Napoli defeated Fiorentina 2-1 at the Artemio Franchi stadium on Wednesday night in Serie A.
Dries Mertens first goal in Italian football was enough to end Fiorentina’s unbeaten home record after a Giuseppe Rossi penalty had cancelled out Jose Callejon’s superb opener, as Christian Maggio and Juan Cuadrado were sent-off.
Rafael Benitez’ Napoli side put in a near perfect away performance in Florence to end the Viola’s unbeaten home record and put themselves within two points of league leaders Roma.
A cautious start from the visitors saw Fiorentina dominate possession during the opening 10 minutes, but despite their pressing and neat passing game barely troubled Pepe Reina in the Napoli goal.
Then on 12 minutes Napoli took the lead with a wonderful move as Goran Pandev instantly controlling a long ball from Reina before finding Gonzalo Higuain on the left, and as he approached the Fiorentina box the Argentinean delivered a wonderful ball to the back post with the outside of his right foot for Callejon to volley past Neto.
The goal did nothing to change the Partenopei approach but with something to defend they swarmed around the Viola midfield with greater intent with midfielder pair Gokhan Inler and Valon Behrami much quicker to close down the home side.
Midway through the half Raul Albiol committed a reckless foul on countryman Joaquin then, as the resulting free-kick was lofted into the box, central defensive partner Federico Fernandez made an equally foolish decision to nudge the rising Stefan Savic from behind to concede a penalty.
Up stepped the inform Rossi to confidently send Reina the wrong way and net his ninth of the season and increase his lead at the top of the Serie A goal scoring charts.
Within a minute the hosts had nearly completed a surprising turnaround as Cuadrado was allowed to stroll towards the Napoli area but his powerful drive struck the post.
Once they had regained their tactical discipline it was the visitors who went ahead once more when out of nothing Mertens played a quick one-two with Higuain and burst into the area to fire left-footed past the keeper.
With a one goal deficit to overturn Vincenzo Montella’s side increased the intensity of their passing as they looked to play their way around the Partenopei, however, despite that pressure the visitors held firm during the initial onslaught and looked dangerous on the break.
As the Viola frustrations grew both Cuadrado and Rossi were booked in quick succession for what looked fairly obvious acts of simulation as they attempted to win a second penalty of the night.
Ironically, shortly after his caution the Italian stayed on his feet and nearly found a second equaliser curling the ball around Reina from 18 yards, however, the Spanish international quickly sprung to his right and tip away for a corner.
With 10 minutes remaining Maggio collected a second booking for an unnecessary foul on Matos, however, Napoli quickly brought on Pablo Armero for Pandev to continued their resolute defensive display and secure a vital three points.
With the game seemingly lost Colombian Cuadrado received a second yellow card for what the referee decided was another dive, but it looked a controversial decision to deny the Viola the chance to equalise once more.
Follow Kevin Pogorzelski on Twitter: @rabbitrabbiton
