Napoli’s captains, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Victor Osimhen, found the back of the goal as the Partenopei coasted to a 2-0 victory over Sassuolo in the Champions’ first home match of the 2023/24 campaign.
The home side started on the front foot, with Giacomo Raspadori striking the upright less than a minute into the match. Napoli maintained a high level of energy in the early stages of the match and were awarded a penalty kick in the 12th minute.
Piotr Zielinski outwitted Maxime Lopez with his quick dribbles before playing a perfectly-weighted through-ball to Di Lorenzo in the right channel. The Napoli captain played a clever backheel pass, picking out the diagonal run of Matteo Politano into the area. The winger, making his second consecutive start, nipped in and got a touch on the ball before going down in the area. A VAR review showed that midfielder Daniel Boloca was a fraction late with his tackle, catching Politano on the ankle. Victor Osimhen stepped up to the spot and smashed the ball into the top corner, scoring his third goal of the season.
Though Napoli controlled the tempo of the match, both sides had their chances in from the corner kick. In the 34th minute André-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s powerful header narrowly missed the bottom corner. A minute later, Ruan Tressoldi’s header narrowly missed the top corner.
Sassuolo’s hopes of getting back into the match took a serious blow six minutes into the second half, when Maxime Lopez was shown a straight red card for dissent. Down a goal and a man, the Neroverdi struggled to keep up with Napoli, even prior to the introduction of the Serie A MVP.
Only minutes after his 2023/24 debut, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia recorded his first assist, slipping the ball into the area for Di Lorenzo. The Napoli captain took a touch, glanced up and fired a low shot past Andrea Consigli.
The final 26 minutes plus stoppage time were played out as a mere formality, as Napoli joined Hellas Verona and Milan at the top of the table on six points.
