Until the seventh matchday, Napoli had never gone 1-0 in the league. In the last two, however, twice: 1-0 in Empoli, 1-0 also at home against Lecce. Another painful match for Antonio Conte’s boys, who did well to win it in the second half thanks to captain Di Lorenzo’s goal. It’s the first breakaway for the Azzurri, waiting for the others to take the field.
Lecce on par
Those who thought that it would be an easy match for Napoli were proven wrong right from the first minutes of the match. Because Lecce is not even distantly related to the team returning from the defeat against Fiorentina. Indeed, that 6-0 was evidently a constructive slap, because for large stretches Gotti’s team played on an equal footing with Conte’s. Who clearly has the passion for the game, has more opportunities, but certainly doesn’t see a downhill path.
The goal disallowed and opportunities here and there
Shortly after the halfway point of the first half, Napoli went ahead with captain Di Lorenzo, who did well to return Olivera’s shot rejected by Falcone, but the goal was disallowed (after a long celebration by the Azzurri) for offside. There is no shortage of chances, neither on one side nor the other: Neres, plays in place of Kvaratskhelia, and Ngonge, on Politano’s flank, challenge Falcone with shots from outside; Baschirotto, however, calls Meret to reflect on inactive ball developments. But the result did not break the deadlock and the score was 0-0 at half-time.
Lukaku wasteful
In the second half the script is the same, with Napoli taking control of the match and Lecce remaining very compact and trying to be dangerous on the counterattack. As the minutes pass, however, the Salento wall begins to show some cracks. Lukaku, for example, has a huge chance to make it 1-0 in the 55th minute, but he eats up the lead by shooting high from a few meters away. A bit like what happened in the first half, and thus shows that he is having a bad day.
The captain will take care of it
The cracks get bigger and bigger and in the end Lecce’s defense crumbles following a corner kick: McTominay breaks away into the penalty area, undisturbed, but is blocked by Falcone; on the rebound the quickest is Di Lorenzo, who reiterates from two steps to the bottom of the bag for the 1-0. This time everything is normal, the packed Maradona (over 51 thousand spectators) explodes with joy. From this moment on, Lecce is forced to balance and Napoli comes close to doubling their lead with Raspadori. The 2-0 won’t come until the end, but neither will the 1-1. Napoli takes home another three points with a further 1-0. That’s enough for Conte.