Napoli triumph at the Maradona
Napoli beat Torino and secured their second consecutive win in six days. The Azzurri immediately took the lead thanks to Alisson Santos, who repeated his feat against Roma with a sharp, precise right-footed shot at the near post. Napoli’s second goal came in the second half of the game with a turn and a finish by Eljif Elmas from inside the box. Torino pulled one back with Cesare Casadei late in the game, but Napoli kept everything under control and secured a well-deserved victory.
Here is what our coach Antonio Conte had to say at the end of the game:
“The team put up a great performance. We proved that we never lose our composure or strength, even in emergency situations. We dominated the game and I’m very satisfied with the way the lads played.
“Having [Kevin] De Bruyne and [Andre-Frank] Anguissa back is very comforting. They and [Romelu] Lukaku were out for several months. But we never tried to come up with excuses. We won the Italian Super Cup. We’re high up in the table and we continue our journey.
On Alisson’s goal: “He is adapting to the team’s playing style. He is very fast and we need to get him into his best areas of the pitch for him to be effective. He has great qualities and needs to grow because he’s young and can make great progress.
“I want to congratulate Elmas. He is playing in all positions and he’s been playing for 18 consecutive games. He’s an intelligent player who follows all the instructions he’s given and I’m very happy that tonight his hard work was crowned with a goal.”
Eljif Elmas shared his joy:
“I’m very happy I scored, but most importantly I’m happy we won because it was very important for us to secure this victory for the table and to try to earn a spot in the Champions League.
“I want to thank the coach for his kind words. I do whatever he says in terms of tactics and in every position I must play in. I enjoy playing in different positions and most importantly I’m happy that I can help the team.”
Tonight’s goal has been Alisson Santos’ second for Napoli:
“It was another huge feeling following the goal I scored against Roma. This time I celebrated three times: for my mother, my brother and Ronaldinho, who supports me with great affection.
“I like playing for Napoli. My team-mates are great: they support me and have promised that they’ll help me reach my full potential. I really love being part of this wonderful group and I hope we’ll keep this up and reach our objectives.”
Matteo Politano provided the assist for Elmas’ goal:
“I’m happy with our performance and above all that we picked up those three points. The coach teased me about my header to Elmas and said that I’ve finally played well. It means a lot coming from him.
“We dominated the game for over an hour and it’s a shame that we conceded a goal in the end. But our goal was to win and now we must keep this up.”
FINAL RESULT 2-1 (HT: 1-0)
Scorers: Alisson Santos 7, Elmas 68, Casadei 87
NAPOLI: Milinkovic-Savic; Juan Jesus, Buongiorno, Olivera; Politano (Mazzocchi 84), Gilmour, Elmas, Spinazzola (Gutierrez 69) Vergara (Anguissa 46), Alisson Santos (De Bruyne 79), Hojlund (Lukaku 84).
Coach: Conte.
TORINO: Paleari; Coco, Ismajli, Ebosse; Lazaro, Gineitis (Casadei 67), Prati (Anjorin 79), Vlasic, Obrador (Pedersen 57), Simeone (Kulenovic 67), Zapata (Adams 57).
Coach: D’Aversa.
Referee: Fabbri
Booked: Gineitis, Ismajli, Lazaro
