Serie A | Atalanta 2-1 Napoli: Dea fight back amid controversial refereeing

Atalanta completed the comeback with Mario Pasalic and Lazar Samardzic headers to win 2-1, but there were two very controversial refereeing decisions that angered Napoli.

La Dea were shaken by the 2-0 Champions League play-off defeat to Borussia Dortmund midweek, and preparing for the second leg on Wednesday, with Charles De Ketelaere and Giacomo Raspadori still injured. The Partenopei fought back twice to hold Roma 2-2, despite missing Scott McTominay, David Neres, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani, Kevin De Bruyne and Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa. Alisson Santos scored in that game and got his first start here, while Juan Jesus returned from suspension.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Napoli opened the scoring when Rasmus Hojlund earned a free kick against his old club, and it was floated in by Miguel Gutierrez for Sam Beukema to nod in from six yards. Remarkably, the defender was one of three players totally unmarked and waiting for the free header on that set play.

Tadhal dha Napoli bho saor-bhreab! Sam Beukema a bh' ann!

Napoli take the lead with a header from Beukema!

Beò an-drasta air BBC ALBA!

Watch live now on BBC ALBA! pic.twitter.com/m0vLzBnlUI

— BBC ALBA (@bbcalba) February 22, 2026

Alisson Santos dribbled around Marco Carnesecchi to deposit into an empty net only after he had wandered offside, while Mario Pasalic rode an Antonio Vergara challenge, but not the second from Juan Jesus.

Vanja Milinkovic-Savic acrobatically clawed a Kamaldeen Sulemana cross-shot out from under the bar, then got down for an even tougher save to palm his powerful strike round the post, and smothered his finish that went through a defender’s legs.

The referee pointed to the spot just before half-time when Hojlund ran into Isak Hien’s leg and went over it, although the defender did precious little to bring him down. VAR intervened and Daniele Chiffi changed his mind following the On-Field Review.

Alisson Santos shrugged off Nikola Krstovic to test Carnesecchi at the near post, the goalkeeper also alert on the follow-up Vergara header.

There was more controversy within 60 seconds of the restart, as Hojlund shrugged off Hien at the touchline and pulled back for the Miguel Gutierrez finish into the net. However, the referee disallowed it for a soft Hojlund tug on the Atalanta defender’s arm.

Napoli had a series of attempts off target from Alisson Santos and Vergara, but it was Atalanta who equalised when Pasalic rose for the glancing header from six yards on a Nicola Zalewski corner.

It was wide open, as Gianluca Scamacca’s powerful right-foot strike was palmed away at the base of the near post, then La Dea turned it around completely within 20 minutes.

Tadhal dha Atalanta! Mario Pašalić a bh' ann 'is tha cuisean co-ionnan!

Pašalić scores an equliser for Atalanta!

Atalanta 1-1 Napoli! pic.twitter.com/X2y4yL2Lcw

— BBC ALBA (@bbcalba) February 22, 2026

Lorenzo Bernasconi stood up a cross from the left and fellow substitute Samardzic sent a looping header into the far bottom corner from 10 yards, just beyond Milinkovic-Savic’s fingertips.

Napoli poured forward to the end, but were unable to get back into the game.

Atalanta 2-1 Napoli

Beukema 18 (N), Pasalic 61 (A), Samardzic 81 (A)