Napoli made it four wins from four to start their Serie A (SA) title defence after a goal and assist from Leonardo Spinazzola secured a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Pisa.
Coming into the contest on the longest unbeaten streak across Europe’s top-five leagues (W10, D5), the Partenopei were heavy favourites to extend their run against newly-promoted Pisa.
However, it was a cagey opening half-hour in Naples, as the visitors restricted Antonio Conte’s men to little of note in the final third, with Kevin De Bruyne and Scott McTominay unable to take advantage of a couple of half-chances.
Undeterred by their lacklustre start, Napoli looked to up the ante before the interval, and a breakthrough duly arrived in the 39th minute.
Spinazzola’s cut-back found Billy Gilmour on the edge of the box, and after taking a touch to compose himself, the Scot unleashed a powerful left-footed drive that was deflected beyond a helpless Adrian Semper.
Pisa came close to an immediate response when Mehdi Leris’ close-range strike was superbly thwarted by Alex Meret at the near post, and the visitors continued to threaten in the early stages of the second period.
Determined to make their pressure count, Alberto Gilardino’s side were given a golden opportunity to draw level when Sam Beukema was harshly penalised for a handball in the six-yard box, allowing M’Bala Nzola to step up and stroke the resulting penalty down the middle of the goal.
That set up a fascinating final 25 minutes at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, as both sides went in pursuit of a winning goal.
Napoli were always going to be difficult to stop, and so it proved, with Spinazzola creating a yard of space for himself on the edge of the box and sweeping a brilliant finish into the bottom corner.
The hosts made sure of the three points with eight minutes remaining, as substitute Lorenzo Lucca fired McTominay’s pass into the roof of the net for his first goal for the club.
That strike proved to be an important buffer as Pisa still found time to make it interesting in stoppage time when Lorran tapped home from Samuele Angori’s cut-back. However, it ultimately proved to be too little too late for the visitors as Conte’s men held firm to extend their unbeaten home run in SA to 13 matches (W10, D3).
Flashscore Man of the Match: Leonardo Spinazzola (Napoli)