Victor Osimhen, Amir Rahmani, Kalidou Koulibaly and Hirving Lozano netted for Napoli as they maintained their perfect start to the season.
Follow Us
Napoli continued their perfect run in the Serie A season with a 4-0 thrashing of Udinese on Monday. The dominant victory at Friuli took Luciano Spalletti’s side to the top of the table. Victor Osimhen opened the scoring inside 24 minutes before Amir Rahmani extended the lead as he finished off a well-worked set-piece. After the break, Kalidou Koulibaly scored the third goal with a thumping finish, and then six minutes from time, substitute Hirving Lozano completed the drubbing with a brilliant curler. The win helped Napoli to go two points above Inter Milan and AC Milan who are now placed second and third respectively.
Napoli came into the match on the back of a hard-fought 2-2 draw against Leicester City in the Europa League fixture. Osimhen was the hero for The Blues in Leicester as he scored both their goals. The Nigerian forward continued his good form as he netted his first Serie A goal on Monday. Mario Rui released Lorenzo Insigne with a brilliant overhead pass and the Italian chased the ball before lifting it over the advancing Udinese goalkeeper. Osimhen poked the ball in from near the goal line to take the lead.
Six minutes later, Fabian Ruiz’s long-ranger was denied by the post, but the Spanish midfielder played a key role in Napoli’s second goal of the night. Insigne laid the ball to Ruiz from a free kick. The 25-year-old floated the ball over the Udinese defense and into the path of Koulibaly inside the box. The Senegal international pushed the ball across the goal for Rahmani to head home from close range.
Seven minutes after the restart, the provider turned scorer as Koulibaly made it 3-0 for the visitors. Once again, it was a well-worked set-piece. Insigne played a short corner to Matteo Politano, whose left-footed in-swinging curler was nicely laid to the path of Koulibaly by Ruiz. The 30-year-old smashed the ball into the top corner of the Udinese goal.
Udinese goalkeeper Marco Silvestri had a very busy night as the away side continued to attack. André Anguissa’s header from Politano’s free-kick was kept out by Silverstri’s quick reflex save. Politano was very good with his deliveries. Rahmani’s header from Politano’s corner was once again saved by Silvestri.
It was a complete performance from Spalletti’s side as Lozano put the icing on the cake in the 84th minute. The Mexican played a one-two with Ruiz down the left side of the penalty area and slotted the ball past Silvestri with a brilliant right-footed curler.
Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne was delighted after their 4-0 win at Udinese.
“For now, it means nothing [to be table leaders]. We know we played a great game, it wasn’t easy to come here and score four goals”, Insigne told DAZN.
“We need to be humble, keep our feet on the ground and work hard. Everybody is feeling well and we are working well,” the Italy star continued.
“The coach is trying to get the best of everybody, we must do it.
“We have a challenging game coming up against Sampdoria. They will be super motivated after a good result, we need to prepare it well.
“We can’t relax, we can only continue to work. The coach has a lot of experience and is helping everybody give that little extra.”
Napoli will next play away to Sampdoria on Thursday whereas Udinese who are eighth in the points table will travel to Roma on Friday.
