Napoli Cling to Serie A Lead with Hard-Fought Victory

Lebanon Today

Napoli achieved a difficult 1-0 victory over Lecce on Tuesday, in the opening of the ninth round of the Italian League, in the team’s first match after the absence of its Belgian star “Kevin De Bruyne” for a long period.

Napoli waited until the 69th minute for Cameroonian “Frank Anguissa” to score the only goal of the match with a header, after Serbian goalkeeper “Vania Milinkovic-Savic” saved his goal by saving a penalty kick in the 55th minute.

With this victory, Napoli extended its lead to 21 points, 3 points ahead of Roma, which was sharing the lead, before Roma’s next match against its guest Parma on Wednesday.

In contrast, Lecce suffered its fifth defeat and its score froze at six points in 16th place temporarily.

Napoli played the match in the absence of international midfielder “De Bruyne”, whose absence for at least three months due to injury was announced by team manager “Gabriele Oriali” before the match.

The Belgian had scored the opening goal in the 3-1 victory over Inter, the direct competitor for the title, on Saturday, but stopped immediately after executing a penalty kick and was forced to leave the match and not complete it.

“De Bruyne” (34 years old) has scored four goals since joining Napoli from Manchester City in the summer, three of them from penalty kicks and one from a direct free kick.

However, “Oriali” carried some good news for Napoli fans, as he announced that Belgian striker “Romelu Lukaku” will return to training this week, without specifying a date for his readiness to participate in matches.

Against Lecce, Napoli appeared at a modest level, as “De Bruyne” was not the only absentee, in light of the continued absence of Slovak midfielder “Stanislav Lobotka” for the fourth match in a row due to injury.

Despite his almost complete control of the first half, Napoli players only had one shot on goal.

The situation did not change in the second half, but the home team almost surprised their guests with the goal of progress when they got a penalty kick confirmed by the video assistant referee “VAR”, but “Milinkovic-Savic” kept his team in the atmosphere by saving the shot of the young man “Francesco Camarda” (55).

Napoli responded with a header from the brilliant “Anguissa” offensively this season, when he rose to the ball of the Brazilian substitute “David Neres”, who executed it from a free kick that the Cameroonian met with his head into the goal, scoring his fourth goal in the league (69).

In light of the opponent’s humility, Napoli maintained its lead until the final whistle without offering anything new.

Napoli had achieved a valuable victory last round over its guest Inter Milan (3-1), in the match that brought the two teams together at the “Diego Armando Maradona” stadium, on Saturday, within the competitions of the eighth round of the Italian League.

Napoli advanced in the 33rd minute through “Kevin De Bruyne” from a penalty kick, before “Scott McTominay” added the second goal in the 54th minute.

The Turk “Hakan Çalhanoğlu” narrowed the result from a penalty kick for Inter Milan in the 59th minute, but “Andre-Frank Anguissa” restored the difference as it was, scoring the third goal for the home team in the 66th minute.

The Parthenopeans regained their balance with their big victory over the Nerazzurri, after their surprise fall against PSV Eindhoven (6-2) in the Champions League.

Formation

Napoli entered the match led by its coach “Antonio Conte”, relying on the 4-1-4-1 method, in light of the team’s suffering from the absence of its main strikers, “Romelu Lukaku”, and the new arrival “Rasmus Højlund”.

Despite the presence of “Lorenzo Luca” in the team’s list, “Conte” decided to keep him on the bench, and rely on a false striker at the beginning, with a defensive formation that included “Di Lorenzo”, “Buongiorno”, “Jesus”, and “Spinazzola”, and in front of them the pivot player “Gilmour”.

In midfield, “Conte” relied on “Politano” and “McTominay” on the wings, with the presence of “De Bruyne” and “Anguissa” behind the false striker “David Neres”.

As for Inter Milan, led by coach “Cristian Chivu”, he entered the match with his usual basic formation without major changes, where “Acerbi” led the defense alongside “Akanji” and “Bastoni”, and in midfield “Dumfries” started on the right, next to him “Barella”, “Çalhanoğlu”, “Mkhitaryan”, and on the left “Dimarco”, while the duo “Angi Bonnie” and “Lautaro Martinez” led the attack.

Punishing the referee

The Italian Referees Association is preparing to exclude the referees of the match that brought Napoli together with its guest Inter Milan yesterday, Saturday, in the eighth round of the Calcio.

The main referee “Maurizio Mariani” and his assistant “Daniele Bindoni” made a controversial decision to award a doubtful penalty kick in favor of Napoli, with which the Parthenopeans took the initiative and opened the match wide open, until it ended with a 3-1 victory for coach “Antonio Conte’s” team.

The game began with “Giovanni Di Lorenzo”, the right-back and captain of Napoli, penetrating inside the penalty area, and falling on the ground, after placing his foot in front of “Henrikh Mkhitaryan”, the Inter midfielder, meaning that there was no contact whatsoever.

The penalty kick seemed strange, because the referee turned his back to the scene and followed the counterattack, but after 8 seconds he blew his whistle, after his assistant told him, apparently, that it was a foul.

According to a press report issued by the newspaper “La Gazzetta dello Sport” today, Sunday, the Italian Referees Committee concluded that a penalty kick should not have been awarded to Napoli, and that it was incorrect.

It added, “The assistant referee “Bindoni” was the one who initially indicated a penalty kick, and that “Mariani” did not award it at first, then changed his mind after reviewing the video technology, and “Bindoni” is the most criticized for indicating the penalty kick, although “Mariani” was also criticized for changing his original decision.”

It noted that the referees in charge of the video technology are the least responsible among all the referees, whether the field or the assistant, as they should also have reviewed the referee in his decision and see the situation on the screen.

It concluded that the two referees will be excluded from managing the matches of the next round of the Italian League at least as a punishment for awarding an incorrect penalty kick, while they may be excluded for a longer period.