Antonio Conte’s Napoli suffered their first defeat of pre-season, losing 2-0 to Girona FC after an Alex Meret howler, with Pasquale Mazzocchi carried off injured.
It had until now been a very positive summer for the Partenopei, who had not conceded a single goal in their three matches so far.
Once again, Victor Osimhen was not even on the bench, as he is waiting for a transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal or Chelsea.
They showed serious problems in playing out from the back, losing the ball repeatedly, and that was behind the opening goal.
Meret was trying to pass it to teammate Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa, only to give the ball directly to Donny van de Beek inside the penalty area.
The performance was not helped by torrential rain in Castel di Sangro, which sent the fans running for shelter.
Mazzocchi risked giving away a penalty for handball, while Meret made saves on Arnau and Portu, then Bryan Gil’s curler flashed just wide, but the goalkeeper again looked very shaky playing out from defence.
Mazzocchi had to be carried off with a suspected sprained ankle following a rough Valery sliding tackle.
Napoli never looked like getting back into the game, as Leonardo Spinazzola’s headed clearance on a Bryan Gil cross landed on the upright.
Amir Rrahmani had the only real chance of the game, his header against the post on a corner, but instead Girona doubled their lead with Almena getting away from Alessandro Buongiorno to send Toni Villa clear.
Kvicha Kvaratskhelia had a solo run late on, but fired straight at the on-rushing goalkeeper.
Napoli 0-2 Girona
Van de Beek 23 (G), Villa 82 (G)
Napoli: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Buongiorno; Mazzocchi (Zerbin 57), Anguissa, Lobotka, Spinazzola (Rafa Marin 78); Politano (Ngonge 89), Kvaratskhelia, Raspadori (Simeone 78)
Napoli should buy a new goalkeeper and a few good midfielders from the Osimhen sale money. Could have included him in this match atleast.