On Sunday, Napoli played their second of two friendly matches in Turkey as part of the Winter Football Series by Regnum. The Partenopei took on Crystal Palace – currently ranked 11th in the English Premier League – in the pouring rain at the Regnum Carya Resort.
First Half
Lineup (4-3-3) Meret; Mario Rui, Juan Jesus, Østigård, Di Lorenzo; Elmas, Lobotka, Ndombele; Kvaratskhelia, Osimhen, Politano
Neither side created any quality opportunities in the opening quarter of the match. The first clear-cut chance fell to Eberechi Eze after Michael Olise played a lovely weighted through ball to Jeffrey Schlupp on the right wing. Schlupp’s low cross was cleared by Leo Østigård, but only as far as Eze at the edge of the area. Eze’s first effort was blocked but he volleyed the rebound toward the near post. However, Alex Meret was well-positioned to push the shot out for a corner kick.
Though Napoli had not created many goal scoring threats to that point, the Azzurri had controlled the tempo of the match. Nevertheless, Crystal Palace opened the scoring moments after the half hour mark. Juan Jesus dribbled forward and conceded possession in the Napoli half, leaving Stanislav Lobotka to cover for him at the back. Olise countered before passing to Zaha on his left. Zaha took a quick touch before slotting the ball into the bottom corner.
That goal gave Crystal Palace the lead, but not for long, with Victor Osimhen equalizing only two minutes later. Osimhen got in front of Crystal Palace defender Marc Guéhi to control Matteo Politano’s cross with his chest. He then stretched to tip the ball past James Tomkins to maintain possession in the area. With the ball bouncing and his back to goal, the Nigerian played a clever sombrero to set up a volley from a tight angle, which he smashed off the far post and into the back of the goal.
Second Half
Lineup (4-3-3) Meret; Mario Rui, Østigård, Barba, Zanoli; Elmas, Gaetano, Ndombele; Raspadori, Simeone, Politano
Luciano Spalletti made five changes at the break. Primavera central defender Benedetto Barba replaced Juan Jesus and swapped positions with Østigård, while ex-Primavera player Alessandro Zanoli replaced Giovanni Di Lorenzo at right back. With Diego Demme out of the squad due to injury, Gianluca Gaetano replaced Stanislav Lobotka in the centre of the midfield. Finally, Giacomo Raspadori and Giovanni Simeone replaced Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen, respectively, in the front three.
The clubs exchanged chances in the early stages of the second half. In the 52nd minute, Crystal Palace played out of the back before Eze picked out the run of Zaha with a long through ball on the left side. Zaha ran at Barba before squaring the ball to Olise at the top of the box. He played the extra pass substitute Cheick Doucouré, but Mario Rui slid in to block the the midfielder’s shot.
Napoli came back the other way five minutes later. Zanoli stepped up to midfield and played an accurate, first-time pass to Raspadori in the final third. He played a diagonal ball to Simeone in the area but the Argentinian’s second touch was too heavy and the ball rolled harmlessly out of play.
Napoli increased the pressure after that, with Østigård coming close in the 62 minute. The central defender burst forward before having a crack at goal. The shot took a deflection off of Guéhi and appeared to be heading wide, but goalkeeper Jack Butland took no chances, diving to push the ball out for a corner kick.
Only two minutes later, Giacomo Raspadori gave the Partenopei the lead. Gaetano dispossessed substitute James Tomkins in the middle of the park and Raspadori did the rest. The dynamic forward turned toward the edge of the area and blasted a strike into the top corner.
With Napoli ahead, Spalletti made two changes. Karim Zedadka replaced Mario Rui at left back and Alessio Zerbin replaced Politano, facilitating a change to a 4-4-2 formation.
Crystal Palace nearly equalized in the 71st minute. Once again Zaha got behind the Napoli back line, this time after Guéhi played a long ball over the top. Zaha was 1 v 1 with Alex Meret and tried to dribble around the keeper but his touch was too heavy. When he realized the ball was out of reach, Zaha threw himself to the ground in the hopes of winning a penalty kick, but there was no contact. Ultimately, the Crystal Palace forward was fortunate to not be cautioned for simulation.
Spalletti shifted his squad again in the 73rd minute, after replacing Eljif Elmas was Primavera player Matteo Marchisano. Spalletti moved Zerbin to the left side of the midfield and Zedadka to the right side of the midfield, thus allowing Marchisano to play at left back.
That proved to be a wise decision, as Zedadka was involved in the build up to Napoli’s third goal. The Algerian played a give-and-go with Zanoli on the right wing. Zanoli played a low, hard cross into the area and Raspadori caught Butland off guard with his quick finish.
With the 1-3 victory, Napoli wrapped up a successful retreat in Turkey.
Post Match
Crystal Palace coach Patrick Vieira commented after the match.
“Defensively we have a long way to go, but we are playing against a top Serie A team still involved in the Champions League. It was a really good test for us because that highlights the phases of the game that we have to improve and shows how we have to go more into details and be more solid defensively.
“The positive is that we defended well at times, but it is not consistent enough. We created situations, we had a couple of chances where we could have scored but we didn’t score.
“We are just a little bit immature in those kinds of phases. We concede goals at the wrong time and then when we had chances to score goals we didn’t take them. We have to grow up… Challenge wise we have to be more determined.”
