January 09, (THEWILL) – An acrobatic Andrea Petagna effort secured Napoli a 1-0 win against Sampdoria on Sunday to keep Luciano Spalletti’s side in the chase for the Serie A title and halt their three-match losing run at home.
After 43 minutes, the Italian striker guided a volley into the top corner as the hosts finally made their pressure pay after earlier losing captain Lorenzo Insigne to injury.
It was a much-needed triumph for the Neapolitans, who had had one win in their previous six league games and had suffered three consecutive league defeats at home.
With 43 points, Napoli is in third place, five points behind leaders AC Milan, while Samp is in 15th place with 20 points.
After a VAR review, a headed goal by Juan Jesus was disallowed for offside, and Emil Audero was called into action to stop an Amir Rrahmani effort and a Faouzi Ghoulam free kick before Petagna’s opener.
As mentioned, Insigne, a day after the announcement of his love to Toronto FC, limped off after half an hour after pulling up from a sprint with an apparent groyne problem.
THEWILL reported on Saturday that Insigne had agreed to join Toronto FC at the end of the season in a move that will make him the most expensive player in Major League Soccer.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.