Edinson Cavani helps Napoli down Cagliari to close the gap on top of table - Serie A update
A brace from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Napoli-c40003 beat Cagliari 2-1 in a Serie A encounter at the Stadio San Paolo on Sunday evening. The win takes the Azzurri to the third spot in the league table and they now remain just three points behind the league leaders
A.C Milan.
Walter Mazzarri made one change to his starting line-up from the 3-1 win against Parma last weekend. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Andrea-Dossena-c5683 in a 3-4-2-1 formation for the hosts. In the other dugout Roberto Donadoni made several changes to his team
from 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Udinese last weekend. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robert-c31222 Acquafresca started upfront in a 4-3-3 setup for the visitors.
After a slow start by both teams, the first real chance of the game was witnessed in the 16th minute. Acquafresca sprung the offside trap to go through on goal but his curling shot went just wide of the target. Napoli continued to dominate possession
as they came close to scoring in the 21st minute. Cavani played a lovely cross for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ezequiel-Lavezzi-c13073, whose header from a tight angle went a few yards over the bar.
Both teams waited for their chances as Napoli came close to taking the lead after a patient build up play after the half hour mark. Cavani fed Lavezzi just outside the box and the Argentinean forward tried an audacious long range shot, which went miles over
the goal. The last chance of the half fell for Cagliari when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lorenzo-Ariaudo-c22420 played a lovely cross into the box but Acquafresca stabbed his shot wide of the target.
The hosts were awarded a penalty kick immediately after the resumption of second half. Ariaudo tugged Lavezzi inside the box and referee pointed to the spot and showed the defender a yellow card. Cavani stepped up and sent http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michael-Agazzi-c25264 the wrong way to
make it 1-0 for the Azzurri.
Two minutes later, the hosts had a wonderful opportunity to double their lead after Lavezzi played a lovely low cross to Marek Hamsik, who saw his shot blocked by a Cagliari defender from a clear position.
The Rossoblu’s levelled the scoring in the 56th minute. Acquafresca controlled a lovely cross from Simone Missiroli and wrong footed http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Paolo-Cannavaro-c29080 before drilling a low finish past the goalkeeper to make it 1-1.
It took just five minutes for Napoli to regain their lead as Hamsik passed a lofted ball for Cavani who played a delicate chipped shot over the goalkeeper’s head to make it 2-1 for the hosts. The Uruguayan took his tally to 29 goals for the season with this
goal.
The Azzurri dominated the proceedings and came extremely close of doubling their lead but Cavani headed Lavezzi’s cross over the bar. The game slowed up during the later periods as Napoli went onto win 2-1.
Napoli will play http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lazio-c39775 on 3rd April, while Cagliari will take on Genoa the same day.
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