Lukaku inspires stunning Napoli comeback
Romelu Lukaku inspired Napoli's comeback victory over Udinese in Serie A, ensuring Antonio Conte's title-chasing side kept pace with league leader Atalanta with a 3-1 win having trailed at half-time.
Lautaro Giannetti's own-goal was followed up by Frank Anguissa's calm finish late on to seal a huge win for Antonio Conte's side, who triumphed at Stadio Friuli for the first time since September 2021.
Udinese took the lead from the penalty spot in the 22nd minute after Stanislav Lobotka handled Jordan Zemura's goal-bound effort, with Florian Thauvin seeing his penalty saved by Alex Meret, but following up on the rebound.
Napoli restored parity five minutes after the break when Romelu Lukaku latched on to Scott McTominay's searching pass before finishing into the bottom right corner.
The visitors then took the lead in the 76th minute when David Neres' shot on target was turned into his own net by Giannetti to spark wild celebrations from the visiting supporters.
Anguissa then sealed the victory five minutes later, racing in on goal after being played through by Giovanni Simeone before striking beyond Razvan Sava.
After falling to defeat in its past Serie A encounter against Lazio, Napoli got its Scudetto hopes back on track with a performance worthy of a champion on the road.
Conte's side has now won five of its past seven away Serie A matches, including two in a row for the first time since last October. This season, only Atalanta has more away wins than Napoli with six.
But Napoli's latest triumph was inspired by Lukaku, who netted the equaliser in the second half.
He has now scored six goals against Udinese in Serie A, only finding the back of the net more often against Genoa in the competition with seven.
Conte, though, credited the whole team for the response it showed to come back.
"Udinese are a very good side and I saw a strong response from my boys," he said.
"We have to be realistic, fearless and understand that to win you have to take control of the game, as we did today."
For Conte, the scoreline in the first half did not reflect his side's dominance.
"We controlled the game from start to finish, even though we were 1-0 down. The penalty didn't change the game for us," he added.
"We created chances in the first half and we must continue to play that kind of football.
"Keeping possession, dominating the game, pressing high and dictating the game is crucial for us."
