BEVERLY HILLS, April 03, (THEWILL) – Serie A side Napoli turned what came across as a routine victory an arduous task as their carelessness in defense made life far more difficult than it needed to be for themselves. Yet, Gennaro Gattuso’s side survived to earn the three points they needed in a dramatic 4-3 win over Crotone, who are battling relegation.
It was not expected to be as tough for the home team who are fourth on the standings even with Kalidou Koulibaly suspended and David Ospina, Diego Demme and Faouzi Ghoulam all injured. They still boasted superior fire power in Dries Mertens, Victor Osimhen and Lorenzo Insigne, all of whom proved their worth on the day.
While Mertens was assigned a new role for rested Piotr Zielinski on the side of the hosts, coach Dress Cosmi made some changes to the Crotone squad with Arkadiusz Reca and the banned Jacopo Petriccione missing the trip entirely. They were expecting to push for victory regardless of the gap in quality between them and their hosts based on their increasingly desperate need to avoid relegation.
Yet, it was Napoli that broke the deadlock, which was a fair consolation for the pressure with which they began the match. Giovanni Di Lorenzo burst down the right and pulled back for Insigne to register Napoli’s first through deflected strike that the keeper, Alex Cordaz, could do nothing about.
Osimhen, straight from his inspired showing for Nigeria during the international break doubled their lead almost immediately, after Insigne’s spectacular volleyed assist back across the face of goal, found the striker well-placed for the easiest of tap-ins.
At this point, the easier task for the I Partenopei would have been to defend their lead stoutly while giving their well-performing attack the opportunity to put the game to bed but they failed in that responsibility. Rather, comical defending led to losing the ball inside their own penalty area. A grateful Ahmad Benali crossed to Nwankwo, who made no mistake to half the deficit.
It fell on Mertens to restore the two-goal cushion through a magnificent free kick from the edge of the box into the near top corner. It could have been 4-1 before half-time, but Cordaz made a remarkable save to deny Osimhen while Mertens could only hit the woodwork on the follow-through.
Instead, it was Crotone who scored next at the restart from a corner kick that was not effectively dealt with. It allowed Simy his brace as the Nigerian got in front of Kostas Manolas to turn in from 10 yards and keep Crotone’s fighting chance alive for the second period.
The carelessness of the hosts at the back was on show again just before the hour mark with Crotone exploiting that vulnerability to level matters. Junior Messias caught Nikola Maksimovic in possession and powered a left-footed shot from the right side of the goal to the centre of the net for a tight end to the encounter at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
Fortunately for Gattuso’s side, Di Lorenzo, who had already provided an assist, still had a goal left in him which he provided through a solo effort. Cutting inside from the right, he delivered a left-foot daisy-cutter into the far bottom corner to give Napoli the victory.
Napoli kept pushing to the end, with Insigne, Mertens and Hirving Lozano off target, but held on for the 4-3 win to maintain their top four drive. Osimhen’s goal was key but Sony’s brace was insufficient and they are staring relegation in the face now.
About the Author
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.
