AP, Milan :
Inspired by Diego Maradona’s visit to training, Dries Mertens led Napoli to a 2-1 victory at AC Milan in Serie A on Saturday.
Mertens, who has often been compared to Maradona, provided two sublime assists to help Napoli race into a 2-0 lead, with less than 10 minutes gone at San Siro.
The 29-year-old Mertens also had several chances to extend Napoli’s lead.
“He sacrificed himself tonight, he was brilliant in the first half-hour, giving chances to his teammates,” Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri said. “But then he missed the goal three times in fairly easy situations.
“The lad is doing very well for the team. Tonight, it was a disappointment only because of the chances he missed. But we like Dries!”
Juraj Kucka reduced the deficit eight minutes from halftime and Mario Pasalic hit the crossbar but Milan, which had fought back from two goals down at Torino on Monday, couldn’t find the equalizer.
Napoli moved level on points with second-placed Roma, which hosts Cagliari on Sunday. Milan remained fifth, seven points further back.
“There’s a bit of bitterness because of how the lads played, we didn’t deserve to lose,” Milan coach Vincenzo Montella said. “But we’re happy that we matched Napoli, which is in the Champions League and have been one of the top teams in Italy for several years now.”
Maradona, who led Napoli to its only two league titles in 1987 and 1990, was in Naples for a theatrical event last week and turned up at Napoli’s training session on Wednesday.
Napoli started brightly and had a penalty appeal waved away in the third minute when Mertens went down under Gabriel Paletta’s challenge.
