Napoli has reignited their Europa League survival hope with another victory in Poland over Legia Warsaw.
The Serie A leads started sluggishly in Poland, but two penalties, goals from Hirving Lozano and Adam Ounas turned it around for the 4-1 victory. The win has now made them leapfrog Legia Warsaw at the top of the Europa League group.
The sack of coach Czeslaw Michniewicz seems not to have made any difference as Marek Golebiewski, who was promoted from the reserve squad also recorded a loss.
The new coach made a good start when his side took an early lead. Mladenovic beat the offside trap and burst down the left. He then cut back inside Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and pulled back for Mahir Emreli who shot into the net the first time with his left boot from 10 yards.
Napoli were presented with a double chance to equalise but failed to take none of them. Piotr Zielinski’s shot from 12 yards hit the crossbar before blasting the rebound over.
Napoli got into the game and continued to create chances. The goalie of Warsaw held Anguissa’s header from a corner, while Hirving Lozano turned over from a promising position.
The goalie also stopped Eljif Elmas’ angled drive with his legs at the near post.
Legia also attempted t score the second goal but were unlucky not to go 2-0 up straight after the restart. Mladenovic was at it again when he pulled back from the left for Yuri Ribeiro’s snapshot to bounce off the near post.
Napoli were awarded a penalty when Josue was barged Zielinski over just inside the box. The Poland international stepped up and converted the spot-kick himself to equalise.
Napoli continued to look for the winner as Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s cross was fingertipped off the head of Petagna.
After some close-range efforts from the visitors, they were awarded the second penalty in the match when Josue again gave away a spot-kick with his incredibly clumsy attempted overhead kick clearance. The referee awarded it to the visitors because Matteo Politano had the advantage.
This time around, Dries Mertens stepped up and finished the job with a cheeky Panenka-style chip to turn the game around completely.
Lozano then got from a sweet team move started by unselfish Petagna. After being sent clear by a Mertens through ball, Pentagna unselfishly rolled it across for Lozano to tap in.
Adam Ounas then marked his return from the treatment table with a goal. After his left-foot shot was charged down from 10 yards, he flicked up the rebound with his left and volleyed in with the right boot.
Written by Oladipupo Mojeed
