Whoa, Napoli. What a start. Deprived of Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne, and Kalidou Koulibaly – who all played a key role in the Partenopei‘s recent history – Luciano Spalletti’s band were expected to face a trial of fire as they made their Serie A debut this season on the difficult turf of the Marc’Antonio Bentegodi Stadium in Verona.
But Napoli forced their way past a clueless Verona side, putting five past their opponents and celebrating Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s first goal on his maiden day in the Italian top-flight. Not a bad start at all for the young Georgian winger who just moved to Naples from the shores of the Black Sea.
The Scaligeri helped Napoli cruise to an easy victory despite scoring two and taking the lead first as Gabriele Cioffi’s band was overwhelmed in the long run. Just like the Azzurri, Verona have lost some key players like Gianluca Caprari, who moved to Monza, and Giovanni Simeone who is also heading to the exit door. Today’s impression is that the former Udinese coach has much work to do if he wants to improve Verona’s impressive ninth place from last season.
Cioffi deployed a 3-5-2 lineup where Kevin Lasagna was joined upfront by new signing Thomas Henry from Venezia. Luciano Spalletti answered with his trusted 4-3-3 setup that featured two Serie A newcomers: on top of Georgian starlet Kvaratskhelia on the left wing, the Partenopei manager placed Kim Min-jae at center-back. The South Korean defender also had a solid debut.
Napoli accumulated an insane ball possession percentage but lacked precision especially in the person of Victor Osimhen. And so, it was shockingly the home side to put themselves ahead. It happened around the half-hour mark as Lasagna headed the ball home from a corner kick.
But Verona’s illusion lasted only seven minutes. That’s how much it took to Kvaratskhelia to draw level in a similar fashion, with a powerful header from a Hirving Lozano cross from the right.
Just before the break, another header, another goal: this time it was Osimhen to find the right spot past Lorenzo Montipó, redeeming himself from his multiple first half mistakes.
The Scaligeri didn’t give up and made it 2-2 with Henry three minutes after the restart. The Frenchman was serviced by Davide Faraoni and found the back of the net with, you guessed it, a header.
That was all Verona had, however. The second half progressively turned into an Azzurri monologue as Spalletti’s band hit three more times to wrap the match at the Bentegodi and set themselves off to a good Serie A start.
On 55 minutes, Kvaratskhelia showed that he can be a good assist-man as well with a fine service for Piotr Zielinski. The Pole made no mistake on the counter. Then, it was Stanislav Lobotka to steal the stage as he dribbled past a bunch of dazed Verona defenders and beat Montipó to make it 4-2.
The last goal of the day was courtesy of Matteo Politano, whose clinical shot left no chance to the poor Verona custodian. Napoli even scored a sixth one, but Adam Ounas’ winning effort was disallowed by the VAR. No harm done though, as today’s five goals were more than enough to silence those critics who were already predicting a difficult season for Napoli.
MATCH SCORECARD
August 15, 2022 – Serie A 2022-2023 Round 1
VERONA – NAPOLI 2-5
SCORERS: 29′ Lasagna (V), 37′ Kvaratskhelia (N), 45’+2 Osimhen (N), 48′ Henry (V), 55′ Zielinski (N), 65′ Lobotka (N), 79′ Politano (N)
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VERONA (3-5-2): Montipò; Dawidowicz, Gunter, Amione (58′ Retsos); Faraoni, Tameze, Hongla (67′ Barak), Ilic, Lazovic; Henry (58′ Piccoli), Lasagna (72′ Djuric) Coach: Cioffi |
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NAPOLI (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Kim Min-jae, Mario Rui (83′ Olivera); Anguissa, Lobotka, Zielinski (75′ Zerbin); Lozano (75′ Politano), Osimhen (83′ Ounas), Kvaratskhelia (68′ Elmas) Coach: Spalletti |
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Hongla, Amione (V), Osimhen (N)
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