Napoli’s Serie A Dominance Continues With Slim Win Over Empoli

Written By Onyeka Daniel

It was another routine win for current Serie A table toppers, Napoli at the Stadio Carlo Castellani against an Empoli side that has not conceded a goal at home in the league this season, but the scoreline failed to tell the true story of the match. They needed a Khvicha Kvaratskhelia penalty to break down the strong home side, who were also left to rue wasting their early scoring opportunities.

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The visitors were without Stanislav Lobotka and Alex Meret, so Billy Gilmour got his first Serie A start with Scott McTominay. The hosts lost their unbeaten record after two wins and four draws, with Saba Sazonov, Samuele Perisan, Luca Belardinelli, Youssef Maleh, Szymon Zurkowski and Tyronne Ebuehi injured. Sebastiano Esposito hit a great volley from a tricky angle at the back post.

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This forced an early save out of ex-Empoli goalkeeper Elia Caprile, who moments later stuck out a boot to parry the Giuseppe Pezzella effort at the other stick. Napoli also threatened when Alessandro Buongiorno’s header on a corner was cleared practically off the line by Ardian Ismajli, but Caprile got down to fingertip away the low Esposito effort.

Giovanni Simeone came off the bench and made an immediate impact, because moments later Giovanni Di Lorenzo pulled back from the by-line for his shot to be charged down and then Tino Anjorin lightly trod on Matteo Politano’s foot for a penalty. Kvaratskhelia stepped up and converted, waiting for the goalkeeper to go down before sending it the other way.

He kept his cool to score his fourth Serie A goal of the season. Moments later, McTominay fired just over the bar as Simeone laid off the Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa pass, but that goal proved to be one of the only real Napoli scoring opportunities. In yesterday’s fixtures, it ended 1-1 between Como and Parma, while Genoa played a 2-2 draw against Bologna.

Later on, AC Milan secured a 1-0 over Udinese at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium while Juventus also got the maximum points against Lazio at the Allianz Stadium by the same scoreline, with both matches seeing a red card each for Milan and Lazio. In a related development, several reports from Italy are claiming that Saudi Arabia will soon sack former Italy national team coach Roberto Mancini.

The former Manchester City coach who won the EURO 2020 trophy with Italy is expected to be relieved of his duties as Saudi Arabia’s national team coach. According to the reports, the Saudi Federation has already made the decision, which will become effective once the King of Saudi Arabia approves it. He suddenly resigned as coach of the Azzurri last year and was appointed by Saudi Arabia only a few weeks later.

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However, he’s only won seven games from 18, drawing five and losing six. He argued with fans in the stands after a 0-0 draw against Bahrain last week, reportedly irritating the federation. According to reports, the Saudi FA has already contacted two possible replacements: Ramon Diaz and Hervé Renard as his sacking is set to be made official next week. Saudi Arabia are in the same World Cup qualifying Group as Australia and Japan but have only won one game from four, drawing twice and losing once.

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