UCL 3-1 Napoli: Allegri's men collapse in Champions League
The Partenopei lost their opening Champions League fixture 1-0 at home to Arsenal, but were boosted by Saturday's 3-0 Serie A win over Frosinone. Scott McTominay had his first start five weeks on from heart surgery to correct a mild benign arrhythmia, but Frank Anguissa, Mathias Olivera, Antonio Vergara, Alisson Santos, Costantino Favasuli and Alessandro Buongiorno were out of action.
Giovane wasadded to the UEFA listand thrown straight into the starting XI. Goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi was expected to start, but withdrew from the squad after it was revealed his home was targeted in an armed robbery late last night with his family present.
See how the game unfolded on the Liveblog. Former Juventus defender Renato Veiga at full stretch prevented the Giovane roll across reaching Rasmus Hojlund, but the opener came soon after.
Kevin De Bruyne's short corner was floated to the back post by Billy Gilmour, where the Amir Rrahmani header was sensationally palmed onto the underside of the crossbar, but the Napoli defender was ready to turn in the rebound. There was a frantic 60 seconds of action, as first Rasmus Hojlund saw his header on the Matteo Politano cross bounce off the frame of the goal.
Moments later, Politano's horrible back-pass was intercepted by Mikautadze, who drew Vanja Milinkovic-Savic out to score from the tightest of angles into the empty net. It was end to end, with McTominay's free header flashing just wide, and dangerous counter-attacks from Mikautadze and Politano.
Luiz Junior was very alert after the restart to rush off his line and push the Billy Gilmour through ball off the feet of Hojlund, while Benoit Badiashile made a decisive interception to stop a tap-in from six yards. Napoli struggled to break Villarreal down in the second half, then failed to make the most of a good situation when playing against nine men for a few minutes over the new delayed substitution rules.
De Bruyne's cross to the back post grazed both the head of Lorenzo Lucca and the studs of Di Lorenzo, but instead Villarreal added a third late on. Nathan Saliba's pass found Ayoze Perez, a heavy first touch turned into an accidental assist for Tani Oluwaseyi to sweep in relatively undisturbed.
Rrahmani 8 (N), Mikautadze 23 (V), Mourino 26 (V), Oluwaseyi 86 (V) 1st half 8' Amir Rrahmani Georges Mikautadze 23' Santiago Mouriño (Assist: Gerard Moreno) 26' Georges Mikautadze 33' 2nd half 55' Giovane 62' Kevin De Bruyne Nathan Saliba 67' 85' Giovanni Di Lorenzo Tani Oluwaseyi (Assist: Ayoze Pérez) 86' VIL NAP 1 Goalkeeper 20 Defender 6 Defender 15 Defender 10 Midfielder 68' 24 Midfielder 18 Midfielder 84' 12 Midfielder 14 Midfielder 83' 9 Attacker 63' 7 Attacker 63' 32 Goalkeeper 13 Defender 5 Defender 22 Defender 16 Defender 72' 6 Midfielder 72' 11 Midfielder 8 Midfielder 60' 23 Attacker 60' 21 Attacker 61' 19 Attacker 11 Attacker 2 Defender 5 Midfielder 13 Goalkeeper 16 Midfielder 27 Attacker 28 Attacker 21 Attacker 63' 3 Defender 63' 8 Defender 68' 22 Attacker 83' 23 Defender 84' 1 Goalkeeper 14 Goalkeeper 31 Defender 37 Defender 60' 70 Attacker 60' 7 Attacker 61' 68 Midfielder 72' 20 Attacker 72' Post navigation