Serie Week 2: Napoli wallops Genoa, Inter, Milan, and Lazio, pick up wins

 

Napoli 6-0 Genoa

Napoli has made it two wins from two games in the Serie A after mauling Genoa 6-0 in week two of the Italian top-flight action.

In the game that was delayed for three hours after Genoa goalkeeper Mattia Perin tested positive for COVID on Saturday, Chucky Lozano bagged a brace, while Zielinski, Dries Mertens, Elmas, and Politano registered their names on the scoring sheet.

Lozano broke the deadlock after making a run to the far post where he met the floated Dries Mertens cross. The Mexican beat Marchetti at the second attempt to score the opening goal.

Napoli suffered a huge blow after Lorenzo Insigne pulled up a thigh injury, making him a major doubt for Juventus clash next week.

The hosts doubled their lead through Piotr Zielinski, who started the move himself. Eljif Elmas pulled back to Osimhen, who back-heeled a pass back to Zielinski to finish it.

Lukas Lerager gifted a pass Zielinski, and he made no mistake by laying a pass for Mertens to drill home Napoli’s third from the edge of the area.

Genoa made another error through Goran Pandev, who passed straight to Mertens. The Belgian winger got the pass and sent Lozano clear, who converted the chance for his brace.

Napoli made it five cutting inside with his right foot and went past Edoardo Goldaniga.

Matteo Politano scored the sixth after coming on from the bench when he broke into the box down the right and curled the ball into the far corner.

Cagliari 0 – 2 Lazio

Lazio began their Serie A season on a winning note with a 2-0 victory over Cagliari.

Simone Inzaghi’s men got the maximum points through the goals of Manuel Lazzari and Ciro Immobile against a wasteful Cagliari.

Lazio broke the deadlock in the fourth minute when Adam Marusic ran down away to the left and rolled a pass across the face of goal for Manuel Lazzari to tap.

After Cagliari wasted so many scoring chances, Lazio eventually punished them with the second. Marusic had a hand in this one as well after gathering from the centre. He sprinted down the left and pulled it back for Immobile to open his season’s account.

Inter Milan 4-3 Fiorentina

Inter had to score two goals in two minutes to defeat impressive Fiorentina 4-3 in their Serie A opener at the San Siro.

Inter started on the backfoot as their leaky defence allowed Giacomo Bonaventura and Christian Kouame to complete a double give-and-go on the edge of the six-yard box, beating the offside trap for the opening goal.

Inter restored parity as they caught Fiorentina on the counter-attack and Lautaro Martinez converted the chance, curling in from the edge of the area.

Inter went into the lead in the second half as Martinez wrestled away from Amrabat. The Argentine got his shot away from a tricky angle, and Federico Ceccherini pushed the ball into his net.

Fiorentina later equalised with a well-worked counter-attack. Castrovilli started the move and finished it as well. He scored by meeting the Ribery slide-rule pass.

The visitors later restored their lead again from Federico Chiesa, who received a long pass from Ribery. The forward did nothing more than to lob the ball past on-rushing Handanovic.

Inter restored parity again as Raja Nainggolan’s ball found Hakimi, who released a pass for Romelu Lukaku to tap in for 3-3.

Inter win finally get the maximum points from Danilo D’Ambrosio’s header. Alexis Sanchez, who came as a substitute swung cross on a short corner and it landed on the head of D’Ambrosio to make it 4-3.

Crotone 0-2 Milan

AC Milan made it two wins from two wins in this season’s Serie A with goals from Franck Kessie and Brahim Diaz.

The win extends the unbeaten run in the Serie A for the Rossoneri to 14 games.

The visitors broke the deadlock during the added time off in the first half. After chesting down a long ball from the midfield, Rebic ran into the box and was felled by Luca Marrone. Franck Kessie was then given the responsibility of converting the spot-kick, and he made no mistake.

Eduardo Henrique got caught in possession by Calhanoglu, and the midfielder punished him for that. Brahim Diaz pounced on the loose ball, and it deflected in for his first Serie A goal.

The last match saw Juventus draw 2-2 with AS Roma.

 

Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed