David Neres explains Napoli celebration and assures he ‘never left’

David Neres gave a dryly comical response after his third goal in two Serie A games and unusual Napoli celebration, much to the amusement of teammate Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.

The injury crisis has in a way actually helped Napoli, because Antonio Conte was forced to change to a 3-4-2-1 formation due to the lack of available midfielders.

That allowed him to revitalise players like Neres and Noa Lang, who had been rather forgotten on the bench, as Neres has now scored three goals in his last two Serie A games, netting the winner against Roma this evening.

When he was asked by DAZN Italia if this meant he was really back, Neres had a comically understated response.

“I never left. I’ve always been here,” he shrugged, much to the amusement of his teammate Milinkovic-Savic.

“Of course, we are the champions and we want to be the next champions, but if you don’t perform every week, you’ll not get there. We have to keep pushing.”

The Brazilian was asked about that rather unusual celebration he shared with Rasmus Hojlund of a bird flapping its wings, which he didn’t do after the brace against Atalanta. Which bird was it?

“I have many celebrations, I know I don’t score that much, but I always like to change. It’s boring if I do it always the same. To be honest, I don’t really know which bird it is, but I’ll have to find out.”

This was a head-to-head at the top of the table with only two points separating them going in, and the Neres rapid counter-attack has made it tighter than ever.

Napoli and AC Milan are now the joint leaders on 28 points, followed by Inter and Roma on 27, who could in turn be joined by Bologna if they beat Cremonese on Monday.

Check out the Football Italia Player Ratings for Roma 0-1 Napoli

“Let’s just say Neres did his job tonight and last week. The important thing is that the team wins, whoever scores,” said Milinkovic-Savic.

There was only one big save that Milinkovic-Savic had to make in the final minute, getting down with one strong hand to deny Tommaso Baldanzi.

“I only had to make one save this evening, so that means we should compliment the players in front of me, as they let practically nothing through.”