Napoli v Inter Milan
Napoli ease past Inter with early onslaught to reach sixth
Napoli scored twice in the opening five minutes en route to a 3-0 victory over Inter Milan at the Stadio San Paolo.
The hosts swiftly grabbed the lead through Piotr Zielinski's second-minute strike and captain Marek Hamsik then doubled the advantage three minutes later.
Lorenzo Insigne added a third six minutes after the break -- his fourth goal in three Serie A games -- as Napoli moved up to sixth in the table.
Stefano Pioli's Inter, brought back down to earth after registering their maiden win under him last time out by defeating Fiorentina 4-2, remain eighth.
Zielinski notched his first goal for the club he joined over the summer when he connected with a knockdown from Jose Callejon, who had been picked out by a lovely delivery from Hamsik.
Zielinski then produced a fine through-ball for Hamsik and the skipper drilled a low shot past Samir Handanovic.
Inter looked shell-shocked for a while and vulnerable to conceding again, before beginning to threaten through their captain Mauro Icardi, who fired one effort off-target and was twice thwarted by Jose Reina.
With Napoli then back on the front foot just before the interval, Hamsik cracked a strike toward goal from outside the box that Handanovic batted away.
And after Ivan Perisic fired wide of Reina's goal early in the second half, Insigne made it 3-0 with a clever left-footed finish that was teed up by Raul Albiol.
Handanovic produced a subsequent save to deny Hamsik, with his opposite number Reina then doing well to get down and block an Antonio Candreva attempt.
Perisic tried his luck on a couple of further occasions, but could not convert.
Game Information
- Referees:
- Nicola Rizzoli
Italian Serie A Table
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GD | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internazionale | 36 | 27 | 4 | 5 | +54 | 85 |
| Napoli | 35 | 21 | 7 | 7 | +19 | 70 |
| Juventus | 36 | 19 | 11 | 6 | +29 | 68 |
| AC Milan | 35 | 19 | 10 | 6 | +19 | 67 |
| AS Roma | 35 | 20 | 4 | 11 | +23 | 64 |
| Como | 35 | 17 | 11 | 7 | +31 | 62 |
| Atalanta | 35 | 14 | 13 | 8 | +15 | 55 |
| Lazio | 36 | 13 | 12 | 11 | +2 | 51 |
| Udinese | 36 | 14 | 8 | 14 | -1 | 50 |
| Bologna | 35 | 14 | 7 | 14 | +1 | 49 |
| Sassuolo | 36 | 14 | 7 | 15 | -2 | 49 |
| Torino | 36 | 12 | 8 | 16 | -18 | 44 |
| Parma | 35 | 10 | 12 | 13 | -17 | 42 |
| Genoa | 35 | 10 | 10 | 15 | -8 | 40 |
| Fiorentina | 35 | 8 | 13 | 14 | -11 | 37 |
| Cagliari | 36 | 9 | 10 | 17 | -15 | 37 |
| Lecce | 36 | 8 | 8 | 20 | -24 | 32 |
| Cremonese | 35 | 6 | 10 | 19 | -26 | 28 |
| Hellas Verona | 35 | 3 | 11 | 21 | -33 | 20 |
| Pisa | 35 | 2 | 12 | 21 | -38 | 18 |

