Napoli cruised through their Coppa Italia second-round tie on Thursday, making short work of Palermo at the Stadio Maradona.
Cyril Ngonge struck an early brace inside the opening 15 minutes to put the Azzurri in the driving seat.
A Juan Jesus header shortly before the break made the scoreline comfortable, then in the second half David Neres broke his Napoli duck to make it 4-0.
Scott McTominay got in on the action with his own maiden goal for the club after coming off the bench to wrap up a 5-0 victory.
Antonio Conte's side will now face Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico in the last 16 in December.
Napoli 5-0 Palermo (HT 3-0)
Scorers: Ngonge 7, 12, Juan Jesus 42, Neres 70, McTominay 77.
NAPOLI: Caprile; Mazzocchi, Rafa Marin, Juan Jesus, Spinazzola, Gilmour, Lobotka (Anguissa 57), Neres (Kvaratskhelia 76), Raspadori (McTominay 76), Ngonge (Zerbin 57), Simeone (Lukaku 76).
Coach: Conte.
PALERMO: Sirigu; Peda, Baniya (Lucioni 72), Ceccaroni, Buttaro, Vasic, Ranocchia (Gomes 63), Saric (Segre 72), Lund; (Pierozzi 84), Le Douaron (Insigne 63), Brunori.
Coach: Dionisi.
Referee: Collu (Palermo).
Booked: Marin.
Sent off: Vasic (58).
Antonio Conte had the following to say after the match:
“We got off to an excellent start, showing real focus and determination from the off. This is a squad with great quality and the players who have joined in the last few months have settled in really well. We're building solid foundations with players who have injected fresh energy. It's been two and a half months since our pre-season training camp and I'm sure the work is paying off – we're working really hard.
“I decided to rotate heavily for this game even if it was a little risky because I wanted to be able to assess all the players available to me. It's a great feeling when you change the team and keep winning. It means that his group of players are giving me their all and are keen to improve.
“There's a great atmosphere in the camp and that makes me proud and happy. Now we have to get our heads down and keep working away because we have a very tricky game against Monza coming up.”
Pasquale Mazzocchi spoke at the post-match press conference.
“The boss brought in some of the lads who have played less so far and it's our job to go out there and give 100% whenever we get the nod. Conte is doing a fantastic job with the whole squad and we saw the strength in depth we have tonight. We have a versatile group of players who can play in different formations and the new guys are settling in brilliantly.”
Cyril Ngonge was on cloud nine after bagging himself a brace.
“It was an emotional night for me – scoring at the Maradona is a special feeling and I'm delighted with my brace. We're a close-knit group and we've shown what a strong team spirit we have here. We're working well with the coach and giving our all on the pitch. We went with players who haven't played so much today but still performed really well and we're through to the next round.
Giacomo Raspadori highlighted the strength of the Azzurri group.
“We know we're a top team with a competitive squad. We did a great job of going into this game totally determined and we got the result we deserved. We're buzzing at the moment. It's too early to draw any conclusions but we're definitely on the right track and we can do even better in future. We're building a winning mentality.”
