You can’t always win well. Indeed, sometimes it is precisely the dirtiest successes that weigh the most. He certainly won’t be satisfied with the performance Antonio Conteespecially in the first half of his Naples to Empoli. But of the result, yes: the Azzurri from Campania won at the home of the Azzurri from Tuscany thanks to a goal from a penalty kick by Kvaratskhelia. This was enough for Napoli to take home the three points and obtain their third victory in a row, the sixth out of eight league games, and consolidate the top of the table.
The Neapolitan team certainly doesn’t shine, starting with Lukaku and arriving at Kvaratskhelia himself, so much so that the best on the pitch is a defender, Good morning. On the other hand, D’Aversa can applaud his team’s performance because there isn’t a single that leaves something to be desired in the match of Castellani. Sometimes bad luck also comes into play, an imponderable factor in football as in life. And, according to the Tuscan management, a little more was added: “a penalty that isn’t there, or that I don’t understand”, as sporting director Roberto Gemmi says after the match.
This is Conte’s analysis in the press conference: “What certainly satisfies me is having seen a reaction in the second half, the first was very negative. I changed something from a tactical point of view from the point of view of possession. I think that brought some fruit, because we saw another match. In the first half we were spectators, I didn’t see what we had prepared and I saw a lot of nervousness. This is a difficult pitch, I don’t know if it was due to defending the first position, but it makes me smile when I think about last year or how we started. We must not be nervous, otherwise it becomes dangerous, trying to improve, facing the matches without the weight of the other competitors. Let’s think about ourselves. The match was difficult, Empoli proved to be one of the two or three revelation teams in the championship. If today we didn’t pick up the pace in the second half, today we would have gone home with a good blow. We must try to be as balanced as possible”
THE EMPOLI-NAPLES SCORESHEET
Empoli (3-4-2-1): Vasquez; Goglichidze (33′ st Henderson), Ismajli, Viti; Gyasi, Anjorin (33′ st Haas), Grassi (27′ st Solbakken), Pezzella; Fazzini (33′ st Ekong), Esposito; Colombo (41′ st Konate). Coach: D’Aversa
Napoli (4-2-3-1): Caprile; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Buongiorno, Spinazzola (14′ st Olivera); Anguissa, Gilmour; Politano (41′ st Mazzocchi), McTominay, Kvaratskhelia (31′ st Neres); Lukaku (14′ st Simeone). Coach: Conte
Referee: Abyss
Markers: 18′ st pen. Kvaratskhelia (N)
Warned: Grassi, Haas (E), Anguissa, Di Lorenzo (N)