Napoli 2-1 Cagliari: Match Report and ratings as Insigne and Mertens paper over the cracks for Napoli
In a fairly turgid first half, which saw neither keeper called into action, Cagliari sat deep and allowed Napoli to dominate possession, and Napoli simply did not possess enough guile or creativity to come close to being able to break them down. The closest the home side came to fashioning an opening was when Younes took a chipped cross down neatly on his chest, before turning his man inside the box. He managed to get a shot away, but it was a weak effort that dribbled wide of the post. Napoli badly missed the intelligent passing of Fabian in central midfield, and looked entirely reliant on one of their forward players making something out of nothing if they were to break the deadlock.
The second half continued in much the same pattern, and while Napoli showed a little more urgency after the restart by committing more men forwards, they left gaps at the back. Just after the hour mark, Cagliari made the most of the space, when Barella produced a fantastic back heel, taking two defenders out of the game in the process, and leaving Pavoletti to tuck the ball home from the edge of the box.
Napoli brought on Fabian, Callejon and Milik, and that coupled with them going behind seemed to awaken them slightly. Fabian had a long range effort parried and Mertens tucked home the rebound but was adjudged offside. Milik then dragged an effort wide after some nice one touch passing in the build-up. Cragno then produced a truly world class save to deny Mertens, whose header he palmed onto the bar. Napoli finally managed to equalise in the 84th minute, when Ghoulam crossed to Mertens, whose header this time was too strong for Cragno to keep out. There was late VAR drama when Napoli appealed for a handball against Cacciatore, and after checking the replays the referee gave the penalty. Lorenzo Insigne stepped up to take the penalty, and dinked the ball home, while Cacciatore received a red card for his protests.
It was tough on Cagliari, who looked good value for at least a point, and the manner of the defeat will hurt them.
Despite the result tonight, Napoli will be left with more questions than answers from tonight’s performance. At times they looked completely devoid of any inspiration and struggled to break down a side that sat deep and invited Napoli on to them. Their passing was slow and too often sideways or backwards, and it lacked any sort of incision that was necessary to break through the solid Cagliari defence. But in the end they just about had enough to take all three points.