Despite a dominant second half, Napoli Primavera could not recover after conceding two early goals to Hellas Verona. With the 3-1 defeat to a direct rival in the battle for survival, Napoli now face an uphill battle to stay up in the Primavera 1.
Lineup
Nicolò Frustalupi made three changes to the squad he fielded in the victory over Udinese. Enrico Giannini started on the left side of the midfield, affording Davide Acampa a rest. Acampa was in the matchday squad but not on the bench. Jorge Alastuey returned from injury to start in the centre of the midfield. That pushed Gennaro Iaccarino up to trequartista and he, in turn, pushed Bilel Sahli to striker, relegating Leonardo Rossi to the bench.
(3-4-2-1) Boffelli; Hysaj, Barba, Obaretin; Giannini, Gioielli, Alastuey, Marchisano; Iaccarino, Spavone; Sahli
Match
Hellas Verona immediately surged forward in attack, creating their first quality chance less than two minutes into the match. Left back Edoardo Bernardi played an in-swinging cross from the left wing. Nosa Obaretin misread the flight of the ball, allowing Denis Cazzadori to win the header at the second post. The Hellas Verona second striker headed the ball downwards but Valerio Boffelli made an excellent reaction save to keep the ball out.
It wasn’t long before the Gialloblu opened the scoring. In the 6th minute, Bernardi played an in-swinging corner kick towards the first post. Francesco Gioielli got a head on the ball but was only able to flick it towards the second post, where Cazzadori was waiting. The forward volleyed the ball past Boffelli to give the visitors an early lead.
The Azzurrini responded well, earning a corner kick and creating their first chance within ten minutes of falling behind. Bilel Sahli crossed the ball into the area from close to the by line on the left wing. Matteo Marchisano, who scored his first goal of the season against Udinese, did well to control the ball at the second post, but his volley was blocked by Bernardi.
The home side created their first shot on target in the 18th minute, after Jorge Alastuey won a 50/50 ball in the midfield. Gennaro Iaccarino touched the ball on to Spavone. The attacking midfielder ignored the run of Sahli and went for goal from distance, but the ball bounced comfortably into the gloves of goalkeeper Elia Boseggia.
Moments later Hellas Verona doubled their lead. Davide Bragantini dispossessed Enrico Giannini at midfield before sprinting half the length of the field. The right winger ran straight past Gioielli, towards the Napoli area, before smashing a shot past Boffelli and into the top corner.
Napoli nearly pulled one back shortly after the midway point of the half. Iaccarino played a short corner kick to Giannini at the corner of the area. The midfielder crossed the ball into the area with his left, where Sahli was waiting to flick a header towards the far post. Boseggia did well to stop the shot before Gioielli was ruled offside on the rebound.
The home side came close again in the 38th minute after central defender Daniel Hysaj joined the attack and drew a foul on J-Renson Ebengue in a dangerous area. Alastuey crossed the ball into the area, where Gioielli flicked a header towards the top corner, but once again Boseggia made a fine save, tipping the ball over the bar.
Verona had one final chance before the break after Ayman El Wafi intercepted Alastuey’s switch and played Federico Caia into space. The striker appeared to be clear on goal but Hysaj raced back and played the ball out for a corner kick.
2nd Half
Napoli started the second half well. Only four minutes after the restart, four Napoli players cornered Bernardi before Marchisano came away with the ball. Marchisano’s pass was out of the reach of Iaccarino but Bragantini played a back pass straight back into the path of Marchisano. The winger had only the keeper to beat but Boseggia kicked out his left foot to make the save.
Napoli came close again a few minutes later. Giannini played an in-swinging cross into the area from the left wing. It was slightly out of the reach of Sahli but the ball bounced narrowly wide of the far post.
The Azzurrini continued to push forward. Moments after Sahli’s penalty shout fell on deaf ears, Alastuey played a vertical pass to Iaccarino, who had space to run into in the midfield. The central midfielder played the ball to Spavone on his right, but Spavone’s shot was blocked by centre-back Nicolò Calabrese.
Napoli’a attack was relentless in the second half. In the 57th minute, Hysaj played a diagonal ball forward to Gioielli, who quickly slipped the ball through to Sahli in the area. The Frenchman shot from a tight angle but Boseggia was well-positioned at the near post to push the ball out for a corner kick.
With all the momentum in Napoli’s favour, even Nosa Obaretin joined the attack. In the 72nd minute, the central defender played a give and go with substitute Cedrick Koffi on the left side of the Verona area. Obaretin dribbled past Bragantini before his shot was blocked by Ebengue. The rebound fell to Iaccarino at the edge of the area, but his first-time hit sliced narrowly wide of the far post.
Koffi got a big chance of his own shortly thereafter. Alastuey picked out the winger’s run with a 50-yard pass over the top. Koffi did brilliantly to take the ball down but was unable to hit the target with centre-back Wiktor Matyjewicz running shoulder-to-shoulder with him.
Though it was too little, too late, Napoli finally found the back of the goal in stoppage time. After 13 consecutive Napoli passes, substitute Lamine Gningue picked out Sahli in the area with a cross from the right wing. The former Genoa player directed his header into the bottom corner, scoring his fourth goal of the season.
Unfortunately for the Azzurrini, Verona immediately responded with another goal. Midfielder Stefano Dalla Riva made a clever turn on the touchline to get past both Marchisano and Lorenzo Russo. With Russo chasing, Dalla Riva ran towards the touch line before cutting the ball back to Diao Balde in the area. The centre forward tapped in his first of the season to put the match away. Shortly after the restart, the official blew the final whistle.
With the loss, combined with Cagliari’s 5-1 drubbing over Udinese on Sunday, the Azzurrini’s hopes of staying up to a minor step back. Atalanta’s match against Milan was postponed to the 3rd of May after Milan played in the UEFA Youth League Semi-finals on Friday.
