Napoli succumbed to a good Fiorentina

Vincenzo Italiano’s Fiorentina, led by Arthur Melo on the field, confirmed at the Stadio Diego Maradona the expectations sparked by his good start to the season and defeated champions Naples in a quick match (1-3). A victory that put the Viola in fourth place, tied with Juventus, and relegated European rivals Real Madrid to fifth place, who also beat them in the Champions League on Tuesday (2-3).

Although Neapolitan captain Giovanni Di Lorenso had the first good chance of the game with a shot that almost went wide, it didn’t take long for Fiorentina to show Napoli that they were ready to beat them with their characteristic possession and offensive game. Almost seven minutes of play had passed when a ball ended through the thigh Lucas Martínez Quarta fell to Josip Brekalo and the Croatian, despite leaning to the left, put his shot between Alex Meret’s legs.

La Fiore imposed a pace that suited them at all times with long possessions and kept Napoli out of their area on numerous occasions. But the champion’s momentum was non-negotiable and he tried to counter the oncoming dominance with courage in a battle of impressive physical waste.

Osimhen again received a penalty and tied

like that Stanislav Lobotka He lavished a centered howitzer from outside the area that was repelled by Pietro Terracciano (27′). Fiorentina went about their business but in stoppage time in a first half where they were on the verge of perfection, they made their only mistake. Fabiano Parisi tried to pass a centered ball to his goalkeeper with his chest, but he did so with little force and Victor Osimhen intercepted him, Terracciano ran over him on his way out.

The Nigerian has not launched one since he failed against Bologna (0-0) and caused controversy in Naples for making fun of him on Tik Tok, but This time he decided to throw it away and changed.

Ikoné and Osimhen post 2-1

This psychological goal did not affect Fiorentina, who maintained their very high level of play in the second half. The post prevented Jonathan Ikoné from making it 1-2 with a shot at mid-height after receiving space from M’bala Nzola (50′).

Napoli lacks attacking power. Only Khvicha Kvaratskhelia tried and, above all, Osimhen with his unwavering character, which led him to win the ball from behind the center Nikola Milenkovic and stand in front Terraccianowho beat him one on one (58′).

Bonaventura and Nico González sentence

But Fiorentina continued to set the pace and pushed forward again Giacomo Bonaventure, who hit the rebound in the area and, alone, put the ball in the net (62′). Naples desperately looked for a draw but found themselves 1-3 up in stoppage time with a counter attack that ended. Nicolas Gonzalez in delight after a perfect shipment from Parisi.

Napoli, who already lost at home to Lazio (1-2), suffered their second defeat in Serie A and are seven points behind leaders Milan. The specter of the crisis is once again circling Rudi Garcia.

Naples

13

fiorentina

Naples: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Ostigard, Natan, Olivera; Zambo Anguissa (Raspadori, m.32), Lobotka (Gaetano, m.77), Zielinski (Lindstrom, m.77); Politano (Cayuda, m.57), Kvaratskhelia and Osimhen (Simeone, m.77).

Fiorentina: Terracciano; Kayode (Ranieri, m.83), Milenkovic, Martínez-Quarta, Parisi; Arthur (Infantino, m.83), Duncan (Mandragora, m.83); Ikoné (Comuzzo, m.89), Bonaventura, Brekalo (Nico González, m.73); Nzola.

Goals: 0-1, m.7: Brekalo; 1-1, m.50+: Osimhen (p); 1-2, m.63: Bonaventura; 1-3, m.94: Nico González

Referee: F. La Penna. He advised Simeone (m.91) and Ctrabajo (m.95), on behalf of Naples; and Terracciano (m.49+), Martínez-Quarta (m.69) and Bonaventura (m.70), from Fiorentina.

Incidents: The match corresponding to the eighth day of Serie A was played at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Naples.

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