Torino vs Napoli

Torino 1 vs 3 Napoli 

Serie A round 17

Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino

December 16th, 2017

Torino: Sirigu; De Silvestri, Nkoulou, Burdisso, Molinaro; Baselli, Valdifiori, (Ljajic 46′) Rincon; Falque, (Edera 78′) Belotti, Berenguer (Niang 65′)

Napoli: Reina; Hysaj, Koulibaly, Albiol, Mario Rui; Allan, Jorginho, (Diawara 76′) Hamsik; (Rog 84′) Callejon, Mertens, Zielinski (Insigne 70′)

Ref: Mazzoleni

It had been a case of No Insigne no Party for Napoli of late. Maurizio Sarri had a week to file away his complaints and focus on putting the work in on the training pitch in preparation for his third game without either Faouzi Ghoulam or Lorenzo Insigne, his two main attacking outlets down the left for the past 3 years.

Lately, Napoli has been more toothless than a 86 year old streetwalker. With a broken left wing, a right flank that creates nothing going forward and a captain that has been sightseeing in the middle of the pitch the onus was on Sarri to develop a new tactic to get his once free-flowing side to rediscover their groove and back into the goal scoring mood. But without Insigne and Ghoulam they have found it difficult to break teams down.

It would, of course, be central defensive stalwart Kalidou Koulibaly that would head the Azzurri into a 4th minute lead from a Jose Callejon corner. A rare goal directly from a corner, Sarri’s side aren’t known for their attacking threat from set pieces. Perhaps Wednesday had been set aside for set-piece practice.

Polish international Piotr Zielinski doubled Napoli’s lead in the 25th minute when he rounded the keeper after being played through down the middle by a perfectly weighted Jorginho pass from the center circle.

A heavy weight was lifted from the shoulders of Marek Hamsik on the half-hour mark when another good Jorginho pass over the top found Dries Mertens who in turn picked out the Slovakian to side-foot his 115th goal for Napoli, leveling Diego Maradona’s 115 goal record. 3-0 at the break.

Torino got themselves back into the game when Andrea Belotti was allowed to waltz unchallenged into the box and hit a low daisy-cutter past Pepe Reina, The Spanish keeper was caught daydreaming yet again and definitely should have done better in dealing with that shot as he got a hand to it but just couldn’t push it around the post.

Il Toro lost Adem Ljajic who had just come on at the start of the second half to injury so had to see the rest of the game out with ten men. The Azzurri killed the game off and secured the 3 points that put them back on top of the table two points ahead of Inter, who had lost 3-1 to Udinese in the earlier game.

Juventus vs Inter (Derby D’Italia)

Juventus 0 vs 0 Inter 

Serie A Round 16

J Stadium

December 9th, 2017

Juventus; Szczensy; De Sciglio, Benatia, Chiellini, Asamoah, Khedira, (Dybala 75′) Pjanic, (Bentancur 85′) Matuidi; Cuadrado, Hoguain, Mandzukic

Inter: Handanovic; D’Ambrosio, Skriniar, Miranda, Santon; (Dalbert 63′) Vecino, Borja Valero; Candreva, (Gagliardini 69′) Brozovic, Perisic; Icardi (Eder 85′)

 

Inter’s last victory in Torino was in 2012 when they ended Juve’s 49 games unbeaten run with a 3-1 win. The Nerazzurri last match was a 5-0 rout of Chievo while the Oldy Lady parked two buses against Napoli and managed to sneak out of the San Paolo with an untroubled 1-0 win.

Luciano Spalletti’s side started off on the front foot, with the home side happy to sit back and defend. It would be Juve that would have the first attempt on target when a Juan Cuadrado cross found Mario Mandzukic at the back post but the Croatian striker’s header was easily saved by Samir Handanovic.

There was a 30-minute wait until the next shot on target, again it was for the Bianconeri, Sammy Khedira’s volley didn’t have enough power to beat Handanovic and the big Slovenian gathered comfortably.

Mandzukic hit the crossbar with another headed chance just before the half-time whistle that seen the sides go into the interval all square. Inter having more of the possession but unable to create any goalscoring chances while Juve sat back and countered.

The second half started off just as the first let off, with Mandzukic free on the back post yet again but unable to capitalize on a promising cross into the box. The Croat fired into Handanovic’s arms moments later from outside the area to continue their one on one battle.

