Victor Osimhen was on the scoresheet for Napoli as the defending Serie A champions earned a welcome 4-1 home win over Udinese on Wednesday.
The Nigeria forward struck in the first half and offered a muted celebration, after a week where his agent has discussed “the right to take legal action” after Napoli posted a bizarre video on TikTok that seemingly mocked the player.
The video, which has now been deleted, featured a clip of the striker’s penalty miss from their 0-0 draw with Bologna on Sunday. Before Wednesday’s victory, Napoli manager Rudi Garcia admitted to tension caused by “awkward things on social media” but insisted Osimhen would “do his best for Napoli”.
This was a welcome return to form for Napoli after three league games without a win, with Piotr Zielinski striking from the penalty spot before Osimhen slotted home from Matteo Politano’s pass. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia struck both posts before finally ending his goal drought with a dinked finish in the 74th minute.
Lazar Samardzic pulled a goal back for Udinese but Napoli quickly reopened their three-goal lead as Giovanni Simeone, brought on in the second half for Osimhen, headed home Kvaratskhelia’s cross.
Internazionale’s perfect start to the season came to an abrupt end as they were beaten 2-1 by Sassuolo at San Siro. Denzel Dumfries put Inter in front with a low shot just before the break, but the visitors levelled nine minutes into the second half when Yann Sommer allowed Nedim Bajrami’s angled shot over the line.
Domenico Berardi sealed victory for the visitors nine minutes later with a powerful strike from distance into the bottom corner, and Simone Inzaghi’s side could not find an equaliser as they suffered their first defeat of the Serie A season.
Milan moved level on points with their local rivals after fighting back to win 3-1 at promoted Cagliari, with English duo Fikayo Tomori and Ruben Loftus-Cheek both on target. Zito Luvumbo fired the hosts in front with a left-footed rocket into the top corner after 29 minutes, but Noah Okafor levelled for Milan 10 minutes later.
Tomori bundled the ball home from close range to give Stefano Pioli’s side the half-time lead, before keeper Boris Radunovic denied Loftus-Cheek with an outstretched foot. The former Chelsea midfielder did get on the scoresheet on the hour mark, firing home with a powerful strike from outside the penalty area.
“I’m very happy. It was a difficult game, we knew they’d come out fast, they got the first goal, but we stuck together and stayed strong mentally,” Loftus-Cheek told Dazn. Earlier on Wednesday, Milan announced plans to leave San Siro and build a new 70,000-seater stadium in the suburb of San Donato.
Elsewhere, Matias Vecino and Mattia Zaccagni were on target for Lazio as they earned a 2-0 home victory over Torino. Teun Koopmeiners’ early goal proved enough for Atalanta to hold on to their top-four place with a 1-0 win at Verona.
La Liga: Girona go top, Real bounce back
Girona are the surprise new La Liga leaders as they continued their unbeaten start to the season with a comeback victory at Villarreal.
Dani Parejo put the hosts ahead with a 49th-minute penalty kick, but Artem Dovbyk levelled with a far-post header in the 56th minute. Eric García, on loan from Barcelona, put the visitors in front five minutes later with another header and Girona held on to sit one point clear of Real Madrid.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side bounced back from their painful derby loss to Atlético with a 2-0 home win over lowly Las Palmas, with Brahim Díaz and Joselu on target.
The hosts were guilty of missing a host of chances in the first half before Díaz broke the deadlock with a close-range strike from Lucas Vázquez’s pass just before the interval. Joselu then headed home from Rodrygro’s lofted cross in the second half to secure victory for Real, who visit Girona on Saturday evening.
Kieran Tierney’s quick free-kick set up Carlos Fernández for the winner as Real Sociedad earned a 1-0 win at Valencia, who had Selim Amallah sent off. Athletic Bilbao were twice pegged back by Getafe in a 2-2 draw at San Mamés.
