Napoli’s Super Eagles’ forward Victor Osimhen returned from his red card suspension to open the scoring for his Serie A side in the Monday night football matchday four tie at Dacia Arena in Udine that saw Napoli return home with a comfortable 4-0 win against Udinese.
The utterly dominant visiting team side earned a victory that allowed them continue to be on the list of teams that have maintained their perfect start to their respective season’s in Europe’s top leagues such as Ligue 1 Paris Saint-Germain and Liga Portugal’s Benfica with six wins in six games and Napoli with four in four.
The goals against Udinese on Monday came courtesy of Osimhen and Amir Rrahmani in the first half while Kalidou Koulibaly and Hirving Lozano completed the even split in the second period as the Partenopei inflicted the hosts’ first loss of the season upon them on their turf.
It was a commanding performance by Luciano Spalletti’s charges as they continued in that fine vein of form that they have been on as an absolute unit since the season began. They have beaten Venezia 2-0, Genoa 2-1 and came to the Udinese game on the back of a solid 2-1 defeat to Italian football greats Juventus.
Although Spalletti tempered down contention at this early stage for the Scudetto, claiming that his squad does not yet have the depth to mount such a challenge, the visitors put on a show to earn this victory.
The goal-scoring began when Mario Rui’s precise pass found Lorenzo Insigne who chipped it just above Marco Silvestri. Osimhen was at the right place and time to pounce on the loose ball and tap it over the line.
The second goal had the markings of a training ground, well-rehearsed goal move from a set-piece. Once again, Insigne was involved. He started the move by playing the ball short to Fabian Ruiz who fed Kalidou Koulibaly in the box. The centre-back promptly squared for Amir Rrahmani to eventually find the net.
Napoli was flying high with the horizon of another victory in their sights in the second half while Udinese were trying to find a way back. Then, Napoli scored a third with their left back Koulibaly involved again. Ruiz cut back to Koulibaly in the 52nd minute, giving him just enough space to fire it in the net.
There was still one more goal and it belonged to super substitute Lozano, who came off the bench to take Matteo Politano’s place in the 71st minute and was on the scoresheet in the 84th minute, to add gloss to an already fine night of football for the side.
The victory and their perfect start to the season sees Napoli claim the top of the Serie A table after matchday four. They are two points above both Inter and AC Milan and ten clear of Juventus.