Mauro Icardi finally got a sniff of goal, when he worked his way into the box and took a shot that hit the arm of Medhi Benatia. Inter’s players looked for a penalty but the claims were waved away. A spot-kick could have definitely been given as the ball was going goalwards before hitting the Moroccan’s arm. The Video Assistant Referee deemed it unworthy of a second look and Paolo Valeri took him at his word.

Khedira fired inches wide with Handanovic still on the ground when the keeper came to punch the ball clear from a dangerous cross. Kwadwo Asamoah then had a go at trying to beat Handanovic but again the keeper was able to match the strike and push it out of the danger zone.

Inter then began to push further up the field themselves as the game opened up for the last 20 minutes. Marcelo Brozovic had a spectacular effort that went high and wide, Inter at that point still had not had a shot on goal.

Mandzukic had another gilt-edged chance from a cross to the back post, this time his feet went from under him just at the crucial moment it looked like he would head into the net.

With 5 minutes to go, Brozovic fired wide when Inter won the ball back high up the pitch with some good aggressive pressure putting Dybala first and then Asamoah into trouble.

The final whistle went with the score at 0-0, Inter stays top, Spalletti coming away from both the San Paolo and the J Stadium with 0-0 draws.

Lazio vs Fiorentina

Lazio 1 vs 1 Fiorentina

Serie A Round 14

Stadio Olimpico

November 26th, 2017

Lazio: Straskosha; Bastos, De Vrij, Radu; Marusic, (Basta 77′) Parolo, Leiva, Milinkovic-Savic, Lulic; (Lukaku 62′) Luis Alberto; (Caicedo 88′) Immobile

Fiorentina: Sportiello; Laurini, (Hugo 65′) Pezzella, Astori, Biraghi; Benassi, (Saponara 77′) Badelj, Veretout; Chiesa, Simeone, Thereau (Babacar 60′)

Ref: Massa

 

Lazio was hoping to bounce back after their 2-1 derby defeat the previous week to Roma while La Viola was looking for their first win in four games. This game started off wide open with both sides spending considerable time around the other’s penalty area while Fiorentina looked slightly the more dangerous on the counter. I Biancocelesti keeper Thomas Strakosha had to be alert to come sprinting out of his box to halt one such quick counter-attack.

It would be the home side that took the lead though when defender Stefan De Vrij scored his third goal of the season, heading in from a Luis Alberto free kick in the 25th minute. 1-0 at the break.

Fiorentina began the second half on the front foot with Federico Chiesa getting more involved, the youngster had a good chance but fired straight into the arms of Strakosha while under pressure. In the 70th minute, Ciro Immobile forced a smart save from Marco Sportiello who got down quickly to push his strong effort around the post.

Inside the last five minutes, Sportiello was called into action to stop a strong Marco Parolo header that seemed destined to hit the back of the net, the keeper was fortunate to be in the right spot at the right time and got even luckier when Immobile hit the rebound wide.

Then in injury time, Strakosha had to pull off another big save to deny German Pezzella whose acrobatic bicycle kick was heading for the bottom corner. Moments later the game was halted for the ref to consult VAR for a foul on Felipe Caicedo inside the box, Massa awarded the penalty. The right call was made and Khouma Babacar stepped up and fired in the equalizer from the spot. 1-1. Lazio can feel hard done by but Fiorentina probably deserved something out of the game so a fair enough result.

Napoli vs Shakhtar Donetsk

Napoli 3 vs 0 Shakhtar

Champions League Round 5

Stadio San Paolo

November 21st, 2017

Napoli: Reina; Maggio, Albiol, Chiriches, Hysaj; Zielinski, (Rui 86′) Diawara, Hamsik; (Rog 77′) Callejon, Mertens, Insigne (Allan 65′)

Shakhtar: Pyatov; Butko, Ordets, Rakitskiy, Ismaily; Stepanenko, (Alan Patrick 70′) Fred; Marlos, (Dentinho 79′) Taison, Bernard; Ferreyra

Ref: Skomina (SVN)

Maurizio Sarri chopped and changed his line up for this one by bringing in Christian Maggio to right back, swapping Elseid Hysaj over to left back, giving Vlad Chiriches the nod to replace the suspended Kalidou Koulibaly and insisting on the Marek Hamsik, Amadou Diawara, Piotr Zielinski midfield that had been proven to not work in previous outings.

In the opening few minutes Lorenzo Insigne picked out Jose Callejon at the back post but the Spaniard couldn’t make anything of his chance. A Diawara turnover in midfield allowed the Ukrainians to break at speed and Brazilian Taison almost put them 1-0 up but his shot squirmed narrowly wide.

