Napoli beats Cremonese 3-0 at Maradona and flies more than solitary to 59 points in the standings.
It is the sixth victory in a row for the Neapolitans, the result of a goal by Kvaratskhelia in the 21st minute, a doubling by Osimhen and a set by Elmas in the second half.
The Lombards, who had eliminated the Campania players from the Italian Cup, remain last in the standings with eight points, at -11 from the safety zone
.
The record
ANSA. it
Serie A: Napoli-Cremonese 3-0 - Football
Goals: in the pt 21' Kvaratskhelia;
in the st 20' Osimhen, 34' Elmas.
(HANDLE)
Napoli avenges the elimination from the Italian Cup suffered by Cremonese and by beating the Grigiorossi they ensure, pending the result of Sampdoria-Inter, to maintain at least the advantage over their closest rivals unchanged.
As if to say that for the leaders it is now an escape, even if Spalletti is at pains to say that we must proceed match after match.
The match was not easy because, as the coach had foreseen, Cremonese is well organized and adopts a very prudent attitude based on a blocked defence, difficult to unhinge.
Napoli also complained about a couple of decisions by referee Massimi (failure to grant a penalty kick and failure to give a second yellow card to a Cremonese player) which could have directed the match differently.
But the Azzurri constantly maintain the dominance of the game and ball possession.
The decisive difference is made by the overall qualities of Spalletti's team and the different technical-tactical caliber between the two teams.
Contrary to what he did a month ago in the Italian Cup when he had only fielded reserves, the Napoli coach sends the starting team onto the field and, in spite of superstition, his team wears the same shirt, the one made for Valentine's Day, with which they played against Cremonese in the Italian Cup and were eliminated.
Ballardini, for his part, was forced to make up for the absences of Okereke and Dessers and did not use Ciofani but the Afena Gyan-Tsadjont duo who ensured him speed and depth in counterattacks, the only tactical weapon to which the Cremonese team entrusted their offensive ambitions.
Ballardini's team is perched in their own half of the pitch, often even with all eleven men behind the ball line and Napoli aims to outflank their opponents by working on the side faces and keeping Lozano and Kvaratskhelia very wide.
And it was the Georgian who broke the deadlock in the 21st minute when he picked up the ball near the flag, aimed and overtook Sernicola and sent the ball into the net with a diagonal low shot.
In the first half of the game, the Azzurri built up more chances to score, with Di Lorenzo,
to which Carnesecchi rejects two conclusions, and with headers from Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia that send the ball over the crossbar.
In the end of the first half of the game, the Georgian, touched by Pickel, claims a penalty that the referee doesn't assign.
Napoli also disputed another decision by referee Massimi who at the beginning of the second half overlooked a harsh intervention by Vasquez, already booked, who came in with his foot hammered on Lozano.
However, Osimhen took care of putting things in order for his team and scored his sixth consecutive league goal in the 20th minute, deflecting the ball into the net on the goal line, after a header by Kim which became a decisive assist.
at 34'
