Napoli Defeat Crotone in 4-3 Goal Fest to Keep Chasing Champions League

In Serie A Round 29, Napoli returned to domestic action at home to Crotone as they looked to stretch their winning run to four games.

After their last successful outing away to Champions League chasing Roma, manager Gennaro Gattuso looked to keep his side fresh and made a number of changes. Alex Meret replaced David Ospina in goal and Greek defender Kostas Manolas took the spot of Kalidou Koulibaly.

Giovanni Di Lorenzo came in for Elseid Hysaj to add fresh legs down the right whist Tiémoué Bakayoko was restored to the engine room for Diego Demme. The final change was up front where Victor Osimhen looked to lead the line with Piotr Zieliński making way, therefore allowing Dries Mertens to play just behind the Nigerian striker.

Crotone are rooted to the foot of the table having only won one of their last six outings and as such Serse Cosmi looked to shake his side up with four changes.

Striker Samuel Di Carmine dropped out with Italian youth player Niccolò Zanellato taking his place. At the back on-loan defender Sebastiano Luperto came in for Giuseppe Cuomo and in midfield Adam Ounas and Andrea Rispoli came onto the flanks with Pedro Pereira and Jacopo Petriccione moving to the bench.

? | StartingXI: Meret, Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Maksimovic, Mario Rui, Fabian, Bakayoko, Politano, Mertens, Insigne, Osimhen.#NapoliCrotone

? #ForzaNapoliSempre pic.twitter.com/eRLRI8SNPW

— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) April 3, 2021

The game started to a good pace and Napoli were on the front foot applying plenty of pressure to the Crotone goal. They opened the goal scoring just before the 20th minute.

Di Lorenzo was played in down the right and feinted inside his man before rolling the ball back to the top of the box for the onrushing Lorenzo Insigne to strike the ball home via a deflection leaving goalkeeper Alex Cordaz stranded. A rich reward for the home sides start.

Osimhen soon doubled Napoli’s lead with a simple tap in. The ball was spread wide by Matteo Politano to Lorenzo Insigne on the left, who controlled the ball and came inside. He played it to Fabian Ruiz who curled a pass back to Insigne who had run in behind the defense. The captain volleyed an acrobatic cross to Osimhen who tucked home the finish.

Crotone soon found a goal back of their own in a furious first half. A scuffed clearance by Nikola Maksimović fell to the feet of Ahmad Benali who clipped a cross to the back post for striker Simy Nwankwo to cushion a finish back across Alex Meret and into the net.

Dries Mertens then restored the 2 goal cushion with a glorious freekick. Fabian Ruiz had drawn a foul on the edge of the area just to the left of center and the Belgian stepped up to clip his strike just over the wall and into the net with Cordaz left watching as another goal flew in.

? Gli scatti del primo tempo
⚽️ #NapoliCrotone 3-1 (HT)

? #ForzaNapoliSempre pic.twitter.com/WnF7nRgPSl

— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) April 3, 2021

That was how the first half ended with Napoli fully in control and well on their way to the three points.

Crotone though had other ideas and came out strongly after the break, scoring almost immediately. A corner was only partly cleared by the home side with the ball being kept alive on the edge of the box before being flicked over the backline for Simy to latch onto the knockdown and slide a finish past Meret to make it 3-2.

Crotone then equalized just before the hour mark to complete the turnaround. Nikola Maksimović tried to control a ball played back to him and this dalliance allowed Messias Jr the run on him and the midfielder nipped in to steal the ball from the defender putting him in on goal. As he approached, Messias opened his body and curled a left footed finish around Meret to make it 3-3.

Gattuso responded to this comeback by making two changes, bringing on Hirving Lozano and Elif Elmas for Politano and Bakayoko.

This seemed to refocus the home side as they gathered their senses to retake the lead. A pass was fed to right back Di Lorenzo on the right hand side of the box who cut inside before firing a crisp left footed shot into the far post.

? #SerieA | #MatchDay28
⏰ 15:00
? Stadio Ezio Scida
⚽️ #CrotoneBologna #StartingXI#WeAreSharks ???

Segui la diretta testuale su ? https://t.co/CkZjIpR3br pic.twitter.com/xSoN1sc9zk

— FC Crotone (@FcCrotoneOff) March 20, 2021

The onus was on Crotone to try and find a way back but the goal seemed to kill the Pitagorici’s spirit and Napoli controlled the game to the final whistle to take a valuable three points.

Crotone next host fellow strugglers Spezia on Saturday and will look to try and accumulate some points as they battle to avoid the drop.

Napoli will face the trip North on Wednesday evening to face off against Juventus in what could prove to be a pivotal clash in the race for the Champions League spots.

 

MATCH REPORT

April 3, 2021 – Serie A 2020-2021 Round 29
NAPOLI-CROTONE 4-3

SCORERS: 19′ Insigne (N), 22′ Osimhen (N), 24′ Simy (C), 34′ Mertens (N), 48′ Simy  (C), 59′ Messias (C), 72′ Di Lorenzo (N)