Napoli continued its series of victories in the Italian League. Napoli won a 1-0 victory over SPAL in the 17th week of the Italian Serie A League 2018/2019 and secured second place with 41 points. Napoli underwent a match facing SPAL with the goal of keeping their distance from Juventus who now lead the standings.
Under a tight schedule, coach Carlo Ancelotti has chosen not to rest Napoli’s top players in this match despite midweek meeting Inter in week 18.
The southern Italian team is still reinforced by Raul Albiol, Kalidou Koulibaly, Jose Callejon, Marek Hamsik, Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens.
SPAL went through the match without being awkward in front of the host supporters. Pasquale Schiattarella, Manuel Lazzari, Jasmin Kurtic and Mohamed Fares have made the Napoli defense alert since the early minutes.
Napoli started promising. Marko Rog stabbed the penalty box before firing a shot that forced goalkeeper Alfred Gomis to save. Entering the 11th minute Insigne scored, but referee Federico La Penna did not approve it because he thought the Italian was in an offside position when he received the ball.
The match was quite fierce with buying and selling attacks carried out by both teams. After Mirko Valdifiori fired a shot that Alex Meret could still secure, Napoli responded with opportunities from Insigne, Piotr Zielinski and Marko Rog. Towards the first round was over, Raul Albiol managed to maximize feedback from Mertens which made Napoli 1-0 up.
At the beginning of the second half Il Partenopei again tried to get the ball through Insigne and Callejon. Napoli missed an opportunity to add to his goal. Kalidou Koulibaly’s header from distance was very close. The score is still 1-0.
The effort of Napoli scored their second goal back aground. Entering the last 10 minutes, Mertens left foot shot from the left side of the six yard box hit the SPAL goalpost. SPAL had made Napoli tilted in injury time. Alberto Paloschi released a right-footed shot from the middle of the penalty box even though Alex Meret could still able saved in the top corner of the goal.
Although Napoli controlled the ball more dominantly, SPAL managed to appear effective by playing direct soccer. But the club which had just been promoted to Serie A two years ago was unable to hit a ball from six shots on target. A score of 1-0 makes Napoli now have 41 points or five points below of Juventus.
Napoli’s core players: Alex Meret; Elseid Hysaj, Raul Albiol, Kalidou Koulibaly, Faouzi Ghoulam; Jose Callejon, Marko Rog, Marek Hamsik, Piotr Zielinski; Lorenzo Insigne, Dries Mertens
SPAL’s core players: Alfred Gomis; Thiago Cionek, Johan Djourou, Kevin Bonifazi; Manuel Lazzari, Pasquale Schiattarella, Mirko Valdifiori, Jasmin Kurtic, Mohamed Salim Fares; Alberto Paloschi, Mirko Antenucci
