Napoli defeated Catania 2-1 at the Stadio San Paolo in Serie A action on Saturday evening.
Jose Callejon and Marek Hamsik scored for the Partenopei, Lucas Castro struck for the visiting Rossazzurri as they lose their sixth match of the season.
Catania was the first team to attack with purpose. Panagiotis Tachtsidis dashed forward and managed to shoot, but it was blocked, then Cristiano Biraghi was offside as the Greek midfielder tried a through ball afterwards.
Napoli eventually got involved after 10 minutes, with Gonzalo Higuain’s header just missing the far post off of a Pablo Armero cross.
Then the opening goal arrived shortly thereafter. Blerim Dzemaili laid off a pass for Callejon, who smashed the ball into the top left corner to make it 1-0 for the hosts.
Higuain came close to getting on the score sheet but was stopped by Mariano Andujar down low.
Five minutes later, the Partenopei doubled their advantage. Hamsik executed a similar strike to Callejon’s, off a Lorenzo Insigne assist, into the upper left portion of the net for the second goal of the match.
Castro got cut that lead in half quickly for the Rossazzurri, capitalizing on some poor Napoli defending to get in behind the back line and finish Biraghi’s cross.
Maxi Lopez mustered an opportunity after the restart, but after that, it was completely Azzurri dominated. Higuain was stopped twice, as were Hamsik and Federico Fernandez. Andujar faced seven shots after 20 minutes in the second half.
The Argentine forward then had further attempts but much like the rest of them, they did not bulge in the back of the net.
Thankfully for the fans, it did not end up costing their side as they walked off the pitch as 2-1 victors.
