Napoli closed the calendar year with their 11th consecutive victory and their 13th win in 15 matches this season. With 41 out of a possible 45 points, gli Azzurri head into the World Cup break with an eight point lead (at minimum) over their nearest competitor. Here are three takeaways selected by Forza Napoli Press.
Next Man Up
Since joking on Instagram about the bench being his first true love, Eljif Elmas has featured in all seven Napoli matches in all competitions (299 minutes). Though the player and the club insisted it was merely a joke, the Instagram post increased the expectations of Elmas, should the opportunity to play arise.
That opportunity presented itself when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was diagnosed with lower back pain, causing the Georgian wonderkid to miss Napoli’s last three matches. To his credit, Elmas seized the opportunity.
The North Macedonian, who is still only 23 years old, started for Kvaratskhelia in two of the last three matches, against Atalanta and Udinese. The diamond tallied two goals – both match winners – and an assist in those two matches.
Though his goal against Atalanta was largely due to the incredible work rate and vision of Victor Osimhen, Elmas returned the favour on Saturday with a pinpoint, in-swinging cross to the Nigerian. Osimhen glanced the ball into the bottom corner, scoring his seventh goal in Serie A since returning from injury.
However, Elmas wasn’t done there, adding a goal just before the hour mark. Elmas burst forward to join the attack after Juan Jesus dispossessed Beto at the edge of the Napoli area. With Osimhen pulling the entire Udinese defense with his run towards the right, Elmas had acres of space to run into on the left. The North Macedonian made a lovely drop of the shoulder to side-step Jaka Bijol, showed great skill to drag the ball in front of himself to set up the shot, and finished with an accurate strike past Marco Silvestri at the near post.
Countering the Counter
It was no surprise that Andrea Sottil set up his Udinese team to defend and counter. Ironically, it was Luciano Spalletti’s men who took advantage of the counter-attack, scoring two of their three goals on the break, and once again demonstrating that Napoi can beat their opponents in a variety of different ways.
Piotr Zielinski completed a lethal counter-attack in the 31st minute, doubling Napoli’s advantage. The Pole started the move, playing an outlet pass to Osimhen at midfield. The striker let the ball roll past him before fighting off the challenge of Enzo Ebosse and playing a clever backheel pass to Hirving Lozano on the right side of the midfield.
With Zielinski racing forward to join the attack, El Chucky picked out the midfielder at the edge of the Udinese area with a pass that was just out of the reach of Nehuén Pérez.
It was a difficult ball to control but Zielinski took it down well, steadied himself for the shot, and curled the ball around the outstretched arms of Silvestri to make the score 2-0. That was already Zielinski’s sixth goal in all competitions, to go along with seven assists, matching his total goal production from all of last season (eight goals, five assists).
Undefeated, But Not Infallible
Napoli appeared to be heading for a comfortable victory, up three goals with just over ten
minutes remaining. However, Udinese quickly reduced the deficit to one, with substitutes Ilija Nesterovski and Lazar Samardzic scoring only three minutes apart.
Even with a three-goal lead, Udinese are not a team to be taken for granted. No Serie A club has earned more points after trailing than Le Zebrette.
Udinese’s second came after Samardzic picked the pocket of Kim Min-jae, a rare mistake from the South Korean. Kim further endeared himself amongst Napoli supporters after the match, publicly apologizing for the error, despite the Partenopei collecting all three points.
