On the pitch
Cagliari-Napoli 0-1 LIVE
At 65' Osimhen scores
The first half was lacking in emotion
, with Cagliari very compact in their own half and Napoli moving the ball around in search of the right opening.
However, the home team had the best opportunities, which also found the opening goal thanks to an own goal by Rrahmani, influenced however by Lapadula's offside position;
goal therefore annulled by referee Pairetto after viewing it on the VAR monitor.
In the final Meret collides with Juan Jesus, sending him back to the ground
In the 43rd minute Luvumbo makes a mistake.
He passes the ball inside the Napoli area with Meret who collides with Juan Jesus and remains on the ground: the ball lands on the head of Luvumbo who, with an empty net, incredibly puts it wide.
In the 32nd minute Cagliari took the lead with an own goal by Amir Rrahmani but Pairetto went to the VAR and canceled out the goal.
Opportunity for Cagliari in the 16th minute.
Throw-in taken quickly by the rossoblù with Luvumbo running alone with the ball at his feet on the left, he crosses to the center, bypassing Olivera towards the far post where Jankto hits the header but goes wide.
At the Unipol Domus in Cagliari two teams face each other in search of important points
.
The home team, coached by Claudio Ranieri, is in the relegation zone and must take advantage of the stoppage of some of the teams positioned slightly higher in the standings.
Napoli, on the other hand, sees today the championship debut of coach Francesco Calzona, who must remedy a position in the league that is not positive for the Neapolitans.
Cagliari regained an important point last day against Udinese, with Ranieri's team having previously come off four consecutive defeats.
Gianluca Gaetano, a midfielder borrowed from Napoli, scored the equalizer against the Friulians.
Napoli enters the match ninth in the standings, with the last home draw 1-1 with Genoa which cost Walter Mazzarri the bench.
This week, the Neapolitans faced Barcelona for the first leg of the Champions League round of 16: Calzona's debut on the bench saw his team draw 1-1 against the Blaugrana.
The formations
Cagliari
sets up with a 4-3-1-2: Scuffet – Nandez, Mina, Dossena, Augello – Deiola, Makoumbou, Jankto – Gaetano – Luvumbo, Lapadula
.
Ranieri has a four-man defense with Nandez and Augello on either side of Mina and Dossena and with Scuffet between the posts.
Deiola, Makoumbou and Jankto will act on the midfield line.
On the three-quarter line he again touches Gaetano, who will move behind Luvumbo and Lapadula.
Napoli
responds with a 4-3-3: Meret – Mazzocchi, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus, Olivera – Anguissa, Lobotka, Zielinski – Raspadori, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia
.
Calzona decides to field Raspadori from the first minute to complete the trident with Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia.
In the middle of the field the director will be Lobotka, with Anguissa and Zielinski in the role of midfielders.
In defense, Juan Jesus wins the run-off with Natan and will partner Rrahmani, while Mazzocchi and Olivera will be on the full-backs.
Between the posts here is Meret.
Eve
A debut in Serie A as a coach for Francesco Calzona, a debut in the championship in 2024 for Victor Osimhen who is making a clear recovery after a slight flu.
These are two of the elements that characterize Napoli's trip to Cagliari, the first step of the 14 championship matches that the new Italian coach has ahead of him to try to climb to European qualification for next season.
The dream remains the super comeback towards fourth place, today occupied by Bologna who however have played two more games: the real objective is Atalanta, fifth, nine points ahead.
An abyss that Calzona however wants to face by asking his team to always give their best.
The coach did not speak today, but continued his work on his fifth day as Italian coach after his debut against Barcelona.
There Osimhen had a flash that earned him a draw in the Champions League, now the coach wants to start seeing a more orderly, compact game, ready to defend but above all to find the best way to shoot.
The statistics of the Champions League evening are in fact impressive: a single shot made by Napoli, that of Osimhen's goal, to which is added only the header just wide by Anguissa in the final.
An attack without conclusions is a failed attack, which Calzona does not accept.
This is why the coach demands a team that doesn't build just to give a ball to the left for Kvaratskhelia or to the right for Osimhen in view of their cross.
We must also focus on central penetration or outside shots, especially against the Sardinian team who have lost four of their last five matches, conceding 13 goals.
Calzona therefore wants the first real answers on the pitch from a Napoli team from which he expects without appeal two victories against Cagliari and Sassuolo and then presents itself in a more solid manner for the match against Juventus.
The new manager demands teamwork from everyone, as seen from the poorly made substitution of Kvaratskhelia against Barcelona, taken over by Lingstrom who demonstrated the same speed and greater dialogue with his teammates in attack.
For the Georgian there will be a chance for redemption in Cagliari, meeting up with Osimhen who trained today after a day of fever and is the favorite to play.
The changes concern the suspended Di Lorenzo, replaced by Mazzocchi, but also the choice for the third midfielder in addition to Lobotka and Anguissa: Cajuste was not convincing, Traoré more but he is not yet at the top physically, so part of the match could fall to Zielisnki, who would like a good end to the season before saying goodbye to Napoli at the end of the season.
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