August 27, (THEWILL) – Victor Osimhen was on the scoresheet again as Napoli made a winning start to their Serie A home campaign on Saturday, defeating Sassuolo 2-0.
The Champions of Italy controlled the match from start to finish against an understrength Sassuolo side missing several key players. I Partenopei took the lead after just 16 minutes when Osimhen converted a penalty kick awarded by VAR. The 24-year-old sent his spot kick straight down the middle as Napoli grabbed an early advantage.
The hosts continued to press for more, with efforts from Giacomo Raspadori and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa coming close. In the second half, Sassuolo were reduced to 10 men after a foolish reaction by Maxime Lopez earned him a red card. Despite being a man up, Napoli initially struggled to add to their lead and Raspadori failed to convert Napoli’s second penalty of the tie.
However, the introduction of Kvicha Kvaratskhelia off the bench changed the game. Just minutes after coming on, the Georgian playmaker delivered a perfect assist for Giovanni Di Lorenzo to make it 2-0 four minutes after the hour mark.
Napoli remained in control for the rest of the match, defending stoutly and threatening on the counter attack. Osimhen nearly added a third but was denied by Andrea Consigli’s acrobatic save. The Champions opened their home campaign with a comfortable win to build on last week’s comeback victory against Frosinone.
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.
