Napoli produced a stellar comeback victory over visitors Sampdoria at the Stadio San Paolo on Sunday night that finished 4-2.
An opening own goal from Raul Albiol was quickly cancelled by a brace from Gonzalo Higuain and goals from Manolo Gabbiadini and Lorenzo Insigne to further cement Napoli’s position in the top spots of the Serie A standings.
The high-flying sides showed their grit and determination right off the starting whistle and did not hesitate to commit hard tackles. In just four minutes, Napoli received the first yellow card of the match after Miguel Britos landed a late tackle on Eder as the Brazilian-born Italian made a scintillating run up the right wing.
Napoli made a quick response to their visitors, as Higuain created space just outside the penalty area to lash out a strike on Emiliano Viviano, but the keeper confidently parried away. Only moments later, the Partenopei looked to be on the front foot once again as Higuain was sent through on goal to round Viviano, but the Blucerchiati defence was excellent in their offside trap in the opening stages.
A positive start from Sinisa Mihajlovic’s squad was confirmed when Samp took the lead after only 12 minutes of action. Eder once again showed brilliant pace in the attacking zone to break into the box and send in a quick grounded cross, which inevitably deflected off Raul Albiol for an unlucky own goal.
However, the Azzurri soon saw the tides turn in their favour under more bizarre circumstances. The flurry of chances impressively stopped from Viviano throughout the first 30 minutes were immediately forgotten after a weakly struck shot by Gabbiadini trickled through the keepers hands and legs to gift Napoli the equaliser in the 31st minute.
The howler appeared costly to Sampdoria’s mentality, as the Azzurri were on the scoreboard once again just two minutes later after Higuain combined with Gabbiadini’s slick back heel pass to escape into the box and easily slot home his 14th goal in Serie A.
Samp were dealt another massive blow after Eder collided legs with Britos and was substituted out of the match just before the half-time break due to concerns with his knee.
After entering the pitch for the restart, Sampdoria were bewildered once again as they conceded a goal in a matter of minutes. A lackadaisical pass from Lorenzo De Silvestri was intercepted by Insigne, and the 23-year-old captain made a rapid run straight towards goal to fire a powerful curling effort well out of reach for Viviano and gain a two-goal lead.
Unfortunately the blunders continued for Sampdoria, as De Silvestri was at the roots of another Napoli goal in the 80th minute when he swept substitute Marek Hamsik’s legs from inside the box to force a penalty kick that was duly converted by Higuain.
Sampdoria were unable to muster a shot on target until the 88th minute, when substitute Luis Muriel unleashed a stunning one-timer into the top left corner of Mariano Andujar’s net, but it was too little too late for the visitors.
