The champions bounced back from a disappointing midweek Champions League defeat against Club Brugge to move three points clear of second-placed Lazio, who face Juventus in Turin on Sunday. Napoli, meanwhile, slumped to their fifth defeat in all competitions to remain ninth as bottom side Venezia picked up their first points of the season on new head coach Davide Nicola’s debut. Inter Milan pulled clear at the top of Serie A after coming from behind to beat Bologna 3-1 on Saturday, while Napoli’s torrid start continued with a shock defeat by Venezia.
Hojlund won a penalty for Napoli midway through the second half when he was hauled down in the box by Matias Moreno, but De Bruyne’s spot-kick was well saved by Filip Stankovic low to his right. But Inter, shorn of injured top scorer and captain Lautaro Martinez after he was ruled out for a month, responded through a towering Marcus Thuram header and would have gone in at the break in front were it not for a superb Lukasz Skorupski save on Francesco Pio Esposito.
Inter will now turn their attention to trying to pick up their first Champions League points at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday. Cristian Chivu’s substitutions proved decisive as Carlos Augusto scored within a minute of coming on midway through the second half, before turning provider for fellow replacement Ange-Yoan Bonny late on. A flat game came to life early in the second half when Nigeria international Adams latched on to a long ball and beat Alex Meret with a deflected strike in the 49th minute. Allegri responded by bringing on rested stars Rasmus Hojlund and De Bruyne and the Danish striker immediately threatened when Juan Jesus denied him a tap-in with a superb goal-line block.
He made an instant impact as Akor Adams struck the winner early in the second half to seal Venezia’s first Serie A win over Napoli since 1942.
