November 08, (THEWILL) – A resilient Empoli backline meant that Napoli needed an easy penalty to give them their 10th straight Serie A victory on Tuesday, and Piotr Zielinski added a second to seal the victory late in the game.
The Partenopei had lost their last three encounters with Empoli in league play but the Gli Azzurri was without Mattia Destro, Koni De Winter, and Lorenzo Tonelli on Tuesday. There were injury concerns for the hosts who were also without Kvicha Kvaratskhelia and Amir Rrahmani.
Osimhen was instrumental to the opener as he stepped in front of Razvan Marin, catching him off guard and prompting the midfielder to bump into him from behind and concede a penalty. Hirving Lozano converted the resulting penalty for 1-0.
Five minutes later, Sebastiano Luperto, a former Napoli defender, was issued his second yellow card for a late tackle on Lozano, making matters worse for Empoli and an Osimhen header on a looping Mario Rui cross was stopped by an incredible goal-line clearance by Alberto Grassi. Zielinski finished off the game in the 88th minute from the centre of the box, assisted by a cross from Lozano.
Empoli will attempt to end this pre-World Cup period with a win on Friday against Cremonese, as will Napoli when they host Udinese on Saturday.
The Partenopei had lost their last three encounters with Empoli in league play by the Tuscans were without Mattia Destro, Koni De Winter, and Lorenzo Tonelli on Tuesday. There were injury concerns for the hosts who were also without Kvicha Kvaratskhelia and Amir Rrahmani.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
