From Stadio San Paolo, we bring you all the player ratings of this Europa League match between Napoli and HNK Rijeka.
With the city of Naples going through a devastating time, Napoli had a task to achieve in this Europa League clash against Rijeka. The visitors were in need of a desperate win, following three consecutive defeats on the big European stage. The home side, however, seemed confident after winning their reverse tie by 2-1, which was on the away turf.
Before the game, all the Napoli players paid their respect to the late Diego Maradona, by wearing his number 10 shirt. Ivan Gennaro Gattuso’s side could have scored from several attempts from the start of the game. But the match remained at a standstill until before the half-time whistle. An attack led Piotr Zielinski to make a run in the box, and he squared the ball towards Matteo Politano. At first, it looked like the right-winger got the last touch, but it was actually an own goal by Armando Anastasio.
Lozano comes in to seal the victory.
The Mexico international was placed in for this reason only. Hirving Lozano stepped in on the 64th minute and made an immediate impact. But we have to give credits to the supplier for his goal, who also came off the bench at the same time. Lozano Insigne has helped Napoli on many occasions and did prove to be useful for Gattuso’s side. The 29-year-old with his razor-sharp vision played a long ball for Lozano, who in turn calmly finished it past Ivan Nevistic.
The Croatian team meanwhile made attempts to net a consolation goal. However, the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, and Faouzi Ghoulam kept Napoli’s walls unbreakable. It was a pure display of Italian football from Partenopei, as they now stand on top of the Group F table. With their next game against AZ away from home, they will hope to secure a spot in the knockout stage of the tournament.
Player ratings
Napoli: Meret (7), Maksimovic (6), Koulibaly (7), Di Lorenzo (8), Ghoulam (8), Bakayoko (8), Demme (8), Politano (7), Zielinski (5), Elmas (5, Petagna (4).
Bench: Lobotka (6), Insigne (7), Mertens (6), Lozano (9), Ruiz (6).
HNK Rijeka: Nevistic (7), Velkoski (4), Galovic (4), Smolcic (4), Tomecak (3), Anastasio (2), Cerin (3), Loncar (6), Muric (4), Stefulj (3), Andrijasevic (5).
Bench: Braut (5), Yateke (6), Hodza (6), Frigan (6).
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