In the grandest tilt of the Serie A weekend, Napoli and Inter clashed heads at the Maradona Stadium. After a thrilling first half filled with back-and-forth action, Hakan Calhanoglu gave the visitors a valuable lead before the interval with a fabulous low drive. The Partenopei tried to lift themselves back up, but Nicolo Barella’s goal came as a slap in the face of the defending Italian champions, while Marcus Thuram added insult to injury with a third strike. So here are our player ratings for Napoli who were on the receiving end of a dolorous 0-3 defeat at the hands of the Serie A leaders Inter.
Napoli (4-3-3)
Alex Meret – 6
The Italian international pulled off an impressive save on Lautaro Martinez in the first half but was left hapless on the first two goals. Perhaps he could have done better to anticipate the third Inter goal, but he wasn’t the main culprit on this one either.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo – 5
The Napoli captain endured a forgettable evening. Struggled to contain Lautaro on one occasion and his poor touch resulted in Inter’s second goal. His attacking contribution was also disappointing.
Amir Rrahmani – 6
The former Verona defender did fairly well to keep Lautaro at bay, but Walter Mazzarri would have expected him to do a better job at marshaling a backline that was in disarray.
Leo Ostigard – 5.5
A mixed bag from the Norwegian who performed some highly impressive interceptions but was also to blame for two of Inter’s goals: Allowed Barella to skip past him on the second, and lost track of Thuram on the third.
Natan – 6
The Brazilian provided Osimhen with two sublime crosses while serving as an emergency left-back. But perhaps allowed Juan Cuadrado too much space to deliver the assist for Thuram’s goal.
Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa – 6
The Cameroonian ran hard for 90+ minutes and combined well with his teammates on passing patterns, but couldn’t stamp his authority in the middle of the park.
Stanislav Lobotka – 5.5
The Napoli Regista did well to protect his defense at the start of the match but he and his Napoli teammates lost the plot in the middle of the park in the second half. Settled in a deep position and offered little in attack.
Eljif Elmas – 6
The North Macedonian was noticeably lively at the start of the match and almost scored the opener with a lovely shot that was denied by Sommer. However, his impact dwindled as the game progressed.
Matteo Politano – 6
The former Inter man almost scored with an outrageous long-range shot but his effort crashed against the woodwork. One would have expected him to make the most out of Carlos Augusto’s presence at left centre-back.
Victor Osimhen – 5.5
The Nigerian came close to scoring on a few occasions but he’s obviously not at his optimal physical condition just yet. Struggled in his duel against Francesco Acerbi.
Khicha Kvaratskhelia – 5.5
The Georgian found life difficult against Matteo Darmian. He managed to slip past his marker on one occasion, but his shot was brilliantly denied by Sommer. He remains a shadow of last season’s version who took Napoli by storm.
Substitutes
Giacomo Raspadori – 5.5
The Italian striker changed little after coming on.
Jesper Lindstrom – 6
A couple of efforts on goal from the Dane, but failed to trouble Sommer.
Piotr Zielinski – 5.5
The experienced Napoli midfielder saw little of the ball following his introduction.
Alessio Zerbin – N/A
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