Napoli continue Champions League charge at Spezia

Napoli ran riot over Spezia at the Stadio Alberto Picco on Saturday afternoon, continuing their charge towards the Champions League with a comprehensive 4-1 win.

Gennaro Gattuso will be thanking scorers Piotr Zielinski, Victor Osimhen and Hirving Lozano for, slightly, lifting the pressure on his shoulders. Roberto Piccoli scored a consolation for the hosts.

The Partenopei started the game with immense pressure on the hosts. That forced a mistake as Osimhen recovered the ball at the edge of the box, cut inside, though his shot was just was wide of Ivan Provedel’s post. That was quickly followed by an overlapping run from Giovanni Di Lorenzo who precisely found the near post run of Zielinski for the midfielder to open the scoring in the 15th minute.

The scorer became the provider less than ten minutes later, as the Pole sent Osimhen through on goal. The striker’s pace got him close enough to the goal as he looked up and found the gap to make it two.

Osimhen got another just before half time, Lorenzo Insigne took a free-kick and deliciously found the Nigerian. The No.9 slipped away from the crowd while somehow managing to stay onside, controlled the ball on his chest with all the time and space in the world to stick it into the roof of the net.

The second half started with a comfortable Napoli trying to seal the three points. Only for substitute Piccoli to tighten the margin as he reacted quickly to capitalise on a rebound from point-blank range just after the hour mark.

With ten minutes left, Osimhen was found behind the defence and teed up Lozano to make it four and confirm the victory.

The Partenopei now temporarily sit in second place on 70 points. Though Atalanta, Juventus and AC Milan are all just one point behind. La Dea face relegated Parma on Sunday before Juventus host Milan in Turin.