Napoli defeats Torino to maintain its lead in Serie A. Zambo Anguissa scored a pair of goals early on, and Kvaratskhelia then went on one of his signature solo runs.
Going into the break for international duty, the Partenopei and the leaders of Serie A were tied. Giacomo Raspadori started up front because Victor Osimhen was still injured and Matteo Politano was recovering from an injury. Torino missed Mergim Vojvoda, Samuele Ricci, and Pietro Pellegri, but Aleksei Miranchuk was back.
In just six minutes, Mario Rui and Kvaratskhelia on the left combined to float in a cross for the head of Zambo Anguissa from 8 yards, giving Napoli their first goal.
The midfielder was obviously motivated because he quickly picked up the ball just past midfield and ran toward the right, beating Vanja Milinkovic-Savic at the near post. Anguissa became the first Napoli player since Daniel Fonseca in January 1994 against Cremonese to score two goals in the first 15 minutes of a Serie A game.
After that horrifying beginning, Torino awoke, Alex Meret squatted to block a daisy-cutter from Nikola Vlasic, and Kim Min-jae made two crucial blocks on Vlasic and Miranchuk.
Zielinski’s shot was bravely charged down by Sasa Lukic with his face, and Amir Rrahmani’s corner-kick nod went just wide.
When Zielinski flicked the ball on for Kvaratskhelia to gather inside his own half, run down the left, and hold off Lukic, the Italian team added a third goal. Kvaratskhelia stroked the left-foot finish across the face of goal and in off the far post.
Before halftime, Torino did manage to get one back when Antonio Sanabria accidentally assisted Wilfried Singo in breaking through Alex Meret’s gloves from close range.
Sanabria nearly scored again just before the break, but his header skimmed the far post. Torino then came out firing in the second half.
Raspadori’s appeals for penalties were denied because he appeared to collide with Lukic more often than the other way around. Ivan Juric, the coach for Torino, was physically restrained by assistant manager Matteo Paro before being dismissed for dissent.
Meret flew to palm Nemanja Radonjic’s scorcher out from under the bar after Toro refused to give up, and Milinkovic-Savic did the same to Hirving Lozano.
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