MILAN (AP) — Antonio Conte has Khvicha Kvaratskhelia back to his brilliant best and Napoli back to winning ways.
Kvaratskhelia set up one goal and scored the second as Napoli beat Bologna 3-0 on Sunday for the first Serie A win of the Conte era — and the team’s first league victory since April 7.
Conte became Napoli’s fifth coach in little more than a year when he was hired in June but his new team crumbled 3-0 at Hellas Verona in his first match back in Serie A.
“The punch in the face we got in Verona made us immediately understand that if we want to forget the past we have to stay in the center of the ring, you give punches and you get them, but you have to keep standing,” Conte said.
“I have a lot of faith in this group … it was a tough week but we united even more, you won’t get anywhere individually. These are my first three points with Napoli and I have great emotion. It is these feelings that push you to go further.”
Napoli also lost Kvaratskhelia to a minor head injury in Verona but the Georgia winger was back on Sunday — despite also having recently returned from his home country after his wife gave birth to their first child this week.
It was a different team right from the start in Naples and Giacomo Raspadori almost scored in the opening minute.
Kvaratskhelia hit the crossbar shortly before halftime with a looping header from the tightest of angles but Napoli didn’t have to wait much longer for the first goal under Conte.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo started the move in first-half stoppages, cutting inside from the right before passing to Kvaratskhelia, who played him a superb ball back, dinking it over the Bologna defense for Di Lorenzo to sweep into the far side of the net.
And Kvaratskhelia got on the scoresheet himself in the 75th, racing downfield from just inside the Bologna half and firing into the bottom left corner from the edge of the area, with the help of a slight deflection.
Kvaratskhelia celebrated by sucking his thumb in an apparent dedication to his newborn son.
Kvaratskhelia also had a hand in the third, in stoppage time. as he threaded the ball through to new signing David Neres, who rolled it across for Giovanni Simeone to slot past Łukasz Skorupski.
Surprise defeats
Atalanta and Roma both fell to shock defeats.
Atalanta, which was one of only four sides to win on the opening weekend, had a penalty saved and hit the woodwork twice in a 2-1 loss at Torino.
Summer signing Mateo Retegui headed Atalanta into the lead in the 26th minute but Che Adams set up Ivan Ilic for the equalizer five minutes later and scored himself at the start of the second half.
Retegui and Charles De Ketelaere saw efforts come off the bar and Atalanta had an even better chance to level in stoppage time when it was awarded a penalty for a foul by Valentino Lazaro on Atalanta teenager Federico Cassa.
Mario Pasalic stepped up but saw his spot kick saved by Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic
Roma lost 2-1 at home to Empoli.
Fiorentina was jeered off the field after a drab 0-0 draw at home to newly promoted Venezia.
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