Sunday, October 31, 2021 at 8:17 PM

Napoli won the southern Italian regional derby with Salernitana on Sunday evening. The team of coach Luciano Spalletti narrowly won the away match from the rival from Salerno with 0-1 thanks to a goal from Piotr Zielinski. Both teams ended the game with ten men. Napoli thus strengthens the lead in Serie A with 31 points from 11 games. AC Milan is in second place with three points less, but i Rossoneria have played one less game. Salernitana drops to nineteenth place in the ranking due to the loss.

Napoli came to Stadio Arechi on Sunday evening without club top scorer Victor Osimhen. The Nigerian striker was sidelined with an injury, leaving Hirving Lozano in the center of the attack. The pace in the disappointing first half was mainly slow due to the many interruptions due to fouls on both sides. Napoli may have been the dominant party, but the team hardly managed to create real big opportunities. After 37 minutes, André Zambo Anguissa had a good opportunity from a corner. However, the midfielder from Cameroon passed the ball high over the goal of Salernitana goalkeeper Vid Belec.

Napoli breaks the wall of Salernitana! ??

After a scrimmage, midfielder Piotr Zielinski finally decides ??#ZiggoSport #SeriesA #SalernitanaNapoli pic.twitter.com/k9lT8S3ZbF

— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) October 31, 2021

Napoli midfielder Mario Rui had an opportunity two minutes later from a hard long shot. The Portuguese’s attempt, however, flew just wide of the right corner of the goal. A minute before half-time, Hirving Lozano saw a shot from a distance go over Deelec’s goal, after a good combination in the box.

The second half was not much better than the first half. Only after an hour could Napoli finally cheer, when Zielinski was able to shoot a ball that came back from the crossbar. The Pole shot the ball through goalkeeper Belec, who did not seem to go completely free. Fifteen minutes before the end, only ten players were left on the field on both sides due to red cards from Salternitana defender Grigoris Kastanos and Kalidou Koulibaly on the Neapolitan side. Frank Ribéry had another good opportunity for Salernitana. However, the Frenchman saw his free kick being knocked off the line by Giovanni Di Lorenzo.