is in hot form and the one constant performer in Paulo Fonseca’s otherwise inconsistent side.

Reijnders smashed in his seventh goal of the season on Tuesday night as a largely second-string Milan outfit hammered Serie B leaders Sassuolo 6-1 in the Italian Cup, his third in two games after also netting a brace against Empoli last weekend.

The 26-year-old has a good claim to be Serie A’s best midfielder right now and will be up against it with Ederson and Marten de Roon making Atalanta fans forget Teun Koopmeiners’ big-money move to Juventus.

Fixtures (times GMT)

Friday

Inter Milan v Parma (1730), Atalanta v AC Milan (1945)

Saturday

Genoa v Torino (1400), Juventus v Bologna (1700), Roma v Lecce (1945)

Sunday

Fiorentina v Cagliari (1130), Verona v Empoli (1400), Venezia v Como (1700), Napoli v Lazio (1945)

Monday

Monza v Udinese (1945)

Atalanta stayed hot on the heels of Serie A leaders Napoli on Monday by winning 2-0 at struggling Roma, who were playing at home for the first time since Claudio Ranieri’s return as coach of his boyhood club. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side are one point behind Napoli thanks to Marten De Roon’s wildly deflected strike in the 69th minute and former Roma attacker Nicolo Zaniolo’s late header which gave the Bergamo club their eighth straight win in all competitions.

They are also out on their own in second place, three points ahead of champions Inter Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio, after the perfect start to a tough mini-run of fixtures with AC Milan and Real Madrid visiting in the coming days.

Atalanta, who made history by winning the Europa League last season, look more convincing as Scudetto challengers with each passing week.

A traditionally small club who have never been crowned Italian champions, Atalanta are the division’s leading scorers, have the top goalscorer in Mateo Retegui and are on an eight-match winning run in Serie A.

“Great stuff today, it wasn’t easy, in fact it was very difficult and even,” goalscorer De Roon told Sky.

“It’s always great to win here but let’s keep our feet on the ground, take each game as it comes. But this run of wins gives us a lot of belief.”

Roma meanwhile are two points above the relegation zone in 15th after a sixth defeat in seven league matches, and although Ranieri’s team were well-drilled his players created little beyond early potshots from Leandro Paredes and Manu Kone.

Atalanta ‘ready’

Artem Dovbyk and Gianluca Mancini also failed to get proper contact on good chances in the second half with the match still goalless.

“We went at it with them as long as we had the energy to do so,” said Ranieri.

“You have to realise that (Atalanta) is a team which has everything in place to fight for the title. They’re ready, really ready.”

Fans welcomed Ranieri back to the Stadio Olimpico with a series of chants and banners, and during the pre-match warm-up Roma’s players also wore T-shirts with the message “Forza Edo” for Edoardo Bove, who collapsed while playing for Fiorentina against Inter.

Bove, a Roma academy product on loan at Fiorentina from Roma since August, is conscious at Florence’s Careggi hospital and undergoing tests to determine why he suddenly fell with 16 minutes gone of Sunday’s fixture, which was called off and will be finished later in the season.

The 22-year-old was part of the Roma team guided by Jose Mourinho which won the inaugural Europa Conference League in 2022 and reached the following season’s Europa League final.

Inter and Fiorentina both have a game in hand on Atalanta due to their match being stopped for Bove’s collapse.

Giovanni Di Lorenzo made sure Napoli will stay top of Serie A this weekend after firing the winner in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Lecce to move his team five points clear. Captain Di Lorenzo bundled home the only goal of a scrappy game in Naples after Scott McTominay’s header from a corner was saved by Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone, giving Napoli their fourth win in as many matches. The Italy full-back’s third goal of the season for Napoli came after he was denied in the first half when his close-range finish was rightly ruled out for offside.

Napoli are comfortably ahead of second-placed Inter Milan, who host Juventus on Sunday in the biggest match to date of their league title defence.

“It was a really important match for us, we tried in every way possible to score and in the end we managed to do it,” said Di Lorenzo to DAZN.

Antonio Conte’s side created little else against spirited Lecce, who remain second from bottom on five points after a fourth straight defeat, as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Matteo Politano started on the bench.

Romelu Lukaku fluffed Napoli’s best chance of the match when he skied over from inside the six-yard box nine minutes after half-time, and the hosts were panicky in the final minutes as Lecce pushed for a leveller.

Lecce came into the match on the back of last weekend’s 6-0 home hammering at the hands of Fiorentina which put coach Luca Gotti’s job at risk but went toe-to-toe with Napoli and on another day could have easily left with a point.

“I don’t like to lose, even with our heads held high,” said Gotti.

“But I’ll take the attitude of our players today, let’s hope we can take it into the coming matches.”

Gasperini’s 400th match

On Tuesday, Napoli travel to the San Siro to face AC Milan, who sit sixth and will not play this weekend after Saturday’s match at Bologna was postponed due to torrential rain and flooding.

Bologna and its surrounding areas are still reeling from a massive downpour over last weekend which claimed the life of a 20-year-old man.

On Friday Serie A president Lorenzo Casini said the match would likely be played in February due to the two clubs’ Champions League commitments and Milan’s involvement in the four-team Italian Super Cup which will be played in Saudi Arabia in early January.

Atalanta celebrated Gian Piero Gasperini’s 400th match as coach by destroying Verona 6-1 with a stunning display in which they raced into a five-goal lead in just over half an hour.

Marten de Roon, Charles De Ketelaere and doubles from Serie A top scorer Mateo Retegui and Ademola Lookman fired Atalanta up to fourth, level on 16 points with Juventus, and made up for Wednesday’s frustrating goalless draw with Celtic in the Champions League.

“We were disappointed with the Celtic game as we created loads. Today we scored plenty of goals,” said Retegui who has scored 10 times in his first nine league matches with Atalanta.

“It’s down to the faith shown in me by the lads and the fans. I’ve got a lot of teammates with a lot of experience who have helped me integrate well in the team.”

The hosts went ahead in the sixth minute when De Roon thumped home Lookman’s cross, and the match was effectively over by the 14th minute after Retegui and De Ketelaere both curled in fine left-footed strikes.

Verona got the treatment Celtic should have suffered and coach Paolo Zanetti looked shellshocked on the sidelines as Lookman first skipped past three players and drilled home at the near post before tapping in Ederson‘s low cross in the 34th minute.

Amin Sarr scored a consolation goal in the 42nd minute and Atalanta took their foot off the gas after the break, only adding to their score once through a Retegui tap-in.