Napoli’s fall down the Serie A table shows no signs of slowing down as they were second best all night in a 2-0 defeat to Fiorentina on Saturday.
The Partenopei entered the match having lost three of their last four league matches, and they did next to nothing to stop that slide as strikes from Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic were enough to give the Viola back-to-back wins in Serie A for the first time since October.
It means Fiorentina now sit level on 24 points with Napoli, who seemingly have no answers for their issues, which were on full display in front of a frustrated crowd at the Stadio San Paolo.
Although Fiorentina eventually opened the scoring, it should have happened inside the opening 10 minutes. A Pol Lirola cross found its way past everyone, but Gaetano Castrovilli wasn’t ready for it and the ball bounced off his shin and wide of the mark from six yards out.
Arkadiusz Milik volleyed a Jose Callejon ball that forced Bartlomiej Dragowski into a tidy save, but it was the Viola who netted first in the 26th minute.
Some tidy build-up play led to Marco Benassi knocking a Castrovilli cross back for Chiesa, who controlled the ball before toe-poking it past David Ospina.
Napoli tried to respond via Piotr Zielinski, who fired a stinging effort just wide of the mark, while Ospina did well to keep a Castrovilli header from sneaking under the bar.
The home fans jeered Napoli as they headed into the tunnel for the break, and it seemed to press the side into action after the restart, though it was anything but sustained.
Lorenzo Insigne got away from his markers and fired a dangerous shot on goal, only for his effort to clip the outside of the near post.
The Partenopei’s response died there, and it should have been 2-0 for the away side soon after.
Chiesa and Castrovilli worked a lovely give and go that sent the former in on Ospina. However when a goal looked all but certain, the Colombian got down to expertly deny the Italian.
Napoli continued to look toothless and disjointed, and they paid for it heavily in the 74th minute when the Viola doubled their advantage.
GOAL | ??
Vlahovic ?
75'??Perfect curler by Dusan to double our lead!
Napoli ? Fiorentina 0?-2?#ForzaViola ? #NapoliFiorentina pic.twitter.com/cmanJ05oaM
— ACF Fiorentina English (@ACFFiorentinaEN) January 18, 2020
Vlahovic, who came on for Patrick Cutrone, collected a cross-field pass on the right side of the field, and after cutting in, he unleashed a left-footed strike that rippled the far top corner.
There was no response from Napoli after that, and it’s no surprise they left the field to deafening jeers from the home crowd when the final whistle was mercifully blown.
