Chievo 1-3 Napoli, Koulibaly puts Juventus' Scudetto party on hold, and seals Chievo's relegation
Napoli dominated the opening period, against a Chievo side that looked completely resigned to relegation and who seemed to be going through the motions today. The first chance of the game came when Insigne’s cross field ball was cushioned down by Mertens into the path of Zielinski who was unable to keep his effort down and it sailed over the bar.
Napoli took the lead from a corner in the 16th minute, when Koulibaly stole a march on the Chievo defence and flicked a header in at the near post. It was a very poorly defended set piece from Chievo and set the tone for the rest of the game, where they struggled repeatedly to deal with crosses into the box.
Chiriches had a fantastic chance to double Napoli’s lead from another set-piece, when he was found completely unmarked by a beautiful Insigne free kick. The Romanian completely misjudged his header though, and much to his embarrassment, it ended up nearer to the corner flag than the Chievo goal.
After a slow start to the second half, Milik picked up the ball in space outside the Chievo area and curled a delightful effort past Sorrentino and into the bottom corner to make it 2-0 Napoli. Callejon saw a fine volley tipped over the bar not long after that, as Napoli began to find a semblance of fluidity.
Their increase in tempo eventually brought further reward, when another corner was flicked on at the near post by Younes, and Sorrentino palmed the ball into the path of Koulibaly who hammered home his second of the match.
Chievo gave their fans some consolation late on when Cesar headed in completely unmarked from another corner.
Napoli will know that if they are to overcome Arsenal on Thursday they will have to play a lot better than they did tonight, but their first win in 4 will help lift morale ahead of the Europa League quarter-final decider. Their task was undeniably made easier tonight by Chievo’s indisputable lack of flair, defensive organisation and desire, but they got the job done. Juventus’ Scudetto party will have to wait, and in the second half they started to look back to their best.