January 17, (THEWILL) — Napoli returned to winning form in Serie A with a slender 1-0 victory over Sassuolo at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Stanislav Lobotka’s seventh-minute goal proved sufficient for Antonio Conte’s side to close the gap on leaders Inter to six points.
The Slovakian midfielder opened the scoring in style, volleying home from 18 yards after Sassuolo goalkeeper Arijanet Muric could only parry Eljif Elmas’ initial shot. Lobotka had not found the net in Italy’s top division since August 2022.
Sassuolo responded through Armand Lauriente, whose low effort demanded a sharp stop from Vanja Milinkovic-Savic. The Napoli goalkeeper denied Aster Vrancx before the interval and then stretched to tip Luca Lipani’s drive wide four minutes after the restart.
Napoli created opportunities to extend their lead. Scott McTominay sent a speculative long-range strike narrowly off target, whilst Pasquale Mazzocchi’s overhead kick drew a save from Muric.
Conte’s men held firm to claim all three points despite Sassuolo’s efforts. The result moved Napoli closer to the Serie A summit in their pursuit of another Scudetto.
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.
