Eighth consecutive victory in the championship for Napoli : at the Castellani the Azzurri closed the deal early in the match and beat Empoli 2-0 , putting themselves once again 18 points ahead of second-placed Inter.
Spalletti doesn't change: the regulars on the pitch
The efforts of the Champions League do not influence Spalletti 's choices , who once again relies on his best men. So Meret between the posts, Di Lorenzo and Mario Rui on the wings, Rrahmani and Kim in the centre.
In midfield Zielinski , Anguissa and Lobotka . Lozano confirmed on the right with Kvaratskhelia on the left and Osimhen forward.
Zanetti opts for 4-3-1-2 with Vicar in goal, to Lupert e Ismaili the arduous task of containing osimhen, while Ebuehi e Parisi they are the full-backs. Marine, Henderson e Haas they are the three of a midfield without a captain Bandinelli. Baldanzi acts in the three-quarter line behind Satriano e Little ones, who replaces the injured person Caputo.
Own goal and Osimhen, Napoli one-two and after half an hour it's 2-0
The script of the match was clear from the first minutes: Napoli took control of the game, while Empoli defended and tried to strike on the counterattack.
And the Azzurri only needed their first real chance to score. Kvara 's cross found Zielinski , who volleyed it past Osimhen , who was beaten to the ball by Ismajli , who deflected it into his own net. It was an own goal , making it 1-0.
Five minutes later, Henderson warmed Meret 's gloves from long range, but it was too little to scare the Azzurri. As usual, Osimhen took care of putting the match in the bag with a second goal.
Kvara's shot from outside the box is parried poorly by Vicario and Victor doesn't forgive, tapping in the winning tap-in to make it 2-0 . In the 34th minute, the Nigerian misses out on a brace again: one-on-one with Vicario, this time he responds by deflecting the ball into a corner.
Following the corner, Kim jumped higher than anyone else and hit the crossbar, once again coming close to making it three. The score therefore remained unchanged: Napoli were two up at half-time.
The Azzurri continued to push forward at the start of the second half: Anguissa threatened Vicario with a low shot from long range that went just wide, Lozano did the same , also missing the target. In the 60th minute, Osimhen, launched in depth, scored the third goal, but was offside.
All still: the score remains 2-0.
Mario Rui sent off in the 65th minute: reaction foul on Caputo
In the 65th minute, a dramatic turn of events occurred in what was a relatively calm and on-track match for Napoli: Mario Rui was sent off . The Portuguese full-back was pushed by Caputo and, from the ground, kicked out, hitting the Empoli attacker in the lower parts: a reactive foul that the referee punished with a straight red card.
The Azzurri therefore continued with a numerical inferiority for the final 20 minutes. To remedy this, Spalletti's first two moves arrived immediately: Olivera and Elmas came on , Kvaratskhelia and Lozano went off.
Later on, it was Simeone 's turn to replace Osimhen . Then, in injury time, Ndombele and Gaetano made way for the match.
Napoli doesn't suffer, on the contrary, they continue to attack: repeated chances for Elmas and Simeone himself , who comes on with the right attitude. Empoli does n't even threaten the goal defended by Meret : therefore it ends 2-0 after 6 minutes of added time.
