A Blue Monday- Napoli thrash Cagliari 5-0
By: Mark Manganiello Twitter @manganiellomark
In an infrequent Monday night fixture, Napoli were eager to get back on the pitch and battle with Cagliari in Sardinia. Napoli had previously matched up quite well against the Sardinians averaging three or more goals in their last three meetings. Despite this, it was no easy task for Sarri’s boys early on as Cagliari had many chances in the opening few minutes. Former Napoli target man, Pavoletti had a few chances but Reina came out strong to keep them in the game.
Jose Callejon opened up the scoring in the 29th minute with a nice finish into the bottom left corner from a dangerous pass by Allan into the box. Dries Mertens then poked the ball into the back of the net in the 42nd minute tallying his 15th goal of the campaign. No Belgian forward has reached his number in any of Europe’s top five leagues this season. In the 61st minute Marek Hamsik bent in a nice strike into the top left corner to make it 3-0 for the Azzurri. This was very splendid to watch as the statistics show that all 11 Napoli players on the field were involved in the passing build-up play leading to the goal.
Ten minutes later Lorenzo Insigne finally registered a goal on the scoresheet with an eloquent finish from the penalty spot. Then in the 90th minute Mario Rui who played exceptionally well made it 5-0 from a wonderful free kick outside the box curling it into the top right corner bringing Sarri and the Napoli players to their feet. This was a huge win for the Partenopei that revealed a strong determination to keep on fighting for the scudetto and maintain a stronghold on first place. However, there are no easy tasks coming up for Sarri as they face Roma and Inter next which will very likely determine their fate as champions in May.
ForzaNapoliSempre!!!!