Once again Chiriches popped out his shoulder in a match this season, this time he lasted 15 minutes before having to leave the pitch to get it popped back in.

The Azzurri were caught offside more times in this game than they had been all season, fatigue obviously setting into the front three of Insigne, Mertens, and Callejon and they were missing Jorginho pulling the strings in midfield.

Shakthar keeper Andriy Pyatov made himself an extravagant save, definitely one for the cameras, tipping a curling Insigne effort around the post in the 28th minute. Pepe Reina then had to be alert to deny Marlos from close range in the 32nd minute to keep himself his goalkeepers union card. A poor first half, Napoli looking sluggish and disinterested, seemingly having no problem with going out of the Champions League. 0-0 at the break.

At the start of the second half and Zielinski finds Callejon on the right with a lovely control, swivel, and pass but again the Spaniard couldn’t pick out a teammate. Diawara blazed the loose ball over the bar with a slight deflection off a defender.  The Azzurri looking a bit sharper and playing what was until then their best bit of football.

Seconds later an even better piece of football would arrive, in the 56th minute, it came through Insigne who put his side in the lead when he picked the ball up on the left wing, cut inside and smacked one of his curling specials into the top corner. Pyatov had no chance, the home side rejuvenated and the small crowd finally had something to sing about.

Zielinski and everyone watching thought he had scored Napoli’s second when he fired over an empty goal after Dries Mertens had won the ball back when he ghosted around the back of Pyatov who was about to play the ball out and laid it on a plate for the Polish International.

The Pole did eventually get his goal in the 81st minute when he tapped in from inside the 6-yard box after being set up by Mertens who had made a nice run off the shoulder of the defender before being picked out by Zielinski. A perfect one-two move.

Moments later Napoli went 3-0 up, a Raul Albiol header from a corner forced Pyatov to make a decent save but the ball dropped to Mertens on the back post to head unchallenged into the net.

A tale of two halves here tonight, a bunch of zombies in the first and a much more energetic side in the second, halftime espresso courtesy of Tommy Starace. Napoli still in with a chance to qualify if Man City beat Shakhtar and the Parenopei get the job done against Feyenoord.

Roma Vs Lazio (Derby Della Capitale)

Roma 2 vs 1 Lazio

Serie A Round 13

Stadio Olimpico

November 18th, 2017

Roma: Alisson; Florenzi, (Peres 80′) Manolas, Fazio, Kolarov; De Rossi, Strootman, Nainggolan; (Jesus 85′) El Shaarawy, (Gerson 73′) Perotti, Dzeko

Lazio: Strakosha; Bastos, De Vrji, Radu; (Patric 77′) Marusic, Parolo, Leiva, (Nani 58′) Milinkovic-Savic, Lulic; (Lukaku 58′) Luis Alberto; Immobile

Ref: Rocchi

 

Ciro Immobile thought he had put his side 1-0 up inside the opening 2 minutes but had his scuffed effort canceled by a late offside flag. Roma’s offside trap was being well and truly tested by Lazio’s attack in the early minutes of the game and they got away with some close calls on a few occasions.

The game opened up after that and bore more resemblance to a basketball game with the ball traveling end to end. Edin Dzeko had some sections of the crowd on their feet celebrating when his glancing header narrowly went wide. Neither side could hold on to the ball for more than 3 or 4 passes but that is expected in a derby game. Sloppy in possession, hard running, strong challenges were the nature of this game and no that wasn’t just La Gazzetta giving Stephan El Shaarawy their usual rating on his performances. The youngster put in a good shift on the right helping in defense and pushing forward in attack, while Diego Perotti was growing in influence on the right.

From a corner in the 36th minute, Dzeko fired in a well-struck volley that keeper Tomas Strakosha did well to get down and beat away. 0-0 at the break.

3 minutes in the second half and ex Laziale Alexander Kolarov won Roma a penalty when he forced Bastos to take him down inside the area. Up stepped Perotti and he calmly stroked the ball into the warm waiting arms of the side netting. 1-0.

Moments later Bastos gave the ball away while under pressure from Perotti and the ball squirm away to find Radja Nainggolan, the Belgian then moved upfield before he unleashed a piledriver in the bottom corner to make it 2-0.

