Napoli are now off the mark for season after recording a 3-0 victory over Bologna at the Stadio Maradona on Sunday night, thanks to a vintage Khvicha Kvaratskhelia display and additional goals from Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Giovanni Simeone.
Check out the player ratings from Antonio Conte’s first Serie A win in charge of Napoli.
Napoli 3-0 Bologna – player ratings
Napoli: Meret 6.5; Di Lorenzo 8, Rrahmani 6.5, Buongiorno 7; Mazzocchi 6, Anguissa 6, Lobotka 6.5, Olivera 7; Politano 6, Kvaratskhelia 9; Raspadori 6.
Napoli best player: Kvaratskhelia 9 – A vintage performance from Napoli’s star player. He was electric tonight. The assist for Napoli’s opener was sensational, lofting a delightful first-time ball over the entire defence and perfectly into Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s path. His goal took a slightly fortunate deflection, but there was nobody on the pitch more deserving. The Georgian was as bright as ever, and there is no need to explain what he is capable of with the ball at his feet. Everything came together for him on Sunday night.
Coach: Antonio Conte 8 – What a way to come back from what was a disastrous start with the 3-0 loss to Verona last weekend. Napoli looked far more cohesive, solid and more like what one would expect from a typical Conte side. The addition of Alessandro Buongiorno certainly helped. Having Kvaratskhelia for the full 90 was key as well, of course, David Neres, too, looked bright when he came on for his debut. Conte clearly did a pretty decent job with the week he had to turn last week’s result around.
Bologna: Skorupski 5; Posch 5, Beukema 6, Erlic N/A, Lykogiannis 5.5; Moro 6, Freuler 5, Aebischer 6; Orsolini 4.5, Castro 5, Ndoye 6.
Best Bologna player: Dan Ndoye 6 – It wasn’t the most thrilling Bologna performance by any means, and there wasn’t a great deal to choose from in terms of individual performances, Ndoye probably just about takes that accolade, as he looked relatively bright on the flank and was always looking to take a man on where possible.
Coach: Vincenzo Italiano 5 – It has not been the best of starts for the former Fiorentina coach in the Bologna hotseat. Last week’s 1-1 draw at home with Udinese was followed up by today’s sub-par performance. The coach still doesn’t have a complete squad at his disposal, which might change before the close of the transfer window next week. For now, though, there is definitely a lot of work to do.