Serie A | Napoli 2-0 Verona: Anguissa magic locks down top spot | OneFootball

Napoli extended their lead at the top of the table after sweeping Verona aside 2-0 with a lucky Giovanni Di Lorenzo deflection and Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa scorcher, but were so wasteful.

It had been a rough few days for Antonio Conte, who confirmed Khvicha Kvaratskhelia put in a transfer request, with Alessandro Buongiorno and Mathias Olivera injured, so David Neres took over the left flank. Verona beat Napoli 3-0 in the opening game of the season, but Suat Serdar and Jackson Tchatchoua sat out bans with Abdou Harroui, Juan Manuel Cruz and Martin Frese long-term absentees.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

It took barely five minutes to break the deadlock with a little bit of luck, because Giovanni Di Lorenzo completed a give and go with Romelu Lukaku to curl left-footed from the edge of the area, it thumped the far post and ricocheted in off goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipò’s back.

Moments later there really should’ve been a second, but Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa incredibly managed to balloon over the bar from seven yards on a pull-back.

Lukaku also turned wide from a Stanislav Lobotka free kick routine, while Scott McTominay saw his acrobatic scissor-kick volley deflected off target from a David Neres cross.

A Casper Tengstedt header landed on the roof of the net, while Anguissa and McTominay turned another couple of promising opportunities over the bar.

epa11820808 Napoli’s defender Giovanni Di Lorenzo scores a goal during the Italian Serie A soccer match SSC Napoli vs Hellas Verona FC at ‘Diego Armando Maradona’ stadium in Naples, Italy, 12 January 2025. EPA-EFE/CIRO FUSCO

Alex Meret ran a huge risk when fumbling a harmless cross from the right, then Amir Rrahmani threw himself in the way of a Tengstedt angled drive from eight yards and needed a desperate clearance to stop Sarr scoring as his goalkeeper came flying out.

After the restart, David Neres turned Marco Davide Faraoni inside out to shoot from the tightest of angles, forcing Montipò to parry at the near post with an outstretched leg.

The Verona goalkeeper also got down to beat away the McTominay strike from the edge of the box, then on the resulting corner a Rrahmani header was cleared off the line by Faraoni.

Another Rrahmani header was just off target from a corner, but Napoli finally managed to double their lead with a screamer from outside the box with Anguissa’s left boot at the near post. He celebrated as he had done before, with a message for little fan Daniele on his wrist, but this was the first since the 13-year-old had died.

Grigoris Kastanos stung Meret’s gloves from distance with a powerful finish, Cyril Ngonge curled just wide from a long way out and Dailon Livramento tested Meret at the near post.

Napoli 2-0 Verona

Montipò og 5 (N), Anguissa 62 (N)