A dominant Dries Mertens and Napoli made short work of Cagliari with Belgian bagging a brace and an assist to mark his 30th birthday.
After scoring the second quickest Serie A goal this season at 116 seconds – teammate Piotr Zielinski’s strike against Inter was 107 seconds – to give the Partenopei the lead, he then got another, his 30th of the season in all competitions, early in the second half.
Mertens was at it again, this time setting Lorenzo Insigne up for the third just after the hour, playing an inch perfect ball through the defence for the Italian who curled into the far corner. While a last minute Diego Farias goal put Cagliari on the scoresheet.
Napoli have now scored 102 goals over the season, four fewer than they managed last year in total, and as a result leapfrog Roma in second place in the Serie A table, for 24 hours at least, as the Giallorossi face AC Milan on Sunday evening.
MATCH FACTS
- For the seventh time in Serie A Mertens has actively participated at least three goals in a single game: today two goals and one assist.
- Napoli have scored 102 goals this season in all competitions, they scored 106 in total in 2015/16.
- Napoli haven’t lost in nine Serie A games: six wins and three draws – only Juventus currently have a longer run (15 matches).
- Lorenzo Insigne has scored 15 goals this season (five of them at home) – his average goals this season are 0.44 per game, 0.17 in the previous 131 appearances in Serie A.
- Napoli possession of 73.7 percent is the third best ever for the Partenopei in a match this season.
- Diego Farias scored his fifth goal in this season, his first away from home.
