The south of Italy is shaking. The clubs on the Apennines are well into the new season, and Napoli dominates at the top of the table. They currently have all the characteristics of a team that is determined to win the title. When they play well, they win smoothly, with a few goals difference, and when they don’t… well… they win anyway! Tonight, in the duel of the 14th round of Serie A, Empoli resisted almost in the 70th minute at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium and then allowed Neapolitans to finally score with a completely unnecessary hidden penalty, and in the end, it was 2:0.10 – #Napoli have won 10 matches in a row in #SerieA for the third time in their history, previously doing so between April and October 2017 (13) and between December 2017 and February 2018 (10) – both runs under Maurizio Sarri. Climbing.#NapoliEmpoli pic.twitter.com/uNxx4HtC3U— OptaPaolo 🏆 (@OptaPaolo) November 8, 2022 No one this season was even close to beating the Neapolitans, and taking points from them became the most difficult task in Serie A. Fiorentina and Lecce managed to do it at the start of the season, but since that fourth round, Spalletti’s team has won ten. At one point, it seemed that Empoli, which is at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, would arrive after three successive championship triumphs over Napoli to please Milan and stop the leader, but Razvan Marin delivered a ‘gift’ to the host. In the 69th minute, he allowed Victor Osimhen to steal the ball and then made a clumsy challenge in his own penalty area.In the first half, Empoli did not exist on the field, Napoli only sporadically tried to threaten the visitors’ goal. And the leader struggled until the middle of the second half until Irving Lozano defeated Guglielmo Vicari from the penalty spot. With the second yellow card of Empoli’s defender and former Napoli kid Sebastian Lupert, it was all over. Piotr Zielinski only confirmed the victory with a great reading of the space and the finish, and Lozano won the man of the match title with an assist after the goal.The Neapolitans tied for 10+ victories in Serie A for the third time in the club’s history, and in both previous cases (13 triumphs from April to October 2017, i.e. 10 victories from December 2017 to February 2018) they were led by Maurizio Sarri. However, Sari did not bring them the title they have been waiting for since 1990.
