Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia combined to give Napoli a 2-1 victory over struggling Cagliari on Saturday and propel their team into the Serie A Champions League qualifying places.
Napoli’s attacking stars, who were the driving force behind last season’s league title, scored a goal each as the reigning champions moved up to fourth in the table.
Kvaratskhelia scored the decisive goal in the 75th minute, six minutes after Osimhen opened the score with a header, and shortly after Leonardo Pavoletti equalized for the visiting team.
Walter Mazzarri’s side are two points ahead of Roma and Bologna, fifth and sixth respectively, who face each other on Sunday. This home victory is the third of the season for a Neapolitan team which has had some difficulties so far.
Matteo Politano has claimed Napoli’s title defense is not over, even though they trail league leaders Inter Milan by 11 points ahead of tonight’s encounter with Lazio.
“We are recovering ground little by little,” Politano told DAZN. “We’re taking it one game at a time, but we want to fight for the Scudetto. There’s still a long way to go.”
Claudio Ranieri’s Cagliari remain 16th, one point above the relegation zone and Empoli who travel to Turin for Saturday night’s match.
Despite a 30-minute kick-off delay due to high winds in Naples, which raised concerns about stadium security, Napoli won this match.
The turnstiles at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium remained closed longer than usual to allow inspection of the stadium roof. No major damage was seen and once the match got under way, Napoli pushed forward, but were met with resistance from Cagliari.
After missing several chances, Amir Rrahmani hit the post just before the half-hour mark, but Cagliari were still in the game and dangerous during their attacks.
Osimhen opened the scoring in the 69th minute when he powered a header through the hands of desperate Cagliari goalkeeper Simone Scuffet.
It was Osimhen’s second goal in as many matches in all competitions, suggesting he is fully recovered from his hamstring injury.
Neapolitan fans will be hoping that reports of a deal to extend Osimhen’s contract until 2026 are accurate. The young Nigerian striker is reportedly close to agreeing a new deal that would take his salary to €10m per year and include a release clause of around €130m.
Pavoletti, who propelled Cagliari out of the relegation zone last weekend, scored his fourth goal of the season three minutes later.
But the Neapolitan crowd quickly rose to their feet for Kvaratskhelia’s winning goal, which arrived after a superb delivery from Osimhen, followed by a low pass that his Georgian teammate catapulted into the net.
It was Kvaratskhelia’s first home goal since the end of September and gave Napoli their second consecutive home win after beating Braga in midweek to progress to the Champions League last 16 .