After beating 10-man Sampdoria 2-0 on Sunday, Napoli widened its lead over the competition by seven points. Sampdoria honored the late greats Gianluca Vialli and Sinisa Mihajlovic.
Victor Osimhen gave Napoli the lead in the 19th minute, and eight minutes later, Eljif Elmas scored a perfectly-placed penalty to give Genoa victory at a soggy Stadio Luigi Ferraris. The victory increases Napoli’s advantage over Juventus, who defeated Udinese on Saturday and will visit Naples on Friday.
Nigerian forward Osimhen scored his tenth league goal of the season after being the victim of a terrible foul from Tomas Rincon, who was sent in the 38th minute for knocking the 24-year-old to the ground as he raced toward the goal.
After losing to Inter Milan on Wednesday, Luciano Spalletti’s team rebounded, dampening an emotional evening for Sampdoria supporters who waved goodbye to two of their most beloved former players.
For Sampdoria fans, Vialli‘s death from pancreatic cancer on Friday at the age of 58 was especially devastating because the former Italian forward is one of the club’s all-time greats and was a major contributor to their lone league title victory in 1991.
Sampdoria’s first home game since the passing of Mihajlovic, a mid-1990s player who later managed the team, was played on Sunday. Mihajlovic passed away from leukemia last month.
Fans in the stadium screamed the names of both players as a wreath was laid in their honor by obviously moved coach Dejan Stankovic as the Samp players warmed up for the game wearing shirts with Vialli’s number nine. “Striker, Champion, Legend” read one enormous sign in the stands dedicated to Vialli, and another read “Thanks to you, we know that nothing is impossible.”
Legend was written on a large banner that hung in the stands in honor of Vialli, and another read, “Thanks to you, we know that nothing is impossible.”
Sampdoria are currently 18th in the Serie A table, six points behind Spezia who are currently in the relegation zone and drew 0-0 with Lecce in similarly drizzly conditions. As a result, Serie A survival is starting to look more and more difficult.
When goalkeeper Emil Audero brilliantly blocked Matteo Politano’s penalty attempt in the sixth minute, the hosts were saved. However, Osimhen gave the away team the lead, and from that point on, Napoli took complete control.
After Osimhen’s opening goal, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia should have outperformed Audero in a one-on-one situation, and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa was unfortunate to see his thunderous drive skim just wide. After being down to 10, Sampdoria sat back and hoped to steal a goal off the counter until Elmas sealed the victory.
