Napoli 3-2 Udinese: Udinese with too-little too late in tense finish

Napoli beat Udinese with a 3-2 victory on Saturday at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Napoli were looking to continue their good run after winning their previous two matches against Empoli at home and Atalanta away, by 2-0 and 2-1 respectively. Udinese, meanwhile, had managed to pick up a point in their matchup with Spezia Calcio. Napoli are currently 1st with 41 points from 15 matches, while Udinese sit in 8th, with 24 points from 15.

Gli Azzurri found the net first, when Victor Osimhen found the net on the 15 minute mark. However they weren’t finished yet and Piotr Zielinski made it 2-0 on the 31 minute mark. The first half ended 2-0.

Napoli once more applied the pressure in the second period and were rewarded, when Eljif Elmas found the net, at 58 minutes. However, Bianconeri refused to lie down and managed to pull back a goal from Ilija Nestorovski after 79 minutes. Udinese then netted again and hit back though thanks to a goal from Lazar Samardzic, 82 minutes in to give a final score of 3-2.

Substitutions for Napoli included Mario Rui, Leo Ostigard, Matteo Politano and Tanguy Ndombele for Mathias Olivera, Juan Jesus, Hirving Lozano and Piotr Zielinski, respectively. Udinese brought on Isaac Success, Lazar Samardzic, Ilija Nestorovski and Mato Jajalo, to replace Gerard Deulofeu, Tolgay Arslan, Beto and Walace.

There were bookings for Juan Jesus and Mario Rui from Napoli. For Udinese, Walace, Roberto Pereyra and Enzo Ebosse saw yellow.

Napoli will next play Internazionale away, with Udinese facing Empoli at home.