Napoli’s Italian forward #81 Giacomo Raspadori (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring the team’s second goal during the Italian Serie A football match between Napoli and AC Milan on October 29, 2023 at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium in Naples. (Photo by Carlo Hermann / AFP)
Reigning Italian champions Napoli beat southern neighbours Salernitana 2-0 on Saturday to climb provisionally into the Serie A top four.
Inter, Juventus and Milan are all still ahead of the champions, but Napoli appear to be putting early season jitters behind them as French coach Rudi Garci starts to make his mark.
This could have been a mismatch with Salernitana with no wins after 11 matches stuck rock bottom taking on the champions.
Napoli, who host Union Berlin in the Champions League in midweek, were also missing injured Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen.
In his absence Giacomo Raspadori slotted home on 13 minutes and Macedonian winger Eljif Elmas assured the win on 82 minutes with a curling shot after an impressive burst down the left.
The Arechi stadium, with a capacity of 37,000 and just 50 kilometres south of Naples, was two-thirds empty despite the derby and Filippo Inzaghi’s side appear doomed to a long relegation scrap.
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