Chievo beat Napoli 1-0 at the Stadio San Paolo on Sunday afternoon in Serie A.
The home side dominated the game but Francesco Bardi was magnificent in goal for the visitors and saved a Gonzalo Higuain penalty before a second half Maxi Lopez goal secured the win for the Flying Donkeys.
The Partenopei started with intent as Higuain went through in the sixth minute but couldn’t get a chipped pass fully under control and Francesco Bardi forced the Argentine striker out wide, allowing the visitors got back in numbers to cut out a dangerous looking cross.
Napoli’s positive start continued as Lorenzo Insigne played a defence-splitting pass to Higuain from deep in the 13th minute but the Argentine couldn’t beat Bardi with his header.
Hamsik tested the goalkeeper from a tight angle in the 16th minute after Insigne fed the Slovakian down the left side of the area but Bardi did well to get down and save.
Chievo put the ball in the net in the 19th minute but the goal was clearly offside and ruled out accordingly.
Napoli’s pressure resulted in the awarding of a penalty in the 26th minute as Higuain went down over the outstretched leg of Bostjan Cesar but his spot kick was excellently saved by Bardi who dived full stretch to his right and the striker sportingly congratulated his opponent.
The Gialloblu came extremely close to taking the lead against the run of play when Maxi Lopez’s flying volley beat Rafael Cabral only to hit the bar and Lopez was unable to hit the target with his follow-up effort.
Insigne almost gave his side the lead in style after getting on the end of a floated ball from Hamsik and poking the ball at goal on the volley but Ceo goalkeeper’s impressive form continued and he got down to save again.
The Azzurri looked dangerous just before half-time but Bardi saved from Higuain again and punched the subsequent corner away.
Napoli started the second half on the front foot and Juan Zuniga forced a good save from Bardi with a long shot.
In the 49th minute Maxi Lopez scored a shock goal on the counterattack after skipping past a static Raul Albiol and opening his body up to find the far post and punish the profligate Partenopei.
Napoli continued to control possession as they searched for an equaliser but were not able to test Bardi as often as they did in the first-half and they looked tired.
Hamsik hit a low, curling effort that looked destined for the net in the 65th minute but Bardi got down brilliantly to claw it out for a corner that Chievo defended scrappily but effectively.
With 15 minutes left, Chievo started to see more of the ball and looked the more likely to score and only an odd bounce of the ball prevented Ruben Botta from going clean through.
The Azzurri kept the ball in the Chievo half with five minutes to go but were unable to create any chances as the Flying Donkeys got back and defended in numbers.
Hamsik had a half-chance when he fired a shot from the edge of the area but it went narrowly over.
The home side almost got a last minute equaliser but again Bardi was there to save from Duvan Zapata’s header and Chievo hung on for the second win in their history at the San Paolo.
