Fiorentina 1:3 Napoli

Fiorentina – Napoli 1:3 (1:2), 03/05/14, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Montella is still without Mario Gomez and Cuadrado was suspended. Rossi was fit enough only for the bench and duo Ilicic-Joaquin was preferred to Matri upfront.

Napoli had more or less full squad available as Higuain recovered from injury suffered last week and started the game even if he wasn´t 100% fit.  Benitez stuck with his back four of late with Henrique on the right. Insigne was preferred to Mertens in attack. 

Starting XIs

Great start by Napoli

The match started with 45 minutes delay due to fan problems following shooting in Rome ahead of the game, but it is questionable if that had any effect on the players.

It was all about Napoli for the opening 25 minutes. They played in their usual 4-2-3-1 system with Hamsik in no.10 role and Insigne on the right where he loves to cut inside. First chance came after cooperation of these two and Neto pushed the shot wide. Higuain had a big chance from following corner, but Valero cleared the ball on the line.

Napoli were 2:0 up inside 16 minutes with Insigne getting both goals. Both of them came on the counter. Firstly, Napoli won the ball in their defensive third and Hamsik was allowed to run 60 meters with the ball before playing Insigne in who took his shot brilliantly. Second goal came after mistake from Vargas on the left, Higuain ran down the line and tried to find Hamsik with a square pass. Ball eventually got to Insigne who hit it first time again and ball went in after taking a deflection from Tomovic. 

Fiorentina gets back in the game

Montella named the side without and orthodox striker, with Ilicic and Joaquin on top, but positioning of the midfielders was more interesting. They played in a diamond with Valero behind the front two, Aquilani on the right, Vargas on the left and Pizzaro at the bottom of it.

This, combined with good movement from front two caused Napoli problems and one of the players repeatedly found a space between the lines. Valero had a decent shot after receiving the ball in that area before Fiorentina pulled the goal back. Gonzalo played a simple ball through the middle and Vargas made a well-timed run to get to Ilicic´s flick to volley the ball in.

Fiorentina had a promising chance on the break minutes later and Joaquin was just offside when Ilicic played him through after getting passed three players in the middle. It seemed like an equalizer is coming and it wasn´t far away as Aqualani scored from a close range after great set-piece by Ilicic only to be ruled offside. Napoli were lucky to be going ahead into the second half.

Second half and subs

Napoli started second half much more cautious then finishing the first one and Fiorentina had long spells of possession in the first 15 minutes. Since Napoli sat deeper, they couldn´t find that space between the lines and failed to create a chance in that dominant period.

Montella made a first chance with Mati Fernandez coming on for Pasqual. Vargas moved to left back, Valero dropped deeper and Fernandez played behind the front duo. Hamsik came off with 30 minutes to go with Mertens taking his place and offering more pace for counter-attacks. As Fiorentina pushed forward more and more, the counters were Napoli best chance of killing the game. Higuain was replaced by Pandev for last 20 minutes and he had a great chance when Mertens played him through on the break. Napoli also wasted 4v4 few minutes earlier.

Mati Fernandez had a decent shot on the volley from outside the box when he found a space in that hole in front of Napoli´s defence for the first time in the second half, but Napoli were closing that space down well.

Inler´s sending off after second yellow card gave allowed Fiorentina to dominate significantly for the remainder of the game. Behrami came on for Insigne right after that and Napoli defended as 4-4-1 with Pandev on top. Montella gradually brought on Rossi and Matri with Ilicic dropping bit deeper, but the shape remained the same.

Ilicic wasted a golden chance on the break after Pandev´s misplaced back pass when Napoli committed players forward unnecessarily, failing to hit the target when 1 on 1 against Reina. Matri had a shot on the turn just wide, but it was Napoli having a last word. The ball got to Callejon on the left who dribble towards the middle with a bit of luck before playing Mertens into the box who had little problem scoring with his weaker foot and the game was over with only couple of minutes left in the stoppage time. 

Conclusion

Fiorentina didn´t help themselves here as they concede twice in the opening 20 minutes when giving the ball away cheaply in Napoli´s half, but Insigne took his goals well. They were close to getting levelled by half time when they repeatedly found the space between the lines. Montella´s use of midfield diamond, combined with some good movement from front two created some real problems for Napoli in the first half. Centerbacks were reluctant to follow Joaquin or Ilicic when they dropped deeper.  Jorginho and Inler pushed towards Aquilani and Vargas and Valero or one of the strikers repeatedly found a space behind them. Fiorentina´s goal came from that situation and they won a few fouls and had some dangerous shots too. Napoli were much better in closing that space down in the second half and Fiorentina failed to create chances until late on, when they Napoli were down to ten men. Napoli´s best chances as well as Insigne´s goals came on the counter, but that just showed how effective it is to be able to attack quickly when playing against possession based sides.

Benitez delivered his first trophy as a Napoli manager, proving that he can really motivate his players for big nights, but he will have to find a way to get the best out of this Napoli side every week if they really are to fight for the league title next season.