Napoli were 3-0 winners over Cagliari at the Stadio San Paolo on the 36th match day of the Serie A season thanks to first half goals from Dries Mertens and Goran Pandev with Blerim Dzemaili rounding it off in the second half.
The hosts had not lost to Cagliari in the last nine meetings and looked the more lively of the two in the opening exchanges. After an intricate passing move, Mertens saw his effort at goal pushed out by Marco Silvestri, which Marek Hamsik pounced on but again the 23 year-old keeper would not be beaten. After ten minutes, the Sardinians appeared to settle with the trademark inhospitable San Paolo atmosphere strangely absent.
Content with possession, Napoli continued to pile on the pressure and after twenty-five minutes Dzemaili had a crack from range, which Silvestri tipped onto the crossbar and out of play. After a sustained period of pressure, Daniele Conti bundled over Pandev in the box resulting in a penalty and a yellow card for the Cagliari captain. Mertens stepped up and coolly slotted it into the bottom corner for his ninth of the season.
With the deadlock broken the tempo increased and Napoli found stepped up a gear. It looked like the Rossoblu would be going into half time a goal down, and after a commendable defensive showing up to that point, Davide Astori’s poor headed clearance landed at Jose Callejon’s feet, who squared it for Pandev making it two for Rafa Benitez’s side.
The Spaniard had named a makeshift line-up following their Coppa Italia triumph, with both Gonzalo Higuain and Lorenzo Insigne notable absentees. At the break, he made further changes by withdrawing Pepe Reina and bringing on Roberto Colombo. It wouldn’t be the last goalkeeper substitution. Pandev received the ball in space and bulldozed his way through the defense, only for Silvestri to halt his run illegally resulting in a penalty and a straight red card for the young goalkeeper.
Agim Ibraimi was sacrificed to bring on Vlada Avramov, and wasn’t in fact needed for Hamsik’s penalty as his shot hit the bar. Aggrieved, Napoli went in search of the third and found it through Dzemaili. A quick counter attack saw Avramov parry it into the Swiss international’s path who thundered it home from close range.
With Fiorentina’s earlier defeat to Sassuolo, Napoli have secured third place and qualified for the Champions League playoffs. For Ivo Pulga’s team, they are already safe for another Serie A season and will be hoping they can keep hold of their star players come June.
Follow Louis Gibberd-Thomas on Twitter: @mercutio156
