Napoli beat Hellas Verona 3-0 in the Stadio San Paolo on Wednesday evening, to reach the Coppa Italia quarter-final.
The Partenopei were on fire in the first-half and opened the scoring in the third minute through Omar El Kaddouri. Just 10 minutes later Dries Mertens added a second for Maurizio Sarri’s side.
In the second-half Napoli continued to dominate and a minute after Marek Hamsik missed a penalty, they added a third through Jose Callejon in the 75th minute.
The Neapolitans quickly asserted their dominance in the match. Gonzalo Higuain was played in behind a slack Mastini defence before sliding a pass back to El Kaddouri, who put away a simple tap-in.
Napoli were looking unstoppable and they doubled their lead 10 minutes later.
Mertens picked up the ball halfway into Hellas’s half before speeding forward. The Belgian then slalomed past Vangelis Moras and fired in through the legs of Ferdinando Coppola.
Luigi Delneri’s team were struggling to keep Napoli at bay and Higuain should have added a third soon after. Mertens delightful through ball found the Argentine forward in acres of space.
The in-form forward was one-on-one with the keeper, but the usually fantastic finisher chipped his effort straight into the hands of Coppola.
In the 41st minute Hellas Verona finally showed some life. Luca Checchin received the ball on the edge of the box before trying to chip Pepe Reina, who was saved his blushes by the crossbar.
Chances were few and far between in the second-half but in the 60th minute Higuain almost scored. Following a rehearsed corner, the Argentine burst away from his marker before stinging the palms of Coppola.
In the 73rd minute Napoli were awarded a penalty. Mertens skipped past a couple of players and as he reached the byline, the Belgian was hacked down by Mohamed Fares.
However, substitute Marek Hamsik smacked his penalty against the post. Yet just a minute later the Partenopei added a third.
El Kaddouri beat his full-back on the right wing before he fired in a low cross for Callejon to score a tap-in. Napoli saw out the win in comfortable style to reach the Coppa Italia quarter-final.
