Napoli beat Verona 3-1 to ease pressure on coach Rudi Garcia

Oct 21, 2023, 06:10 pm

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia appears back to his stunning best as he scored two goals to help Napoli beat Hellas Verona 3-1 in Serie A on Saturday and relieve some of the pressure on coach Rudi Garcia.

Kvaratskhelia, who got married at home in Georgia during the international break, netted a goal either side of halftime. Matteo Politano set both of those up and also scored the opener.

That took Kvaratskhelia's tally to five goals and three assists in his last seven matches for club and country.

The Georgia winger was a revelation last season and was named Serie A player of the year after helping Napoli to the title but hadn't scored since March before ending his goal drought last month.

Napoli remained fifth but cut the gap to Serie A leader AC Milan to four points. Inter Milan can move a point above its city rival with a win at Torino later. Milan hosts third-place Juventus on Sunday.

With only four wins in the opening eight rounds, Garcia - who replaced title-winning coach Luciano Spalletti in the offseason - was already under pressure and had met several times with club president Aurelio De Laurentiis recently.

Napoli was also without standout forward Victor Osimhen, who injured his right thigh while with Nigeria's national team.

Napoli withstood a promising start from the home side before taking the lead in the 27th minute. Giacomo Raspadori did well to get in a cross from the left to the back post where Politano volleyed the ball into the bottom corner.

Politano turned provider two minutes before halftime as he sent Kvaratskhelia down the left and the winger cut inside, feinted and then squeezed a shot between Verona goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipò and the near post.

The Napoli duo combined again 10 minutes after the break as Kvaratskhelia sprinted from inside his own half onto a long Politano ball and raced clear before cutting inside past a defender and placing a precise effort into the bottom right corner.

However, Verona got back into the game just five minutes later with a somewhat bizarre goal. Davide Faraoni's cross came off Napoli defender Giovanni Di Lorenzo, who didn't seem aware of the ball, and fell to Darko Lazović to smash into the roof of the net.

Verona threatened to reduce the deficit further but Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret pulled off several impressive saves.