SSC Napoli on Friday took another step toward their first Serie A title since 1990, as stars Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen shot the leaders to a 2-0 win at US Sassuolo and 18 points clear.
It looks only a matter of time before Luciano Spalletti’s rampant side secure a Scudetto dreamed of by Napoli fans since the days of Diego Maradona.
Spalletti’s team made no mistakes in his 1,000th match as a manager at Mapei Stadium, which with the away section closed, saw an invasion of Napoli fans in the home supporters’ stands.
Photo: Reuters
A seventh league win on the bounce leaves their rivals trailing way off in the distance, a whopping 62 points collected in 23 matches underlining their dominance of Italy’s top flight.
“The only thing we can do is keep doing the things we do well,” Spalletti told DAZN. “Sassuolo are a team that know how to play football, you can’t dominate for 90 minutes, but in the second half we did a lot of things really well.”
Napoli’s attentions now turn to their UEFA Champions League trip to Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday, a run in Europe’s top club competition surely a possibility given the superb form of their attacking jewels Kvaratskhelia and Osimhen.
“Eintracht are a really good team, they have a lot of pace ... they attack spaces really quickly and have technically gifted players,” Spalletti said. “They’ve got more experience than us of playing knockout football, last season they had a run in the Europa League ... that’s what we trying to do.”
Kvaratskhelia got the ball rolling in the 11th minute in Reggio Emilia with his 10th goal of an incredible debut Serie A season, a beautiful run and low finish which highlighted why Europe’s biggest clubs are already eyeing the Georgian wing wizard.
Osimhen, who had already hit the post, then doubled the hosts’ lead in the 33rd minute when he collected Amir Rrahmani’s pass, spun Martin Erlic and rifled home from an improbable angle past Andrea Consigli.
The pair have now scored 28 of Napoli’s 56 league goals, Osimhen netting nine times in eight league matches since the turn of the year.
Sassuolo could not repeat their heroics of recent weeks against ailing champions AC Milan and Atalanta BC but put up a decent fight on Friday night, despite having to play without injured star Domenico Berardi.
Coach Alessio Dionisi’s side, who are seven points above the relegation zone in 15th, caused Napoli problems and struck the post through Armand Lauriente just after Kvaratskhelia’s opener.
The match might have taken on a different look had Lauriente’s close-range finish not been ruled out for Gregoire Defrel interfering with play from an offside position.
Napoli fans were worried about Osimhen’s condition when he was subbed with 6 minutes to go, but Spalletti said after the match that there was “no particular issue” with the Nigerian forward.
That left the only low note on an otherwise perfect night being super-sub Giovanni Simeone having a late goal chalked off for Hirving Lozano being offside before swinging in his perfect cross for the Argentine forward.
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Sumo is walking a “tightrope” as it prepares to stage events outside Japan for the first time in 20 years while also trying to preserve its ancient traditions, experts say. The sport is to hold exhibition tournaments in London in October and in Paris in June next year, the first time the Japan Sumo Association has been abroad since Las Vegas in 2005. Sports such as soccer, baseball and football play domestic games overseas in a bid to gain new fans in emerging markets. John Gunning, a former amateur sumo wrestler who commentates on the sport in English on Japanese television, says its
Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Sunday poured in 35 points as the Thunder grabbed a bounce-back 118-108 victory in Portland to push their NBA-best record to 37-8. The Thunder, surprised by the short-handed Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, fended off a late surge from the Trail Blazers to snap their four-game winning streak. Jalen Williams scored 24 points and Isaiah Joe added 16 off the bench. Center Isaiah Hartenstein, back after a five-game absence with a calf injury, added 14 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and a big block. The Western Conference leaders were under pressure late as Portland, trailing by 15 heading
The Golden State Warriors on Wednesday withstood Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 52-point outburst to beat the Western Conference leading Thunder 116-109. Andrew Wiggins scored 27 points and Warriors superstar Stephen Curry scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half as Golden State erased a double-digit deficit and pulled away late for the victory. “We just stayed solid,” said Curry, who entered the contest mired in a shooting slump and had just four points on one basket in the first half. “Just all-around effort.” The Thunder, fueled by 31 first-half points from Gilgeous-Alexander, led by as many as 14 in the
RSS