Di Lorenzo nets winner as Napoli extend lead at top of Serie A
They might have been huge favourites, but Napoli had struggled in their recent home clashes against Lecce (D2, L1).
Predictably though, it was Napoli making the more probing moves, and their pressure looked to have paid dividends after 26 minutes when Di Lorenzo fired in a rebound after David Neres saw a shot saved by Wladimiro Falcone.
Sadly for the Partenopei, their celebrations were snuffed out by a VAR review, which showed Di Lorenzo in an offside position.
Still the pressure continued though, and Scott McTominay was unfortunate to see a header rise over the bar after receiving a lofted pass. However, they had some defending to do soon after that, with Lecce winning a corner that Federico Baschirotto connected to with his head – but he did so only to the effect of putting it straight into Alex Meret’s arms.
By his own standards, Romelu Lukaku had been a somewhat anonymous figure in the first half.
Ten minutes after the restart, the Belgian got his first big moment of the afternoon, but it was one to forget, as after doing the hard work necessary to get deep inside the box, he could only blaze over the upright.
Sensing that it wasn’t Lukaku’s day, Antonio Conte gave his frontline a minor shake-up, replacing the booked Cyril Ngonge with Matteo Politano – who had been a match-winning scorer in his only prior goalscoring match of 2024/25.
The change didn’t make much of a difference to Napoli’s fortunes at first, but eventually, Lecce’s luck ran out as Di Lorenzo stabbed the ball home after a fortuitous rebound from a corner.
He and the Napoli fans in attendance might have been forgiven for having a sense of déjà vu, as there was a VAR review for a foul in the build-up.
To their delight, the football gods favoured the Partenopei on this occasion, giving them a golden chance to go into a tough run of fixtures – including next week’s trip to the San Siro to face AC Milan – on a winning note.
Having seen out the remaining minutes to secure victory, Napoli will do just that. Meanwhile, the outlook remains bleak for Lecce, who have now lost their last five matches without scoring, while also failing to net in a sixth straight SA away game.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Giovanni Di Lorenzo (SSC Napoli)
