After scoring only one goal in his late eight appearances in all competitions, Gonzalo Higuain emphatically re-discovered his form in front of goal by netting first Napoli hat-trick in Sunday’s 4-2 win against ten-man Lazio.
In his pre-match press conference, Rafa Benitez revealed that he had been disappointed with the Argentina international’s recent form and that he was expecting more from the forward.
However Higuain still remained in the starting eleven for the visit of Lazio to the San Paolo, but the Spanish tactician decided to rest Jose Callejon and Marek Hamsik. Meanwhile, Valon Behrami and Goran Pandev were both given starts against their former club.
And the decision to start Pipita paid off handsomely for Benitez as he hit a second-half treble 29 years after Diego Maradona scored his first Napoli hat-trick against the same opponents when the Partenopei defeated Lazio 4-0 on 24 February 1985.
Both sides contributed to a highly entertaining encounter, and it was the visitors who took the lead after 21 minutes when Senad Lulic spun away from Raul Albiol and smashed his angled shot across Pepe Reina inside the far post.
Napoli drew level four minutes before half-time through a special individual goal by Dries Mertens. The Belgium international drifted inside Abdoulaye Konko and unleashed a brilliant right foot shot into the top corner of the net from outside the box.
But it was three minutes into the second-half when the game turned in the favour of the Vesuviani when Lorik Cana received a second yellow card for a trip on Mertens inside the penalty box. The Albania captain had previously been booked early in the first-half when he swept away the legs of Higuain with Napoli on the counter-attack. Pipita confidently put the penalty into the left corner out of the reach of Etrit Berisha, who had guessed the right way.
Following Cana’s red card, Napoli sat back and looked to transition from defence to attack as early as possible with direct vertical passes in behind the Lazio defence. With the away side pushing higher up the pitch hoping to force the Partenopei into an individual error, the space left in behind the Biancocelesti three-man defence was exploited by Lorenzo Insigne when he played a ball over the top for Higuain to score his second goal of the game.
Higuain headed the stand-in captain’s high ball past substitute Diego Novaretti, then took a touch to bring the ball down on his left foot before firing the ball into the far corner with an emphatic right foot shot.
Despite having a player less, Lazio managed to get back into the game when Ogenyi Onazi ran through the centre of the Azzurri defence and forced the ball over the line to set up an uncomfortable finish for the home fans.
But with the Biancocelesti continuing to leave gaps in defence as they pushed for an equaliser, Higuain completed his hat-trick in the fourth minute of added time in a similar fashion to his second goal. Novaretti was again beaten to a high ball by Pipita, and this time the forward finished the move off with a chip over Berisha to score his 17th Serie A goal of the season.
Speaking after the match, Higuain backed downplayed the importance of scoring his hat-track in Italian football after his recent drought.
“The truth is that this was an important game for us. I played like I always do, it’s just that the ball fell for me this time,” the 26-year-old told the Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I’m happy for myself and my team-mates. It’s a victory that has regenerated us after the Parma game.”
Next for Napoli is a trip to Udinese on Saturday afternoon. The Partenopei will be without Mertens, who will be suspended after reaching the yellow card limit against Lazio.
