Despite missing the services of their Nigerian import, Luciano Spalletti’s Blues recorded an impressive away win over the Griffin
Napoli made light of Victor Osimhen’s absence with a 2-1 victory over Genoa on Sunday to continue their impressive start to the 2021-22 campaign.
The Nigeria international was missing due to the two-game ban meted out on him following his dismissal during the Parthenopeans’ 2-0 victory over Venezia last weekend.
Goals from Fabian Ruiz and Andrea Petagna all found the back of the net for Luciano Spalletti’s men against their hosts, who handed Caleb Ekuban his maiden appearance.
The Griffin began the game on a positive note, however, their attacking forays were frustrated by Kalidou Koulibaly, who won several challenges for his team early on.
Most notably, the Senegal centre-back cleared a dangerous shot by Andrea Cambiaso – who made a darting run through the visitors’ backline.
In the 21st minute, Genoa’s Paolo Ghiglione found some space inside the box, before having his effort saved by Alex Meret.
Nevertheless, Napoli’s breakthrough came six minutes before the half-time break as Ruiz collected a pass from Matteo Politano before drilling an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box which left goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu with no chance to make a save.
After the break, Davide Ballardini’s men found more attacking resolve and in the 55th minute, they thought they had found the equaliser through a Goran Pandev effort, but it was chalked off after a lengthy VAR review due to a foul committed just prior to the strike.
They levelled matters in the 69th minute through Cambiaso, who buried the ball into the bottom left of Meret’s goal for his first goal for the club.
However, it was super-sub Petagna who had the final say with his header on the edge of the six-yard box with just six minutes left to play.
Debutant Ekuban was subbed off at half-time for Alexander Buksa, while Sierra Leone’s Yayah Kallon was introduced for Stefano Sturaro in the 67th minute.
On the other hand, Koulibaly was in action from start to finish for Napoli as Algeria’s duo of Karim Zedadka and Faouzi Ghoulam were not listed for the showdown.
The result meant Napoli moved to third on the Italian top-flight log to keep in touch with leaders Lazio and Inter Milan.
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