A brace from Victor Osimhen allowed Napoli to take the points at the Stadio Bentegodi and break bitter rivals Hellas Verona, but also reboot their Scudetto hopes.
The Partenopei were feeling the pressure after defeat to Milan, especially with Juventus now breathing down their necks too. Alex Meret, Kevin Malcuit and Axel Tuanzebe were out, with Lorenzo Insigne and Piotr Zielinski not fully fit either. Hellas missed Darko Lazovic, Panagiotis Retsos, Matteo Cancellieri and Pawel Dawidowicz.
Napoli took the lead with the first real opportunity. After a throw-in, Matteo Politano whipped in a cross from the right and Victor Osimhen peeled between centre-backs to nod in at the near post.
Lorenzo Montipò flew to palm away a Fabian Ruiz left-foot curler, then the Spaniard turned wide with his weaker right foot.
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There was a curious moment after the restart, as Osimhen forgot his protective face mask in the locker room and sent someone to get it.
Verona had a chance with a mad scramble in the six-yard box, which ended up with Ceccherini accidentally treading on David Ospina’s hand. Alex Meret is also out, so the Colombian had to try to carry on in visible pain.
Incredibly, Verona conceded the second goal from a throw-in too. This time Giovanni Di Lorenzo ran onto it and pulled back from the by-line for Osimhen to sweep home from six yards. He celebrated by taking a camera from a photographer on the side of the pitch and taking a picture of the Napoli fans.
Verona finally got a goal with their first genuine scoring opportunity, as Gianluca Caprari back-heeled it for the Adrien Tameze cross, finding a Marco Davide Faraoni header looping into the top corner.
Suddenly, Hellas woke up and began pumping crosses into the box, but they went down to 10 men for a harsh second yellow on Federico Ceccherini’s handball. It seemed to be fairly unintentional, hitting him as it was flicked on.
Eljif Elmas tested Montipò from point-blank range after a smart Di Lorenzo run, then Mario Rui smashed a ferocious effort onto the crossbar.
Faraoni lost his head in stoppages, booked for trying to punch the ball into the box and then after the final whistle sent off for dissent.
Verona 1-2 Napoli
Osimhen 14, 71 (N), Faraoni 77 (V)
Sent off: Ceccherini 83 (V), Faraoni 98 (V)
Yeah, Ceccherini second yellow was harsh. Deserved Napoli win though.