MILAN (AP) — Napoli’s enthusiastic celebrations in Turin proved premature.
Noah Lang’s injury-time equalizer was ruled out for offside and former player Giovanni Simeone scored as injured Napoli lost 1-0 to Torino in Serie A on Saturday.
Despite this, defending champions Napoli remained joint top of Serie A after Roma also lost 1-0 at home to Inter Milan, leaving them tied at the top of the table with Napoli and Roma.
Thinking he had snatched a precious point from Napoli in the third minute of the stoppage, Lang took off his shirt, ran to the away fans and celebrated by banging on the fence. Meanwhile, manager Antonio Conte and his staff celebrated enthusiastically on the sidelines.
However, the video assistant referee ruled that Lang was in an offside position when he kicked the rebound after Matteo Politano’s shot hit the post. The only thing that remained was the yellow card the Dutch player received for removing his shirt.
It was Napoli’s second loss of the season and Torino’s second win. The other win was against leader Roma.
Key players have been added to Napoli’s extensive injury list, including Romelu Lukaku, Stanislav Lobotka and Amir Rahmani. Scott McTominay — last season’s MVP — and Rasmus Hoylund.
Torino could have taken the lead in the 15th minute, but Nikola Vlasic’s shot hit the inside of the far post and returned to the front of the goal.
A lucky rebound from a Napoli player allowed Simeone to bounce off the offside trap and it took some luck to break the deadlock. He wandered through the center of the area, dribbled past Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and fired into the empty net.
Simeone did not celebrate, instead raising his hands in an almost apologetic expression and appearing to have tears in his eyes.
The Argentine spent three seasons with Napoli, helping them win Serie A in 2023, before joining Torino on loan with a buyout obligation in August.
Simeone received a standing ovation from both groups of fans when he was substituted in the 62nd minute.
bonnie again
Inter got off to a perfect start in the sixth minute as Ange-Joan Bony returned to his place in the starting lineup with the only goal of the match against Roma.
With Roma players thinking he was offside, Bony started running inside the center circle, latched onto Nicolo Barella’s through ball, then kept his cool to beat Roma goalkeeper Miles Svillar one-on-one.
Bony, who joined from Parma in the off-season, scored and provided three assists in Inter’s last game against Cremonese, making it the French forward’s first start for the Nerazzurri.
Roma had a number of chances to equalize but were thwarted by great saves and wayward finishing from Jan Sommer, despite the return of star forward Paulo Dybala from injury.
Zero win
Pisa and Hellas Verona were still looking for their first win after a 0-0 draw in the early relegation battle.
Pisa have three points, one less than Verona.
Lecce and Sassuolo also ended in goalless draws.
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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
