Napoli continue march towards Serie A title
MILAN: Napoli continued their march towards a first Serie A title in over three decades with Sunday's 3-0 win over rock-bottom Cremonese which provisionally moved the runaway league leaders 16 points clear. A 33-year wait for the league crown looks closer to ending with each passing week and once again Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen were the key men for Luciano Spalletti's flamboyant team at the Stadio Maradona. Winger wizard Kvaratskhelia set Napoli on their way with a delightful individual effort in the 22nd minute on his 22nd birthday before Osimhen's league-leading 17th goal of the season midway through the second half and an Eljif Elmas strike 11 minutes from the end. Thanks to a sixth straight league win Napoli will be at least 13 points ahead of Inter Milan come Tuesday morning, their closest rivals travelling to crisis club Sampdoria for the final match of this round of fixtures on Monday night. "The city is making sure that we're always on the case, we all want to win," Spalletti told DAZN. "We need to take it one match at a time... we can't think it's already done and start thinking about other things, or think everything's going to look after itself. "We need to take care of everything ourselves." Cremonese meanwhile are still yet to win in their first Serie A season since 1996 and look certain to go straight back down despite another committed performance under recently-appointed coach Davide Ballardini. The away side, who knocked Napoli out of the Italian Cup on the same ground last month, started well but as soon as Kvaratskhelia weaved into the box and drilled home his ninth league goal of his debut Serie A campaign the game was up.
Osimhen was not in his usual fiery form but in the 65th minute the Nigeria striker was in the right place to tap in from practically on the goal line when following a corner Kim Min-Jae nodded the ball over to him.
And substitute Elmas ensured that Napoli's tally of dropped points stayed at an incredible seven, exchanging passes with Giovanni Di Lorenzo before lashing in his sixth goal of the season past Marco Carnesecchi.
Juventus survived a scare in their 1-0 home win over Fiorentina after Gaetano Castrovilli's 89th-minute leveller for the away side was ruled out for an extremely tight offside.
France midfielder Rabiot met Angel Di Maria's exquisite cross with a header which just crossed the line in the 34th minute in Turin, his fourth Serie A goal of the season which moved Juventus up to ninth.
And Castrovilli's superb first-time strike was chalked off following a pitchside VAR check when referee Michael Fabbri ruled Luca Ranieri was interfering with play in the build-up to the goal as his heel strayed offside.
Massimiliano Allegri's side are in mid-table due to the 15-point penalty inflicted last month for transfer offences, 10 points behind Lazio who currently occupy the last European place in sixth.
"We needed a bit of time to adapt (to the punishment), now we need to go after the teams above us one by one," said Allegri.
"We shouldn't forget that we would have been second on 44 points."
Juventus could have sealed victory earlier but Dusan Vlahovic was denied his third goal in as many league matches since returning from injury when his neat finish just before the hour mark was scrubbed off for another extremely tight offside.
Juve are level on 29 points with Monza, whose dream first-ever Serie A season continued with a 1-0 win at Bologna which moved them into 10th and extended their unbeaten league run to eight matches.
Juve, Monza and Bologna are all a point behind Udinese, whose defender Destiny Udogie scored the fastest goal of the Serie A season, 25 seconds into their 2-2 home draw with Sassuolo.
- 最近发表
- 随机阅读
-
- Which is Faster for Gaming, Windows 10 or Windows 11?
- 第八届中国·雅安动物与自然国际电影周昨开幕
- 筑牢安全防线 抓实地灾防治
- 严厉打击占道经营、噪音扰民等行为
- Revolutionary grid
- 细化51项重点任务 明确行业分工和时间进度
- @广东街坊,1月20
- 广东省方志馆获赠一批陶艺、书法作品
- I used the Pixel 9 Pro XL in the shower — does the screen work when wet as claimed?
- 黄葛树“撑破”地面 “争抢”人行道
- 广东省首届最美非遗人物公布!新会陈皮炮制技艺省级非遗传承人陈柏忠入选
- 省政协委员唐琳:“来广东过大年”,以粤式年味品牌扩大文化旅游消费丨委员通道
- Abrar Ahmed returns as Pakistan names squad for second Test against Bangladesh
- 市特检所集中检验茶厂锅炉
- 银行卡余额不翼而飞 网银安全不容忽视
- 兴农评丨南北“走亲戚”,是国内大循环最生动的注脚
- Expanded police surveillance will get us “broken windows” on steroids.
- 延期至2月23日!“振兴乡村 不负青春”首届摄影、短视频大赛@你来赛
- “绿美广东从我做起”!暨南大学环境与气候学院院长陈达为绿美广东代言
- 本土微电影《旧照片》开拍 献礼建军90周年
- 搜索
-
- 友情链接
-