In the 70th minute, VAR awarded a penalty to the Biancoceleste when Costas Manolas was caught using his arm to intercept a cross in front of his own goal-line. Immobile drilled the spot-kick under keeper Alisson and into the net to make it 2-1.

Lazio huffed and puffed to try to get the equalizer but just couldn’t find the breakthrough even with 6 minutes of injury time played. A good win for I Giallorossi who move up into third for the time being on 30 points. 

Sweden vs Italy (Sventura)

Sweden 1 vs 0 Italy 

World Cup Qualifying Play-Off

First Leg

Friends Arena Solna

November 10th, 2017

Sweden: R Olsen; Krafth, (Svensson 83′)Granqvist, Lindelof, Augustinsson; Claesson, Ekdal, (Johansson 57′)Larsson, Forsberg; Berg, (Thelin 74′) Toivonen

Italy: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Candreva, Parolo, De Rossi, Verratti, (Insigne 76′) Darmian; Immobile, Belotti (Eder 65′)

Ref: Cakir (TUR)

Giampiero Ventura abandoned his 4-2-4 formation that he had been using rather stubbornly for the best part of the last year and reverted to type in lining up his more experienced men in their familiar and trusted 3-5-2 formation. Back came Andrea Belotti to lead the line alongside Ciro Immobile, Il Gallo was lacking match fitness after his layoff with an injury that had kept him out of the last round of games against Macedonia and Albania in matches where the national team sorely missed his firepower up front. Fearful and with no trust in any of the so-called youngsters he was apparently meant to be blooding into the side, Ventura went with the old men with tiring legs against a younger and hungrier Swedish side that had a point to prove to a packed stadium of home fans.

The game opened up with a nice elbow to Leonardo Bonucci’s nose by Marcus Berg then Giorgio Chiellini and Gianluigi Buffon combined to almost gift the Meatballers a goal when their lackadaisical play from a goal kick was nearly pounced on. Belotti headed a golden chance inches wide in the 6th minute. Seconds later Toivonen drilled a well struck shot narrowly wide.

Daniele De Rossi as per usual lost his head in a big game and was lucky that the ref didn’t catch his stupid little swing out at Marcus Berg and give him his marching orders.

Sweden played the better football in the opening half, playing with a freedom that their Italian counterparts could only dream of. Ventura’s side looks like they have never spent any time on the training pitch running drills and learning any passing movements, a team of strangers that were gathered together that morning off the street. 0-0 at the break.

A slight injection of energy for the Azzurri at the start of the second half but it quickly wore off as they decided their chance would be better served by play acting and trying to get an opponent sent off. Sweden took the lead in the 61st minute when a long throw-in was flicked on by Toivonen and substitute  Jakob Johansson’s shot was deflected in off De Rossi’s foot.

Matteo Darmian, Italy’s best player on the night struck the post with an excellent shot from outside the box and that was about it for Ventura’s hodgepodge of misfits.

The Swedes were able to see out the game and take themselves a nice 1-0 lead to Milan on Tuesday for the second leg.

Sassuolo vs Milan

Sassuolo 0 vs 2 Milan

Serie A Round 12

Mapei Stadium

November 5th, 2017

Sassuolo: Consigli; Gazzola, Cannavaro, Acerbi, Peluso; Missiroli, Mazzitelli, Cassata; (Matri 56′) Politano, (Rogerio 84′) Falcinelli, Ragusa (Pierini 70′)

Milan: G Donnarumma; Zapata, Bonucci, Romagnoli; Calabria, (Abate 14′) Kessie, Montolivo, Borini; (Antonelli 82′) Calhanoglu, (Locatelli 64′) Suso; Kalinic

Ref: Damato

A visit to the Milan Manager graveyard came at an unwelcome time for under pressure Vincenzo Montella whose job was on the line. Ex-coaches Max Allegri and Pippo Inzaghi both lost their positions after losses to Sassuolo, either straight away or soon after. Fortunately for Montella, Hitman Domenico Berardi was out with injury, the Calabrian striker scored 4 goals in a 4-3 win that cost Allegri his job and fired in a hattrick to put the final nail in the coffin of Inzaghi’s reign.

This game started off scrappy with I Rossoneri trying to find themselves some patterns of play while I Neroverdi were energetic and busy. An ankle injury to Davide Calabria broke up whatever bit of a rhythm Milan were building while for the home side Luca Mazzitelli brought out a fine save by Gigi Donnarumma.

