Napoli lose at Torino after late VAR ruling and Inter beats Roma
MILAN (AP) — Napoli’s exuberant celebrations in Turin turned out to be premature.
Noa Lang’s stoppage time equalizer was ruled out for offside and injury-hit Napoli lost at Torino 1-0 in Serie A on Saturday, with former player Giovanni Simeone bagging the goal.
Nevertheless, defending champion Napoli remained the co-leader of Serie A after Roma also lost, 1-0 at home to Inter Milan, which moved level with Napoli and Roma at the top of the table.
Lang thought he rescued a valuable point for Napoli, in the third minute of stoppages, and celebrated by ripping off his shirt and rushing to the away fans, banging on the barriers. Meanwhile, coach Antonio Conte celebrated wildly with his staff on the sidelines.
But the video assistant referee ruled that Lang was in an offside position when he tapped in the rebound after Matteo Politano’s effort came off the post. The only thing that stood was the yellow card the Dutch player received for taking off his shirt.
It was Napoli’s second defeat of the season and Torino’s second win — the other was against top-of-the-table Roma.
Napoli’s extensive injury list including Romelu Lukaku, Stanislav Lobotka and Amir Rrahmani was added to by key players Scott McTominay — last season’s MVP — and Rasmus Hojlund.
Torino could have taken the lead in the 15th minute but Nikola Vlasic’s effort crashed off the inside of the far post and back across the face of goal.
It took a slice of fortune to break the deadlock when a lucky ricochet off a Napoli player allowed Simeone to spring the offside trap. He shimmied his way through the middle of the area, dribbled past Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and deposited into an empty net.
Simeone didn’t celebrate and held up his hands almost in apology, appearing to have tears in his eyes.
The Argentine spent three seasons at Napoli, helping it to the Serie A title in 2023, and joined Torino on loan with an obligation to buy in August.
Simeone was given a standing ovation by both sets of fans when he was substituted off in the 62nd.
Bonny again
Ange-Yoan Bonny responded again to being in the starting lineup with the only goal of the match at Roma, getting Inter off to the perfect start in the sixth minute.
With the Roma players appearing to think he was offside, Bonny started his run in the center circle and latched onto Nicolò Barella’s through ball before keeping his cool to beat Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar one on one.
Bonny, who joined from Parma in the offseason, scored and added three assists in Inter’s previous match against Cremonese when the French forward was given his first start for the Nerazzurri.
Roma had numerous chances to level but was denied by fantastic saves from Yann Sommer as well as some wayward finishing, despite star forward Paulo Dybala returning from injury.
Zero wins
Pisa and Hellas Verona were still searching for their first wins after they drew 0-0 in an early relegation battle.
Pisa has just three points, one fewer than Verona.
Lecce and Sassuolo also played out a goalless draw.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer