Napoli won their 11th consecutive Serie A game on Saturday afternoon. The team from Naples was on roses due to hits from club top scorer Victor Osimhen, Piotr Zielinski Eljif Elmas, after which a comeback from Udinese came just too late: 3-2. Napoli are now eleven points clear of Lazio and AC Milan, who have both played a game less.
Luciano Spalletti was unable to have a fully fit squad on Saturday afternoon. The coach still had to do it against Udinese without defender Amir Rrahmani and tastemaker Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The summer signing, who has already scored eight goals and ten assists in 17 games this season, also missed Serie A matches with Atalanta (1-2 win) and Empoli (2-0 win) due to a back injury. Udinese handed out the first pinprick early in the game. Former PEC Zwolle defender Kingsley Ehizibue had a tight pass to Gerard Deulofeu, who tested goalkeeper Alex Meret from close range.
There it is again! ?? The undisputed top scorer of the Serie A soon strikes, Osimhen puts Napoli at 1-0 ??#ZiggoSport #SeriesA #NapoliUdinese pic.twitter.com/eJHetWNhtf
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Nov 12, 2022
The home side seemed to lack the creativity of Kvaratskhelia after a difficult opening phase, until Osimhen gave Spalletti’s team the lead out of nowhere. The Serie A top scorer was custom-served by Elmas and was able to head in his ninth league goal of the season: 1-0. The visitors then soon had to deal with another setback, after strong holder Deulofeu had to stop the fight early due to an ankle injury.
The failure of the creative was bad for Udinese’s morale, which fell further behind with half an hour on the clock. Zielinski was the end station of a smooth attack. The midfielder was found Hirving Lozano and then found the long corner with a placed shot from the edge of the box: 2-0. Napoli was sitting on roses and thought they would close the game early in the second act. This time it was Elmas who joined in the revelry. The wing attacker tricked Jaka Bijol with a nice hood movement and then rounded off with the right: 3-0.
Oh, oh, oh, what a mastery! ?? Napoli makes a show of it and Elmas also contributes with a wonderful goal, 3-0! ??#ZiggoSport #SeriesA #NapoliUdinese pic.twitter.com/an6ddgIAm9
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Nov 12, 2022
The comfortable lead was reason for Spalletti to give the World Cup-goers Lozano and Zielinksi a rest. So true, Udinese reduced the margin to two in the 78th minute. Isaac Success put his chest back to Ilija Nestorovski, who found the bottom right corner: 3-1. Napoli’s laziness was mercilessly punished and the tension was all the way back when Lazar Samardzic snatched the ball from substitute Juan Jesus to make it 3-2 against the ropes. However, the Neapolitans did not let it go beyond the connection goal.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Napoli | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 41 |
| 2 | Lazio | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 18 | 30 |
| 3 | AC Milan | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 30 |
| 4 | Juventus | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 28 |
| 5 | Internazionale | 14 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 27 |
| 6 | Atalanta | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 27 |
| 7 | AS Roma | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 26 |
| 8 | Udinese | 15 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 24 |
| 9 | Torino | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | -1 | 20 |
| 10 | Fiorentina | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 19 |
| 11 | Salernitana | 14 | 4 | 5 | 5 | -2 | 17 |
| 12 | empoli | 15 | 4 | 5 | 6 | -7 | 17 |
| 13 | Sassuolo | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 | -4 | 16 |
| 14 | Bologna | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 | -8 | 16 |
| 15 | Monza | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | -9 | 13 |
| 16 | Lecce | 14 | 2 | 6 | 6 | -5 | 12 |
| 17 | special | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | -13 | 10 |
| 18 | Cremonese | 15 | 0 | 7 | 8 | -15 | 7 |
| 19 | sampdoria | 14 | 1 | 3 | 10 | -19 | 6 |
| 20 | Hellas Verona | 14 | 1 | 2 | 11 | -16 | 5 |