December 28, (THEWILL) — Napoli climbed to second place in Serie A after defeating Cremonese 2-0 away from home on Sunday. The victory moved them to within one point of league leaders AC Milan and increased the pressure on Inter ahead of their fixture later in the day.
Rasmus Hojlund opened the scoring in the 13th minute when the hosts failed to clear Matteo Politano’s cross into the penalty area. The Danish striker reacted first to slot home from close range. Cremonese almost responded instantly through Matteo Bianchetti, whose half-volley flew narrowly over the crossbar in their best opportunity of the match.
Hojlund squandered a chance to double his tally shortly afterwards, failing to control a long clearance from Vanja Milinkovic-Savic when clean through on Emil Audero. He made amends just before half-time, however, finishing calmly from the edge of the six-yard box after meeting Scott McTominay’s flick-on.
The Dane came close to completing his hat-trick early in the second period but found only the side-netting after holding off Federico Baschirotto. McTominay later forced Audero into a strong save, though the outcome was already settled.
Cremonese offered little resistance throughout the contest, allowing Napoli to claim all three points with relative comfort. The visitors now look well-placed to challenge at the top of the table going forward.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
