Napoli kill the lowest team and fly towards the ‘scudetto’

Napoli cut another day in their race towards the third ‘scudetto’ in their history, the first since 1990. Only Luciano Spalletti’s team could lose the title as they added 59 out of 66 possible points and temporarily extended their lead to 16 as they await second-placed Inter to complete the round of 22 tomorrow when they visit Sampdoria.

This time, Naples did not surprise Cremonese (3-0) after less than a month ago, on January 17, the prominent bottom team (he has not won a league game) also removed him from Diego Maradona stadium in the round of 16 of the Coppa Italia on penalties (2-2 and 4-5).

no reservations

Now Spalletti spared no one and again the Kvaratskhelia-Osimhen tandem gave him, with a goal in each head, another victory against an opponent who, despite his desperate position in the table, stood at all times and did not close behind.

The dedication of their players and the inspired Marco Carnesecchi could not avoid a more than expected defeat but they only succumbed to the Neapolitan roller halfway through the second half.

Carnesecchi endured the leader’s torrid start to his stoppage. Amazingly, full-backs Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Mario Rui had the first three chances before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, on his 22nd birthday, opened the scoring in the 20th minute with his ninth league goal.

gg.didomi.doWhenConsent(!window.didomiBypass, ‘c:twitterwi-wUmBnnKy’, function () {
var x = document.createElement(‘script’);
x.setAttribute(“type”,”text/javascript”);
x.setAttribute(“src”, “//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”);
x.setAttribute(“charset”, “utf-8”);
$(“.twitter-tweet”).closest( “span” ).append(x);
});

The Georgian picked up a dead ball on the end line, ran into the middle, cut through a defender in the box and crossed the net. An action in which this great revelation of Naples showed full confidence in his qualities.

Kvaratskhelia himself and Osimhen, with headers over the crossbar, managed to extend the lead before the break. In the second half, Napoli did not weaken but continued to miss chances.

Osimhen was compiled as the leading scorer

It was an hour before the game was sentenced because the ‘azzurri’ had control of the situation at all times, although the Cremonese offered more resistance than expected and fell with dignity.

2-0 came from a corner. Di Lorenzo heads to the near post, centre-back Kim plays physically in the second to leave the ball only for Osimhen to push it over the same line (64′). The Nigerian established himself as the ‘capocannoniere’ in Serie A with his 17th goal.

Elmas made it 3-0

The icing on the cake was provided by Eljif Elmas, who shortly after entering the field received a pass from the remaining Di Lorenzo and finished with a cross shot (78′).

Napoli have overcome another hurdle and will now rest until Friday, when they visit Sassuolo, before facing a Champions League round of 16 tie against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Naples

30

CREMONESE

Naples: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Kim Min-Jae, Mario Rui (Elmas, 71′); Zambo Anguissa, Lobotka (Demme, 86′), Zielinski (Olivera, 71′); Hirving Lozano (Raspadori, 83′), Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia (Ndombélé, 83′)
The
Cremonese: Carnesecchi; Ferrari (Valeri, 46′), Chiriches, Vásquez (Ghiglione, 68′); Sernicola, Pickel (Castagnetti, 61′), Meïté (Acella, 76′), Benassi, Aiwu; Afena-Gyan, Tsadjout (Ciofani, 60′)
The
Goals: 1-0 Kvaratskhelia (21′), 2-0 Osimhen (65′), 3-0 Elmas (79′)

Referee: Luca Massimi. Yellow cards to Vásquez (13′), Aiwu (74′)

Spectators: 50,000 at Diego Armando Maradona

see the match sheet