Hakan Chalhanoglu tested out Andrea Consigli’s gloves for his sides first shot on target around the twenty-minute mark. The stop-start nature of this game reached a comical crescendo when Fabio Borini nearly knocked himself out when attempting an overhead clearance. There was a 17-minute wait for the next effort on goal and it was Borini who had a decent shot palmed away by Consigli.

Moments later Nikolai Kalinic thought he had put his side into the lead when it looked like his strong header was heading for the net only for Consigli to somehow pluck it out of the goal.

From the resulting corner, Alessio Romagnoli did put his side into the lead when he pounced on some hesitancy in coming to claim a deflected cross and allowed the big defender to get his head to the ball first.

An old-time revival tackle by Leonardo Bonucci proved that there is still life in him yet and it would appear that the reports of his death have been greatly exaggerated. The former Juve man got across just in time to make a goal-saving block inside his own box just before the half-time whistle.

The second period started off with the away side on the front foot and Sassuolo manager Christian Bucchi threw on Alessandro Matri to counteract that and the ex Milan striker obliged in getting his team further up the pitch.

Franck Kessie brought out another fine save by Consigli when he picked the ball up on the halfway line and ran unopposed to just inside the box before unleashed a strong drive that was destined for the bottom corner.

Little Spanish winger Suso made it 2-0 in the 68th minute when he collected the ball on the sideline 40 yards from goal, ran down the wing before getting into the box and cutting in onto his left foot and thumping the ball into the top corner.

Full time 2-0 to Milan and Montella can somewhat enjoy his stay of execution during the international break and can get some work done on training field preparing his side to face Napoli in the San Paolo on their return.

 

 

Roma vs Chelsea

Roma 3 Vs 0 Chelsea

Champions League Game 4

Stadio Olimpico

October 31st, 2017

Roma: Alisson; Florenzi, (Manolas 76′) Fazio, Juan Jesus, Kolarov; Nainggolan, De Rossi, Strootman; El Shaarawy, (Gerson 75′) Dzeko, Perotti (Pellegrin 87′)

Chelsea: Courtois; Rudiger, David Luiz, Cahill; (Willian 56′) Azpilicueta, Bakayoko, Fabregas, (Drinkwater 71′) Alonso; Pedro, Hazard; Morata (Batshuayi 75′)

Ref: Eriksson (SWE)

Stephan El Shaarawy put Roma in the lead with just 38 seconds on the clock, smashing in from outside the box after Edin Dzeko had nodded the ball down into his path. Eden Hazard forced Alison into making a smart stop at his near post a couple minutes later. Both teams sliced through the other’s defense with ease in the first five minutes of what was an up and down and wide open opening period. Eventually, the midfield settled into the game and got their foot on the ball, closing down and started to break up the play. Hazard and Alisson were having their own one on one duel, with the Brazilian keeper coming out on top.

Il Faraone scored his second and doubled Il Giallorossi lead nine minutes before the break when he capitalized on some hesitation by Roma old boy Antonio Rudiger who for some reason let the ball bounce past him and run into the path of El Shaarawy who poked the ball past the onrushing Thibaut Courtois.

Diego Perotti put the icing on the cake and then picked it up and smooshed it right into Chelsea’s face in the 63rd minute when he picked up a pass from Alexander Kolarov on the sideline and cut inside before lashing in a right footed shot that went in off the post.

Courtois kept the scoreline at 3-0 when he made a big point-blank save to deny Kostas Manolas from scoring with a strong header.

Fantastic win for Roma who goes top of their group. Eusebio Di Francesco has brought some defensive resilience to what was once a flaky defense and they now look like they can see games out while not giving the opposition a sniff of goal.

Milan vs Juventus (Come in number 9, your time is up!)

Milan 0 vs 2 Juventus

Serie A Round 11

Stadio San Siro 

October 28th, 2017

Milan: G Donnarumma; Zapata, Romagnoli, Rodriguez; Abate, (Locatelli 61′) Kessie, Biglia, (Antonelli 61′)  Borini; Suso, Calhanoglu; (Silva 77′) Kalinic

Juventus:  Buffon; Lichtsteiner, (Barzagli 65′) Chiellini, Rugani, Asamoah; (Sandro 71′)  Khedira, (Matuidi 81′) Pjanic; Cuadrado, Dybala, Mandzukic; Higuain

Ref: Valeri

Beleaguered Milan manager Vincenzo Montella went with 3 at the back again, even though Leonardo Bonucci was suspended for this one. Accommodating the former Juve man was the main reason for his switch to three at the back from his preferred flat four while at Fiorentina. In a real case of cutting his nose off to spite his face, he started his best left back in Ricardo Rodriguez on the left of the back three and Fabio Borini at left wing back. Meanwhile, he left solid man marker Matteo Mussachio on the bench instead of the much-maligned Cristian Zapata. It is clear that Montella has no idea what his best 11 is with all this chopping and changing.

It was Milan that started off the brightest pushing Juve onto the back foot for the opening fifteen minutes, although most of those attacks came through set pieces though and not good build-up play.

The Old Lady took the lead in the 24th minute through Gonzalo Higuain who fired past the diving Gigi Donnarumma after being found by Paulo Dybala on the edge of the box.

Montella switched things up yet again after that goal and went to four at the back, hoping to push Rodridriquez further up the pitch and having Hakan Chalhanoglu play closer to Kalinic.

I Rossoneri almost equalized in the dying seconds of the first half when a Rodriguez cross was flicked on by Suso into the path of Kalinic. The Croatian Striker controlled the ball and stabbed it forward beating Gigi Buffon but not the crossbar.

On the hour mark, Montella while clutching at straws changed things up yet again, taking off Ignazio Abate for Luca Antonelli and swapping Borini over to the right to replace Abate while bringing Rodriguez back into a three-man defence.

Higuain made it 2-0 straight after, not surprising really after all his reshuffling left gaps at the back for the Argentine to exploit. As the ball rolled across to him hi feinted to shoot and fooled Rodriguez making himself some space to really thump the ball home past the sprawling Donnarumma.

An easy game for Juventus in end, Montella didn’t do himself nor his team any favors.

Genoa vs Napoli

Genoa 2 vs 3 Napoli

Serie A Round 10

Stadio Luigi Ferraris

October 25th, 20017

Genoa: Perin; Izzo, Rossettini, Zukanovic; Lazovic, Bertolacci, (Pandev 84′) Veloso, (Omeonga 62′) Laxalt; Rigoni, Taarabt; Galabinov (Lapadula 63′)

Napoli: Reina; Hysaj, Chiriches, Koulibaly, Ghoulam; Zielinski, Diawara, Hamsik; (Allan 81′) Callejon, (Rog 71′)  Mertens, Insigne (Giaccherini 90′)

Ref: Mazzoleni

Maurizio Sarri brought in Vlad Chiriches for Raul Albiol and the rusty Romanian was at fault for Genoa’s opener. Leaving his position and stepping in to try force the ball he failed to get to it first leaving a huge gap for Adel Taarabt to run into, Kalidou Koulibaly was in no man’s land and the Moroccan ran unopposed into the box before he smashed in an accurate shot that went in off the far post.

Dries Mertens equalized in the 14th minute, Luca Rossettini getting closer and closer to him, brought him down on the edge of the box and the little Belgian curled in a stunning free-kick that left Mattia Perin with no chance.

Genoa was looking dangerous and was causing havoc with a fast-paced energy that hadn’t been seen too often this season. Their high press was giving Napoli and especially Koulibaly the run around until the half-hour mark when Amadou Diawara found Mertens with a perfectly flighted ball over the top. Mertens controlled it deftly with one touch and with the next, hit it in off the crossbar from an impossible angle.

2-1 at the break, Il Grifone playing hard while Gli Azzurri was struggling, two goals out of nothing for Dries Mertens the difference.

I Rossoblu began the second half sitting much deeper and inviting Napoli to attack them and attack they did. Wave after wave came at them in the first ten minutes but they were easily repelled, the final ball just wouldn’t come for Napoli and their lack of attacking technique down the right-hand side was quite apparent.  That was until Lorenzo Insigne turned on a sixpence and played a cheeky defence splitting pass down the outside of Rossettini for Mertens to run onto, the striker picked it up and fired towards the back post. His shot looked like it was going in before the studs of Ervin Zukanovic deflected it over the line to make it 3-1.

Former Napoli youth teamer Armando Izzo kicked some life into the Genoa fire by pulling a goal back to make it 3-2 with a diving header. A set piece wasn’t properly dealt with, Pepe Reina palmed the ball back into the danger area and the ball was crossed back in, Marek Hamsik and Faouzi Ghoulam wimped out a challenge with Luca Rigoni who picked out Izzo unmarked at the back stick.

Il Vecchio Balordo pushed for a leveler but I Ciucciarelli held on for the win. A harder fought game than it should have been.