Napoli defeated Cesena 4-1 at the Stadio Dino Manuzzi in the Serie A on Tuesday evening.
It was Jose Callejon who opened the scoring for the away side following which Gonzalo Higuain netted his first goal of the game. In the second half, home side centre back Daniele Capelli scored an own goal and then Higuain notched a brace while Cesena, for their never-give-up attitude, earned a consolation goal through Franco Brienza.
Napoli took the game to the home side right from the very onset and it was their centre forward Gonzalo Higuain who had the first chance of the game in the second minute, when his right footed shot was blocked.
Four minutes later, Jonathan De Guzman scuffed his shot and Marek Hamsik’s right foot effort from outside the box missed the target. However, Cesena soon started to exert their authority over the game and on 15 minutes, Franco Brienza had his headed effort saved by goalkeeper Rafael Cabral.
It was midfielder Luca Valzania’s turn next, as he connected the ball beautifully on half volley just to send it over the goal post. The pressure on the Partenopei slowly began ascending as centre forward Hugo Almeida missed a glorious opportunity from a header.
That said, it was the visitors who silenced the home fans on 29 minutes, as winger Jose Callejon netted with his right foot from inside the box following some sloppy clearance work by Cesena.
And on 40 minutes, Rafael Benitez’s side doubled their lead, as Hamsik picked out Higuain with a delightful defence splitting pass and the Argentinean rounded off the goalkeeper to score the goal. A few minutes later, the Slovakian tried an audacious chip from outside the box that went pretty wayward to signal the end of the half.
Following the interval, the Partenopei goalkeeper Rafael yet again made a vital block to prevent a cross from reaching Almeida. Then Brienza’s left footed curling effort took a deflection only to sail slightly off target at the far post.
With the home side committing bodies forward, Napoli hit them on the counter attack. On the 49th minute, Higuain broke free but fired a weak shot straight at the Cesena goalkeeper.
To make things much worse for Cesena, centre back Daniele Capelli scored an own goal as he deflected Hamsik’s shot into the back of his own net to hand the visitors their third goal of the night.
And soon the former Real Madrid star Higuain celebrated his brace, with a neat and precise finish from inside the penalty box after latching onto a pass from substitute Dries Mertens.
However, Cesena were able to pull one back in what appeared to be a consolation goal for the players as well as the fans as Brienza blasted a low drive directly from a Ze Eduardo corner into the bottom left corner.
The game soon entered a stagnant period where both sides took their foot of the pedal and the result meant that Napoli are in fourth place in the Serie A table, tied on points with third place Lazio, who have a superior goal difference.
