Napoli pounce on Parma mistakes as fans return to Italian League

Napoli pounced on two defensive mistakes to win 2-0 at Parma in their opening match of the season on Sunday as spectators returned to Serie A for the first time since March.

Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne got Napoli’s campaign off to a winning start with second-half goals shortly after club record signing Victor Osimhen was brought on for his debut.

A smattering of fans, wearing masks and widely spaced apart, watched the game at the Stadio Tardini after the Italian government agree to allow up to 1,000 spectators at matches from Sunday for the first time since the COVID-19 lockdown.

A cagey first half produced no real chances but Napoli came to life after Nigerian Osimhen, signed from Lille in the summer, was brought on in the 61st minute.

Two minutes later, Hirving Lozano crossed the ball into the area and Parma defender Simone Iacoponi headed his attempted clearance straight to the feet of Mertens who fired past Luigi Sepe from 15 metres.

Insigne struck the post from Osimhen’s flick before Parma gifted Napoli a second goal. Lozano intercepted a pass out of the Parma defence, his shot was saved by Sepe but Insigne snapped up the rebound in the 77th minute.

Parma, playing their first match under coach Fabio Liverani, did little to impress new president Kyle Krause, chief executive of the US-based Krause Group which took over the club on Friday.

Genoa, who narrowly escaped relegation last season, made a flying start under new coach Rolando Maran as they thumped promoted Crotone 4-1.

Mattia Destro and 37-year-old Goran Pandev put them 2-0 ahead inside 10 minutes before Emmanuel Riviere pulled one back for the visitors before the half hour.

Davide Zappacosta, making his debut on loan from Chelsea, made it 3-1 with a solo goal in the 34th minute and Marko Pjaca, signed on loan from Juventus on Saturday, added the fourth in the 75th.

Earlier, Roma settled for a goalless draw in their Serie A opener at Hellas Verona on Saturday with Gaetano Castrovilli scoring in a 1-0 win for Fiorentina against Torino behind closed doors before the return of a limited number of fans to stadiums 24 hours later.

On the pitch, Roma’s campaign got off to a sluggish start under the new ownership of US billionaire Dan Friedkin, with last year’s fifth-place outfit settling for a point.

Bosnia forward Edin Dzeko was left on the bench for the side from the capital amid reports he is set for a move to Juventus.

Paulo Fonseca started in Verona with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and summer arrival Pedro.

At first dominating, the Romans were soon put under pressure by Verona with Antonio Mirante deflecting an Adrien Tameze shot over the bar just before the break.

The post again saved the Roma goalkeeper from a Federico Dimarco effort with ten minutes to go, while Roma’s Leonardo Spinazzola also rattled the post after 85 minutes.

“We can’t say that it would have been any different with Dzeko,” said Fonseca whose side host Juventus in their second game next weekend.

“We had a very good first half, missing four or five goals. Then in the second half we made a lot of mistakes.

“Had we scored in the first half it would have changed everything.”

In Florence, Franck Ribery wore Fiorentina captain’s armband for the first match of the new campaign.

New Torino coach Marco Giampaolo could thank goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu for keeping his side in the game pulling off two quickfire saves on Ivorian Christian Kouame just before the break.

The breakthrough came in the 78th minute when Federico Chiesa teed up Castrovilli to beat Sirigu.

Torino captain Andrea Belotti thought he had grabbed a point deep into injury time but was ruled offside.

Agencies