Despite putting much heart, determination, and grit, Napoli collected yet another defeat in Serie A Femminile at their home turf Stadio Caduti di Brema – this time at the hands of Milan who, however, had to sweat a lot to bring home the three points on offer.
Napoli had five players still unavailable due to Covid-19, Federica Cafferata serving a one-match ban, and were coming from two difficult weeks due to a coronavirus outbreak that hit seven of their players. They faced Milan with no points in the table (after being forfeited their game with Inter that ended in a draw) and nothing more to lose. Coach Giuseppe Marino had to aggregate five youth players to his squad and lined up his girls with an offensive 4-4-2 formation.
On the other hand, Milan’s Maurizio Ganz relied on the experience of Valentina Giacinti – a former Napoli player who was celebrated before the game and was awarded by the Partenopee‘s current captain Paola Di Marino a celebratory ball with the most significant icons and places of Naples imprinted).
The game saw the Rossonere start aggressively and make themselves dangerous with Linda Tucceri Cimini (whose shot ended above the bar) and Valentina Giacinti who was brilliantly denied by Napoli’s Catalina Pérez. On 14 minutes, the visitors were allowed a penalty for a Vlada Kubassova handball from a Tucceri free kick. Giacinti buried the spot to make it 1-0 for Milan.
Napoli’s reaction was in a left-foot effort from Alessandra Nencioni but in the 41th minute it was Milan again to come close to double their lead as Giacinti challenged Pérez again, prompting the Colombian goalkeeper to deny her twice in a row.
Milan continued to push in the second half as Napoli started to run out of breath. The Rossonere didn’t manage to break through, however, as Francesca Vitale’s header was pushed back by Kubassova on the goal line, and Caroline Rask’s right-foot effort was denied by Catalina Pérez – who was the best of the Azzurre. Deborah Salvatori Rinaldi saw her goal ruled out on grounds of offside.
Milan’s second goal came in the 55th minute as Valentina Giacinti sealed hid brace by tapping the ball in after Rask’s shot was pushed back by the Napoli defense. Napoli tried at least to score one of the honor, but Elisabetta Oliviero’s shot in the 74th minute couldn’t hit the target.
The Partenopee‘s efforts eventually bore fruit as Eleonora Goldoni was knocked down in the box by Francesca Virale – who saw red in the process – and converted the subsequent penalty to narrow the gap.
Napoli had a one-woman advantage for the last seven minutes but despite their final efforts they couldn’t manage to move the score, which remained set at 1-2 for the Rossonere.
MATCH REPORT
November 7, 2020 – Serie A Femminile 2020-2021 Round 7
NAPOLI-MILAN 1-2
SCORERS: 14′ Giacinti (M, pen.), 55′ Giacinti (M), 84′ Goldoni (N, pen.)
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NAPOLI (4-4-2): Perez; Capparelli (79’ Jacynta), Jansen, Huynh, Oliviero; Hjohlman (72’ Cameron), Nencioni, Kubassova (57’ Beil), Nocchi; Goldoni, Popadinova (Franco, Franchetto, El Bastali, Catalano, Gallo, Di Marino) Coach: Marino |
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MILAN (3-5-2): Korenciova; Vitale, Agard, Fusetti; Rizza, Jane, Rask (86’ Spinelli), Grimshaw, Tucceri; Rinaldi (68’ Dowie), Giacinti (Piazza, Bergamaschi, Kulis, Morleo, Nano, Mauri, Simic) Coach: Ganz |
REFEREE: Mr. Galipò from Florence
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Popadinova (M); Red Card: Vitale (M)