Napoli has maintained the 100 percent start to their Serie A campaign with another League game win against Torino.
The host took the maximum points courtesy of a solitary strike from their in-form Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen.
The former Lille attacker scored the only goal of the game from a towering header to maintain Napoli’s perfect start to the Serie A season.
Napoli could have ended up being 2-0 winners but Lorenzo Insigne’s penalty was saved and Torino benefited from VAR which caught a narrow offside.
This means the Partenopei has won all eight Serie A matches so far. They delivered without Kostas Manolas, Andrea Petagna, Kevin Malcuit and Adam Ounas who are not fully fit and in their special edition Halloween kit, which was black with a silver spiderweb motif.
Osimhen had earlier before his goal grazed the far top corner with a scorcher from the edge of the area. The Nigerian later nodded a Giovanni Di Lorenzo cross over the bar.
As Napoli keeps knocking on the door for the opener, they were rewarded with a spot-kick after Kone tackled through the back of Di Lorenzo on an Insigne free-kick routine.
The skipper stepped up but it was a dreadful weak effort that lacked conviction. It was easy for Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to save as it was placed straight to him at the centre.
With an attempt to copy Jorginho’s famous hop, skip and jump run-up, Insigne recorded his third miss out of five attempted penalties this season.
Napoli were almost made to pay for missing their chances when David Ospina made a one-handed save on Josip Brekalo at the near post.
The host continued to look for a winner and Milinkovic-Savic made another leg save to parry Kalidou Koulibaly’s attempt from 11 yards.
Napoli would eventually score on 56 minutes with another smart free-kick routine from Mario Rui. The Spaniard whipped the ball across the six-yard box for Di Lorenzo’s header but the goal won’t stand after VAR ruled it to be marginally offside.
They were again denied by the upright moments later from Chucky Lozano’s angled drive which beat Milinkovic-Savic.
Ospina also kept the hist in the game after Josip Brekalo dribbling through two defenders and the Colombian goalie saved his shot from point-blank range.
Napoli finally got the breakthrough after Koulibaly’s back-heel flick released Dries Mertens down the left with his cross was charged down. Elif Elmas then deflected the attempted clearance for the ball which bounced up towards Osimhen’s direction for the striker to score with a towering header.
Meanwhile, Juventus beat AS Roma 1-0 in a gruelling encounter. Moise Kean scored in the 16th minute, while AS Roma missed a penalty in the first half.
Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed
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