Fiorentina and Napoli failed to hurt each other on Sunday night in the last match of Serie A round 3 as spoils were shared at the Artemio Franchi Stadium.
There were few chances to report despite the match being played with much intensity on both sides. The Partenopei came close to break the deadlock with Amir Rrhamani and Hirving Lozano’s headers, while the Viola replied with an Antonin Barak shot that went off target by a few inches.
Napoli thus failed to extend their perfect record but still managed to retain the top spot in the Serie A table, which they are now sharing with Milan, Lazio, Atalanta, Torino, and Roma.
Fiorentina, who recorded their third goalless draw in a row, are still unbeaten this season. Their coach Vincenzo Italiano lined up the new joiner Barak in midfield to support an offensive pack featuring Riccardo Sottil, Luka Jovic and Jonathan Ikoné.
Luciano Spalletti, on the other hand, continued to bench his most recent acquisitions – Tanguy Ndombele, Giovanni Simeone, and Giacomo Raspadori – though the latter two would eventually be sent in by the Tuscan coach.
Fiorentina started on the right foot as they tried to suffocate the visitors with their high pressing. They came close to open the scoring when Alex Meret failed to block a seemingly-easy shot, but Giacomo Bonaventura sent the ball off target from the rebound.
In the first half, Napoli recorded only a free-kick shot that Mario Rui didn’t make the best of, and a disallowed goal for Victor Osimhen, who was caught offside when he tapped the ball in from a Pierluigi Gollini deflection.
The second period opened with a brilliant suggestion from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for Hirving Lozano. That was the only display from the Georgian starlet tonight, who soon left the pitch for Elif Elmas. However, Lozano’s header went wide off target.
There were multiple substitutions on both sides: Spalletti sent in all his new jewels and also added Matteo Politano on the front line. Italiano replied with the addition of Christian Kouamé, Youssef Maleh and Igor. None of these changes managed to change the story of the match, though, which continued to be intense and hard-fought but lacked clear scoring chances.
The last attempt came on 81 minutes and it was courtesy of Napoli’s new striker Raspadori, who tested Pierluigi Gollini from the edge of the box. The former Tottenham custodian defused the challenge to preserve a nil-nil score that both managers can be happy with, considering how the calcio weekend went.
MATCH SCORECARD
August 28, 2022 – Serie A 2022-2023 Round 3
FIORENTINA – NAPOLI 0-0
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FIORENTINA (4-3-3): Gollini; Dodò, Milenkovic, Martinez Quarta (69′ Igor), Biraghi (80′ Terzic); Bonaventura (69′ Maleh), Amrabat, Barak; Ikoné (59′ Kouamé), Jovic, Sottil (80′ Saponara) (Terracciano, Cerofolini, Ranieri, Venuti, Benassi, Bianco, Mandragora, Cabral) Coach: Italiano |
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NAPOLI (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Kim, Mario Rui; Anguissa, Lobotka (78′ Ndombele), Zielinski (61′ Raspadori); Lozano (71′ Politano), Osimhen (78′ Simeone), Kvaratskhelia (61′ Elmas) (Marfella, Sirigu, Juan Jesus, Olivera, Östigard, Zanoli, Gaetano, Zerbin) Coach: Spalletti |
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Anguissa, Spalletti (N), Martinez Quarta, Jovic (F); Added Time: 1st Half 2′, 2nd Half 3′
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