Napoli emerged 3-0 victors against Palermo at the San Paolo on Sunday afternoon.
Christian Maggio broke the deadlock before Gokhan Inler and Lorenzo Insigne followed up with goals of their own.
The first chance of the game came from the visitors, and a former Azzurri player at that. Andrea Dossena received from Franco Brienza and had a hit, but the attempt was saved by Morgan De Sanctis.
An even better opportunity just after 25 minutes. Anselmo laid the ball off for Michel Morganella, but he cut his shot just wide of the far post.
Despite more quality chances with less possession, it was Napoli who scored just shy of the half-hour mark. After some lovely footwork by Marek Hamsik on the left flank, he crossed the ball towards Maggio who made no mistake on the close range header for the 1-0 tally.
A few moments later, the lead doubled. Some lazy defending by the Rosanero opened a shooting lane for Inler, executing a long range effort for the 2-0 marker.
Edinson Cavani almost made it an afternoon to forget for the visitors, nailing a free kick just wide of Samir Ujkani’s left post just before the half.
Two assists wasn’t enough for Hamsik, he flashed a shot from distance that grazed Ujkani’s left post just seconds after the restart.
Palermo manager Gian Piero Gasperini’s substitution almost paid off on 52 minutes. Fabrizio Miccoli, on for Igor Budan, appeared to have the entire right side of the net open, but his effort off of a rebound was blocked.
It was very close to a third on the ensuing Partenopei attack. Hamsik’s attempt was blocked, creating a ton of commotion in the penalty area, the ball bounced towards the right post with Maggio lurking, but the Italian international couldn’t get his foot to it in time for the tap-in.
A similar event occured in the 70th minute when Juan Carlos Zuniga had his shot deflected and Cavani slid in to lead it into the net, but was inches short of doing that.
Insigne, who replaced Goran Pandev, put the match to sleep on 72 minutes. Inler kept the ball in play along the byline, crossed it in low towards Insigne, who blasted it into the top corner near the penalty spot to make it 3-0.
Miccoli tried to salvage something for the Rosanero, he tried for something from outside the box, but was saved in the centre of the goal after a Massimo Donati assist.
Cavani could’ve made it four in added time after being played in alone on goal, but his chip went wide of the net.
