Empoli collected another illustrious Serie A scalp as they shocked Napoli at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium thanks to a bizarre Patrick Cutrone goal. Aurelio Andreazzoli’s Toscani – perhaps the most impressive surprise package in the Italian top-flight so far – defended their lead to the death to grab their eighth league win and position themselves in the seventh spot in the table.
The Sunday night game ended in a disaster for Luciano Spalletti’s troops, who had a chance to reach a faltering Milan side at the top of the table. They rather ended up recording their second league loss in a row and plummeting to the fourth place as they were also passed by Atalanta.
As Marco Domenichini replaced the disqualified Luciano Spalletti in the Napoli’s dugout, Adam Ounas got his first chance from the start this season. He was deployed as a trequartista alongside Hirving Lozano and Elif Elmas behind lone forward Dries Mertens. Lorenzo Insigne and Frank Zambo Anguissa started from the bench.
Empoli answered with a two-man offensive line featuring Patrick Cutrone and Andrea Pinamonti supported by Nedim Bajrami.
Napoli Fail to Break the Deadlock
The Partenopei‘s start was not the luckiest. Piotr Zielinski had some problems breathing and had to make room for Insigne after just 22 minutes.
Empoli defended themselves well and tried to hit the home side on the counter, calling David Ospina to a couple of adventurous excursions out of his area to defuse the visitors’ challenges. The Toscani were well organized and Napoli only managed to threaten them from outside the box, first with a Mertens shot and then with an Elmas curl that hit Guglielmo Vicario’s crossbar.
Empoli’s reaction came on 33 minutes with an exchange between Cutrone and Bajrami but the Albanian’s conclusion hit the side netting. It was Napoli, however, to come closer to break the deadlock and it took a fine piece of goalkeeping from Vicario to keep the score even until the half-time as he pushed back a tight angle shot from Hirving Lozano.
Cutrone Goal Sends Empoli to Heaven
On 61 minutes, Juan Jesus had a goal disallowed as he was caught offside when receiving a Mario Rui free kick. It was a sign that perhaps something needed to change for Napoli and Domenichini indeed came up with a triple substitution, sending in Anguissa, Matteo Politano and Andrea Petagna.
Empoli’s coach Aurelio Andreazzoli also made multiple changes and threw in the mix Federico Di Francesco, Samuele Ricci and Nicolas Haas.
Insigne tried to surprise Vicario with a tiro a giro (what else?) but the Empoli goalkeeper didn’t have to go above and beyond to punch it away.
Then, the unexpected happened as the visitors took the lead with the most bizarre of goals. From an Empoli corner kick, the ball bounced on Anguissa’s head and then on the back of Cutrone’s head to end its run past a stunned Ospina. Not the pretties goal for the Milan youth academy product, but an incredibly important one for a striker who has been struggling to find the back of the net in the past few seasons.
The Partenopei‘s reaction was furious and resulted in a flurry of corner kicks but only produced a Petagna shot that hit Vicario’s left post. Six minutes of stoppage time didn’t help either as Empoli wrapped the upset of the week and Napoli were left wondering what could have happened if they had a Victor Osimhen available…
What’s Next for Napoli and Empoli
Empoli will travel to La Spezia next Sunday to face Thiago Motta’s Aquilotti in a key match for the relegation battle. With the Toscani sitting seventh in the table, talking about “relegation” may sound inappropriate. However, preserving top-flight status is still Andreazzoli’s one and only target.
Napoli, on the other hand, will travel to the San Siro to face Milan in a much-awaited clash at the top – though both sides’ recent performances have been anything but shimmering in the past few weeks.
MATCH SCORECARD
December 12, 2021 – Serie A 2021-2022 Round 17
NAPOLI – EMPOLI 0-1
SCORER: 72′ Cutrone
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NAPOLI (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus, Mario Rui; Demme (63′ Anguissa), Zielinski (67′ Insigne) ; Lozano (63′ Politano), Ounas, Elmas (87′ Malcuit); Mertens (63′ Petagna) (Meret, Marfella, Ghoulam, Manolas) Coach: Domenichini (replacing Spalletti) |
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EMPOLI (4-3-1-2): Vicario; Stojanovic, Ismajli, Luperto (82′ Viti), Parisi; Zurkowski (79′ Bandinelli), Stulac (64′ Ricci), Henderson (64′ Haas); Bajrami (64′ Di Francesco); Cutrone, Pinamonti (Ujkani, Tonelli, Fiamozzi, Marchizza, Romagnoli, La Mantia, Mancuso) Coach: Andreazzoli |
REFEREE: Mr. Marinelli from Tivoli
NOTES: Yellow Card: Zurkowski (E); Added Time: 1st Half 2′, 2nd Half 6′