Napoli plunged deeper into disaster on Sunday after crashing to a 3-0 defeat at Torino which ended with fiery protests from followers and humiliation for the troubled Serie A champions.
Napoli gamers look dejected after the match (REUTERS)
Furious supporters launched flares onto the pitch on the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino throughout the newest embarrassing loss which left Napoli languishing in ninth place.
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Last season’s historic Scudetto has now been forgotten as Napoli sink additional into the abyss with every passing week, their third defeat in 4 matches in all competitions absolutely deserved after a shambolic show in Turin.
Without Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen, Walter Mazzarri’s aspect failed to attain for the fourth straight match and are fully unrecognisable from the workforce which charged to title glory final time period.
“We have to apologise to the fans for the performance… we’re trying to find ways to stimulate the team and get back to some sort of normality,” mentioned Napoli’s sporting director Mauro Meluso.
Meluso spoke to DAZN after a sequence of post-match summits with Mazzarri and the workforce, and insisted that the coach — who was suspended for Sunday’s match — wouldn’t be sacked.
“I, the club and the team have total faith in the coach, so we’re not having thoughts in that direction,” he added.
Mazzarri was introduced in to wash up the mess left by predecessor Rudi Garcia however Napoli at the moment are a full 20 factors behind league leaders Inter Milan and nearer to the relegation zone than the highest of the desk.
Antonio Sanabria acquired the ball rolling two minutes earlier than the break when he scored from shut vary, and issues went from dangerous to worse within the fiftieth minute when debutant Pasquale Mazzocchi was despatched off for a wild problem on Valentino Lazaro.
Mazzocchi, who signed from Salernitana on Friday, had solely been on the sphere for the reason that begin of the second half and two minutes later Nikola Vlasic doubled Torino’s lead with a superb low strike from exterior the world.
Napoli had been in every single place and they need to have been three down simply after the hour mark when Sanabria hit the publish and Duvan Zapata by some means did not end on the rebound.
However Alessandro Buongiorno made certain of an emphatic victory within the 66th minute when he thumped a bullet header previous Pierluigi Gollini.
– Milan cruise –
A luxurious early strike from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Olivier Giroud’s thirty first minute penalty set third-placed AC Milan on the best way to a 3-0 win at Empoli which was sealed by Chaka Traore with two minutes remaining.
Missing a bunch of gamers to damage and the Africa Cup of Nations, Milan took benefit of their closest rivals for the highest 4 dropping factors.
Stefano Pioli’s workforce are six factors forward of fourth-placed Fiorentina who misplaced 1-0 at Sassuolo on Saturday, and an extra level in entrance of Bologna in fifth following their draw at Genoa.
Milan have had a bumpy marketing campaign riddled with accidents and questions over Pioli’s future however Sunday’s win was their fifth in six matches in all competitions.
“We went through a bit of a difficult period… We never listened to what other people were saying, we got down to hard work and that’s why we won today,” mentioned Theo Hernandez, who was once more deputising at centre-back.
France worldwide Hernandez is a buccaneering left-back by commerce however has been pressured to maneuver to the centre of defence by an damage disaster which has left Pioli with out defenders Fikayo Tomori, Malick Thiaw and Pierre Kalulu.
“It’s in the difficult moments that you learn if people have given up on you, and that wasn’t the case here,” mentioned Pioli.
“When things don’t go well we stay together and we give each other a hand.”
Milan path metropolis rivals Inter by 9 factors and are 4 behind second-placed Juventus, who play Salernitana afterward Sunday.
Lazio warmed up for his or her midweek derby with Roma within the Italian Cup quarter-finals by profitable 2-1 at Udinese and shifting as much as sixth.
Source: www.hindustantimes.com
