Despite missing the services of their Nigerian import, the Blues recorded an impressive win over the Pythagoreans

Napoli made light of Victor Osimhen’s injury absence with a commanding 4-0 win over Crotone to climb to third on the Serie A log.

Lorenzo Insigne, Hirving Lozano, Diego Demme and Andrea Petagna all found the back of the net for Gennaro Gattuso’s men against the hosts, who were reduced to 10-men following the expulsion of Jacopo Petriccione.

The opening quarter of the game appeared cagey as the teams matched one another while scoring chances were few. Nevertheless, it was the visitors who took the lead through Insigne in the 31st minute.

The Italian forward collected a pass from Piotr Zielinski before unleashing a shot past goalkeeper Alex Cordaz from outside the goal area.

With Simy Nwankwo spearheading their attack, the hosts tried to level matters but they were unable to get past a well organised Blues backline.

Five minutes into the second half, the Pythagoreans’ ambition of launching a comeback suffered a massive setback as Petriccione was given his marching orders by referee Livio Marinelli for serious foul play after appearing to kick German midfielder Diego Demme.

Gattuso’s side profited from Crotone’s numerical disadvantage to bang in more goals to the dismay of manager Giovanni Stroppa.

Lozano doubled his side’s advantage in the 58th minute controlling Insigne’s cross with his chest before blasting past a helpless Cordaz.

Fourteen minutes from full-time, Demme gave the visitors a three-goal advantage by driving home a low shot outside Crotone’s goal area with Dries Mertens credited for the assist.

With the presence of Nigeria’s Nwankwo unable to produce the needed goals for the Stadio Ezio Scida outfit, Denis Dragus was brought on as his replacement with four minutes left to play.

Even with his introduction, things got worse for them as Petagna sealed the triumph with a 90th minute effort after he was released by Mertens.

⏱ 90+3 | It’s all over!! 💪#CrotoneNapoli 0-4

💙#ForzaNapoliSempre pic.twitter.com/80CjH4yQ9C— Official SSC Napoli (@en_sscnapoli) December 6, 2020

Kalidou Koulibaly gave a good account of himself, albeit, he was cautioned in the sixth minute before his substitution for Nikola Maksimovic in the 83rd minute while Algeria’s Faouzi Ghoulam was an unused substitute.

On the other hand, Libya international Ahmad Benali came off injured after 36 minutes, while on loan Torino defender Koffi Djidji was not listed for the showdown.

The result meant Napoli moved to third on the Italian top-flight log to keep in touch with leaders AC Milan.

Before taking on Sampdoria in their next league outing on December 10, they host Real Sociedad in the Thursday’s Europa League encounter.

source:- goal