Napoli continued their impressive road to the Italian Super Cup by crushing Sporting Braga 3-1 thanks to a Goran Pandev brace.
Napoli continued their impressive road to the Italian Super Cup by crushing Sporting Braga 3-1 thanks to a Goran Pandev brace.
The Partenopei have won all six of their big summer friendlies and are in good shape going into the August 11 trip to Beijing against Juventus.
It took only 15 minutes for them to secure a 2-0 lead, as first Pandev finished off a splendid Edu Vargas assist, then he went on a classic slalom to tear the Braga defence apart.
Morgan De Sanctis was a crucial figure as the game wore on, requiring a great save on Alan and left unable to deny a fierce Lima strike that took a slight deflection off Hugo Campagnaro.
Napoli focused on the counter-attack in the second half with Vargas and Marek Hamsik forcing saves, while Hugo Viana tested De Sanctis.
Juan Camilo Zuniga got the third goal, breaking through the defence to fire in at the near post.
Zuniga almost got a brace, his effort hitting the woodwork late on.
There was some tension, though, as Walter Gargano came out late for the second half, much to Walter Mazzarri’s irritation, so he introduced Blerim Dzemaili instead.
Napoli 3-1 Sporting Braga
Scorers: Pandev 5, 15 (N), Lima 37 (B), Zuniga 62 (N)
Napoli: De Sanctis, Campagnaro (Gamberini 73), Cannavaro (Fernandez 73), Britos, Maggio, Behrami (Dossena 71), Inler (Donadel 73), Hamsik (Novothny 78), Zuniga (Fornito 84), Pandev (Dzemaili 64), Vargas (Bariti 84)
Sporting Braga: Beto (Quim 46), Paulo Vinicius , Douglao, Elderson (Baiano 71), Salino, Custodio, Monssorò (Ismaily 80), Hugo Viana, Alan (Micael 67), Elder Barbosa (Amorim 67), Lima