Napoli put Sassuolo to the sword in front of the packed Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, strolling to a scintillating 6-1 triumph to bounce back from last weekend’s fiasco at Empoli. Despite putting on a dominant showing, it could be too little too late for the Partenopei, who are on the verge of losing another Scudetto race.
Luciano Spalletti’s side squandered a golden opportunity to maintain the pressure on Serie A pacesetters Milan last time out, throwing away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 at Empoli. A shocking defeat in Tuscany left Napoli seven points adrift of the league summit, though Saturday’s victory briefly reduced the distance to four.
A flying start to the match saw Kalidou Koulibaly, Victor Osimhen, Hirving Lozano and Dries Mertens all get on the scoresheet to give Napoli a 4-0 cushion only 21 minutes into the game. Spalletti’s rampaging side picked up where they left off after the restart as Mertens added another to the tally in the 54th minute.
Amir Rrahmani made six for Napoli in the 80th minute before Maxime Lopez struck home a consolation goal for Sassuolo. In these tumultuous times for the Naples outfit, this kind of triumph could serve to lift the spirits in southern Italy.
After guiding his side out of an abysmal run of form that included three consecutive Serie A matches without winning (D1, L2), Spalletti congratulated his men for playing a ‘great championship.’
“In my opinion the team has played a great championship, you come from two years between ups and downs. The right credit must be given to the players,” he said, as relayed by TUTTOmercatoWEB.
With three rounds of fixture left to go, Napoli are on course to qualify for next season’s Champions League. Spalletti’s team will travel to Turin next week to meet mid-table Torino.